The ๐๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ผโ ๐๐๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ family restaurant chain is one of the creations of Bangkok style icon and entrepreneur, Atchara โPlaโ Burarak. Best-known for her iBerry cakes, ice-cream and sorbet chain which she started in 1999, the former air stewardess-cum-model now has over 100 F&B outlets of different brand-names under her iBerry food & beverage group, which maintains its focus on largely Thai cuisine.
๐๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ผโ ๐๐๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎ itself was created in 2009 - its name a cheeky play on words, which can mean โdishes to eat with riceโ, or โDining with Plaโ โ offering Thai home-style cooking, but amidst a streamlined, modern dining room environment.
๐๐๐ฏ ๐๐ฎ๐ผโ ๐๐๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐น๐ฎโs first outlet was at the popular, much talked-about The Helix dining area at the swish EmQuartier in Sukhumvit Road. Other branches, always with long queues of people outside waiting to get in, sprouted in various other glitzy malls in Bangkok: IconSiam, Siam Paragon, etc. We were at the Terminal 21 Asok outlet.
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I ordered the Pad Thai, since i figured itโll be a fail-safe dish in anywhere in Thailand (okay, I still have some reservations about eating in a mall-based chain eatery). The dish looked pretty ordinary when it arrived at the table.
But, by Jove, one taste of it tells me that itโs the best-tasting pad Thai Iโd had since my last trip to Thailand 2 years ago! The balance of flavors: sweet, salty, savory, spicy, โฆ everything was perfect. So were the textures of the noodles - stretchy, toothsome, the crunchy mainly raw beansprouts, the cubes of tofu, the bouncy fresh shrimps. Simply amazing. Polished off every single strand of noodle and every crumb of whatever on my plate.
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My friend couldnโt resist the Khanom Chin Kaeng Kaew Wan Kai - steamed rice vermicelli with Thai green curry with chicken, accompanied by a variety of raw garnishes: finely-chopped cabbage and long beans, raw beansprouts, cucumber wedges, sprigs of holy basil, and half a hard-boiled duckโs egg.
The green curryโs spice level was โThai family standardโ-level, which probably means that a Thai pre-school toddler can happily sip it, whilst people like me will be scrambling for water. It was HOT!
For dessert, we ordered Khao Niew Ma Muang (mango with sticky rice) - the version here was pretty good, though not the best weโd had in Bangkok.
My fave place to go for this dish is at the atmospheric Sor Boonprakob Panich on Charoen Krung - the folks that started doing this 90 years ago:
The menu was pretty extensive - all the Thai family favorites, plus a selection of Italian-Thai fusion dishes, like pasta with green curry or red curry. We have to return a few more times to do this place justice.
Address
Kub Kaoโ Kub Pla Terminal 21
เธเธฑเนเธ5 เธจเธนเธเธขเนเธเธฒเธฃเธเนเธฒเนเธเธญเธกเธดเธเธญเธฅ 21 Asok Alley, Khlong Toei Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Tel: +66 2 118 6014
Opening hours: 10:00am to 10:00pm
