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eating out
As sleek as ever
Innovative dishes and chic decor
at newest branch of Greyhound Café
Reviewed by VANNIYA SRIANGURA
Like the three earlier branches, the latest Greyhound Café is decked out in a simple but chic design in a black, white and brown colour scheme.
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Know these words and phrases
core values
most important standards
ingenuity
the ability to invent clever ways of doing things
trendy
very fashionable; chic
perennial
continuing for a very long time
imposing
impressive to look at
cater to
to provide the things that a particular type or person wants
mindboggling
large and unusual; hard to imagine
entrée
the main dish of the meal
concoction
unusual mixture of things
authentic
real; genuine; not a copy
ingenious
clever and original
marinated
soaked in a spicy liquid before cooking
fillet
a piece of meat or fish that has no bones in it
dash
a small amount of something that adds interest
condiments
substances such as salt or sauce that is used to give flavour to food
addictive
something you want to do often because you enjoy it
prone to
likely to suffer from or do the thing mentioned
palate
the top part of the inside of the mouth; the ability to recognise and/or enjoy good food and drink
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Greyhound Café
Empire Tower, basement
Sathon Tai Road
Tel 02-670-0432
Open daily 10am-7:30pm
The oddly named complicated noodle; a do-it-yourself serving of scrumptious kuaytiew.— ANUSORN SAKSEREE |
Actually there's almost nothing new to say about the well-loved Greyhound Cafés. Since the opening of the first outlet six years ago, a brainchild of advertising guru Bhanu Inkawat and his like-minded partners, they've maintained a successful formula centred on the core values of simplicity, quality and ingenuity.
As a result, unlike many ultra-trendy eateries that come and go, the minimalist-designed Greyhound Café still stands strong with its menu of perennial favourites and business as brisk as ever. In fact, the only change is the recent addition of a new outlet that opened on the corner of Sathon Tai and Narathiwat Ra-chanakharin roads.
Located in the basement of the imposing Empire Tower, the latest Greyhound Café, which opened last month, aims to cater to office workers in the building and the nearby area. The setting of the open-spaced café sticks to the original concept of simple yet chic; whether you arrive in a hot-from-the-catwalk dress, khaki shorts or a neat suit, you won't feel out of place. Waiters in black T-shirts and black pants always provide quick, efficient and enjoyable service.
In terms of the menu, Greyhound Café doesn't have a mindboggling list of dishes. But its eclectic menu of 40 choices of starters and entrees are carefully selected and put together from the owner's years of travelling and observing. And just like its sister company, the Greyhound boutique — one of the very few homegrown fashion brands that have gone international — the café offers fashionable, world-class products. A concoction of authentic recipes with an ingenious twist.
When I arrived the restaurant, a friend was already waiting and killing his time on fried marinated chicken wings (90 baht). Probably been sitting there for almost half an hour (both our friend and the chicken), the wings looked rather cold. But after the first bite on the skinny wing, we found that the chicken was delightful and we couldn't take our hands off of the plate.
There are two items that I never skip whenever visiting Greyhound: the Caesar salad and the baked spinach with cheese. But wanting to try some other dishes, I ordered fillet steak salad (195 baht) — super-juicy grilled tenderloin cubes of beef served on a bed of crisp iceburg lettuce and a special “East-meets-West”dressing.
At Greyhound, the food always comes in hearty portions with a fresh and appetising dash. If you're looking for something hot and soupy yet not too light, the Italian clam and mussel soup (160 baht) fits the bill. Served with toasted home-made bread, the aromatic and chunky soup in which mussels and clams are fighting for space was good to the last drop.
It says ‘complicated noodle’ (100 baht) in the menu, but this Thai dish with a playful twist isn't more complicated than having to wrap the rice noodle sheet, fresh lettuce leaves, mince pork and chilli sauce together by yourself and enjoying it in one bite.
We also had khao khlook kapi or fried rice with shrimp paste (125 baht) served with super delicious grandma-style clear soup. Encircled with tiny portions of sweet and chewy pork, crispy shrimp, ground dry shrimp, finely sliced green mango, string beans, shallots and chillies, the lightly seasoned fried rice went superbly with all the awesome flavours and textures of the condiments.
And if you are a fan of good-quality sandwiches, you won't be disappointed with the Elvis burger (135 baht), a perfectly sized grilled minced fillet steak with bacon and cheese in a sesame seed bun and accompanied with a side serving of French fries and vegetables.
Then it's time for dessert. Unfortunately, I found that the all-time favourite chocolate banana cake (80 baht) was not as good and addictive as I remembered. But sometimes you have to admit that when your expectations are very high, you are more sensitive to even the smallest change and more prone to disappointment. Or perhaps I was simply just so full that my palate stopped working properly.
From 3-7pm, the restaurant features a “sweet break” promotion: your choice of cake and a non-alcoholic drink (a large variety of fruit juices, smoothies and milk shakes) priced at 129 baht.
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The job of a restaurant reviewer must be one of the best on a newspaper. Imagine getting to go to those restaurants, trying out all that wonderful food – and getting paid to say if it was good or bad. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it?