• 4
• Plush but relaxed fine restaurant

The nearest skytrain is Phloen Chit - it's about a 10 minute walk from there to the end of Soi One, past the Bumrungrad hospital. The restaurant is part of the Ariyasomvilla Hotel which is near the end of the road. This is a plush but relaxed restaurant set in an old-style villa with beautiful wooden carved windows and shutters, wooden floors, chandeliers and antique style furniture. It's not cheap. Would be good for a special meal out. They serve fish dishes as well as veggie food, roughly 50:50, but no other meat, and they understand the term "vegan" and leave eggs out of dishes as needed. We stayed at the Ariyasomvilla Hotel so ate here a few times. We tried the veggie set meal - an extravaganza that should only be attempted by those with a massive appetite and elasticated-waisted trousers! There were thick spring rolls full of crunchy vegetables with sweet spicy sauce on a bed of crispy noodles with fresh minty herb salad, pad thai, 3 kinds of rice with veggie "chicken" with cashews and smokey dried chillies, and green curry, then desserts like coconut sorbet and a weird one with water chestnuts coated in agar jelly. If you are vegetarian there is a wider choice of desserts as they make some very nice-sounding things that unfortunately have butter in. We tried other dishes on other nights and found the standard of the food consistently high. There is an emphasis on using fresh herbs and all the flavours were great. Highlights include their Mussamun curry, the "chicken" with cashews and dried chillis, and penang curry. The Hotel The hotel was a very relaxing place to stay in Bangkok and had a great pool, lovely rooms with wooden floors, great furniture and beautiful bathrooms. There are several options for breakfast including a cooked breakfast with mushrooms, tomatoes, veggie sausage and veggie bacon (the sausage is great, the bacon is dry and brittle), cornflakes and muesli with soya milk, toast and toasted muffins with local jams, fruit, or an asian-style breakfast of vegtables with rice. There is also a spa at the hotel so you can have a massage on site, and a library space for reading where they seemed to also host some religious talks and meditations occasionally but these were not pushed at us. The staff were very friendly and our room was spotless every day.