Le Normandie

China House interior

Riverside Terrace

Claus Olsen, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok's ebullient Executive Pastry Chef

a wedding cake being prepared for the big day

Many of the world's finest hotels have fine restaurants to keep guests' palates entertained, but few of them have a number of venues to keep guests eating in a different place every night of the week.

Mandarin Oriental Bangkok is famous for its dutiful staff and nowhere is the hotel's impeccable service more apparent than in its food and beverage outlets.  The day starts with a vast breakfast buffet outdoors under a riverside canopy, where attentive attendants make the start to the day all the more enjoyable.  Indoor types can take breakfast in The Verandah, which is something of an all-day international café, and a very chic one at that. 

Happily, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok gets it European baked goods right.  So many hotels in Asia have pretty croissants and brioches that look good but lack in taste.  Suitably, Mandarin Oriental Bangkok's Executive Pastry Chef is Danish, and Claus Olsen is far too dedicated in his work to allow for anything less than the perfect puff to leave his domain for the mouths of the hotel's guests and, increasingly, food connoisseurs around Bangkok; Mandarin Oriental Bangkok has expanded its revenue stream by selling certain products in retail outlets around the city.  Retail sales has been so successful that the product range will be expanded in the coming months.

The same outdoor space used for breakfast is transformed by night into the Riverside Terrace, where the buffet trades bacon and eggs for grilled chicken, beef and fish accompanied by row after row of side dishes.  The dessert table is vast and too tempting to resist.  Old reliables like bread and butter pudding are supplemented by radically experimental tastes like broccoli ice cream.  Sounds less than appetising, but don't knock it 'til you've tried it; it was surprisingly delicious.

Almost all the world's great cuisines are represented at Mandarin Oriental Bangkok.  At China House, fine food from the Middle Kingdom is served in an avant-garde environment where the traditional black and red colours serve as the background for some special twists on dim sum.  Sala Rim Naam, Mandarin Oriental's Thai restaurant, as well as Ciao for Italian food, bring two more favourites to the table—literally and figuratively. 

A member of Les Grandes Tables du Monde, Mandarin Oriental's Le Normandie has long been recognised as one of the finest French restaurants in Asia.  On the top floor of the hotel's Garden Wing, with sweeping views of the river below, Le Normandie brings together the flavours of France with the service of Thailand. 

In between all the meals, guests can enjoy Mandarin Oriental Bangkok's high tea.  This salute to British tradition is given a contemporary turn in the form of special pandanus-flavoured scones and finger sandwiches served on bright red beetroot-infused bread.

If eating the food is not enough of a reward unto itself, Mandarin Oriental's cooking school lets guests learn how to cook a wide variety of Thai dishes before enjoying the lunch just made under the guidance of an expert instructor.