The Atlanta Hotel, Bangkok - #2 (The AH! Restaurant).

The night I arrived I peeped into Atlanta’s restaurant which is simply named “AH!” So I exclaimed ah! as I looked into this famous restaurant that in its heyday, someone no less than the Queen of Thailand would dropped in for afternoon tea. It boasted of the largest selection of vegetarian dishes in the whole of Thailand though it also served meat dishes. I knew my tight program in Thailand would not allow much time to savor its food but I resolve that I must at least have a couple of meals here.

This is how the restaurant looked like from the outside of the hotel.

I told my Thai friend not to pick me up for breakfast the next morning so I could try the food here myself. This is how the restaurant looked (viewed from the inside to the entrance) in daylight.

My friend had this omelette. They served both local as well as Western breakfast. Their menu list is indeed very long with some interesting names such as “Weeping Tiger” which I saved for lunch.

I went for something much more substantial. It was a large bowl of plain porridge with three side dishes to go along. There was a fried egg, dried prawns and seasoned pork, both cooked with various herbs and spices. They were salty, savory, slightly spicy, sourish with the specific taste of the individual spices giving a myriad of tastes which add wonderful flavor to the plain but fragrant porridge. An excellent breakfast and very filling.

And I had it with this thick aromatic cup of coffee in the hotel specially minted cup.

Before the food came, I explored the restaurant for there are many interesting memorabilia like this testimony written by the Heavy Photographic Squadron Sixty-one of the US Pacific Fleet in 1957. This hotel has gone through several transformations, from one of the earliest hotel in Bangkok enjoying good reputation and patronage from the well-to-do to being a hotel favored by US Army. Then they went through a bad patch as it fell on hard time and frequented by sex tourists and drug addicts. Then, it was rescued and much of its history and glory restored by the son of the owner as his heritage. That explained the hotel’s aversion to sex tourists and its strict departure from its most recent past.

I was concentrating on taking the photo of this framed mirror on which was written part of the history of the hotel when I heard a voice asking me to stop in Thai. I sensed what it meant but ignore it. Then the protest came in English. I ignored that too until a stern thin old lady that was taller came and stood besides me. “No Photo” she reproached. I humbly said “sorry” and gave her my best smile which did not melt any ice.

She was obviously the supervisor in this restaurant. The workers in this establishment are all rather “strange” by which I meant they all exhibited individual characteristics and not like the standard all smiles fawning expression of large hotel staff. They appeared very much at home and treated you very casually but not impolitely. You have to win them over and your status as a guest does not guarantee automatic friendliness. In short, they behave as a normal human being and treat you as one. If you want them to treat you like a friend, you have to be a friend first.

My friend did not like the curt unsmiling way she served us and complained that she was all smiles to the next table. “Maybe she likes Westerners better”. I did not think so and said that I get through to her before our trip is up.

This is what we called the “Love Seat”. It is elevated and higher than the rest of the seats and is right in the middle of the wall at the end of the restaurant. Only soft music is played in the restaurant depending on the time of the day, classical, jazz and even the King’s favorite.

I had the pork porridge for the next morning’s breakfast. It was good. I always liked the porridge I have in Thailand and preferred them to most other Asian countries whether it is Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia or Singapore. Maybe it is because they are usually more savory and stronger tasting which suits my palate better.


During breakfast I worked up my charms without too much success. It was during dinner that the supervisor came and rearranged the way the dishes are placed. I smiled at her fastidious manner. I tried engaging her in small talk. She walked away and came back when our “Weeping Tiger” (thin slices of seasoned pork) was served. She was not happy with the way the meat was cooked and asked us. We told her it was alright. She was still not satisfied and advised us to have it re-cooked as pork should not be eaten too raw. We followed her advice. Then she gave us more explanations about the food we ate. Finally, we were able to bring a smile to her face. It was the “Weeping Tiger’ that did it. So every staff in Atlanta is a character, not the smiling faces you will forget the minute you leave a hotel.

To be continued...