Last Updated on March 15, 2025
Traditional Thai cuisine at The Peninsula Bangkok
4.5 out of 5.0 starsSet in a lush, tropical garden on the bank of the Chao Praya river that snakes through Bangkok, Thiptara Thai Restaurant is a feast for all the senses and one of the excellent eateries at the iconic luxury hotel, The Peninsula. On our first night in the city, we enjoyed the set menu, which was not only delicious but also enabled us to explore a range of dishes that make Thai cuisine so popular. It was the perfect introduction.
Thiptara Riverside Restaurant is entered through a traditional Thai teak dwelling, open to the sides with tables within. We were fortunate to be sitting at the water’s edge on a hot night where the river provided a cooling breeze. Our table had the water lapping below us, with river cruises and boats providing entertainment as the sunset turned to nighttime. Banyan and palm trees towered over us while bougainvillea and orchids proliferated. Fire torches burned along the water’s edge, coloured lanterns hung in the trees, and Thai music played softly in the background. The lights of the hotels across the water lit up as the sun set; the riverboats were like jewels crisscrossing the waterway. It was a magical setting, and being new to Bangkok, we were transfixed.
We had been invited to review Thiptara’s eight-course set menu which suited me perfectly as I was keen to try as many traditional Thai dishes as I could. There is, however, also a full a la carte menu should guests prefer. We were asked to determine what level of spice we wanted – no spice, medium spice or Thai spicy. We opted for the middle ground, aware that Thai spicy might overwhelm us at this early stage of our travels.
My husband enjoyed a Thai wine for the first time, a Granmonte Spring Chenin Blanc 2022 produced in the southeast of Thailand. I ordered a Thai Thai Kombucha, from Three Goats Brewery, infused with lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaf, lime and chilli. One of the best I’ve ever had.
We began our meal at Thiptara with an amuse-bouche of shrimp crackers with a coconut dipping sauce which was sweet, creamy and orange in colour, and a herb dip that was more piquant. It was served beautifully on a ceramic platter with tiny bowls and two small wooden spoons. These were rather fabulous shrimp crackers, a far cry from the ones sold in UK supermarkets.
Miang Goong Foo was a marvellous introduction to the beauty of Thai cuisine. Here, betel leaves were wrapped around crispy prawn meat and cashews, with roasted coconut, peanut and pineapple sauce. The presentation was as pleasing as the food itself – laid out on a ceramic plate that looked modelled on a banana leaf, the delicate betel leaf parcels were shaped in a cone and the sauces were served in small, ceramic dishes, a flower on the side of the platter. The spice level provided just the right heat. The coconut was sweet, the tamarind tangy and, I think, mixed with some fish sauce had a rounded flavour. The cashew nuts we discovered provided the salty component of the overall dish.
Phla ma-khuea moo cheeva yang was a grilled cheeva pork salad with Thai eggplant, lemongrass and chilli paste. Served on a platter stand, wafer thin rounds of crunchy Thai eggplant (these are small, round and green) were topped with very tender pieces of free-range pork that was aromatic with lemongrass. I have never before tasted such aromatic meat. The meat was topped with crispy onions that provided additional crunch and flavour. A mild chilli paste enabled other flavours to shine. A fabulous Thai combination of flavours, attractively presented.
Tom yum pla gao is perhaps one of the most famous Thai dishes. This hot and sour soup was served with spicy fried Grouper with taro and kaffir lime leaves. The soup was presented in lovely Chinese bowls. The dish had a wonderful fragrance which derives from the flavouring of lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaf. In the broth floated cherry tomatoes, a number of tiny greens and cubes of meaty fish. It was fabulously flavoursome. I was thoroughly enjoying the medium spice level until I bit into a piece of chilli – bear in mind that the soup is made with Thai chilli which are very hot. I chewed and swallowed it, which was not a wise idea. My entire mouth began to burn to the extent that I feared I may not be able to continue with the meal. Then after a few minutes of distress – and sucking on an ice cube – the pain resolved. The server was most sympathetic and also perhaps rather amused when she related to us that only foreigners eat all the herbs in the soup. This was useful information, and for the rest of my trip, I ate many bowls of tom yum but proceeded with more caution.
Although there were eight courses, each was light and refreshing, the tastes kept surprising and pleasing us. Next, we came to the main courses, with options so my husband and I could each choose one. Massaman kae tun is a quintessential Thai curry made with braised Australian lamb shoulder with sweet potato and peanut. It was served with a fried slice of taro root on top and with strewn peanuts. The rust coloured sauce included cherry tomatoes – which I discovered are ubiquitous in Thai cuisine – and half moons of sweet potato. The lamb was tender, with its distinctive fatty flavour not overpowered by the mildly spicy sauce. What with the addition of the sweet potato, this was a sweetly flavoured dish and I wondered how it would taste if I had bravely asked for Thai spicy.
The second option was pla muek khai phad phong-kari (stir-fried squid with roe in a curry powder sauce, Thai celery and egg). Served in a flower-shaped bowl, the dish contained tender squid in a sweet, mildly spicy and creamy sauce with crunchy, sautéed onions and cherry tomatoes. Slices of red chilli added heat and crunch, and further texture came from batons of sweet Thai celery. This dish had very good textural variation, which made it interesting to eat.
I pondered the question of spice level and how visitors to Thailand might respond when asked their preference. At lunch, we had eaten in a very local, tiny eatery where no such choice was offered, and my husband spent the meal frequently mopping his brow. On the one hand, this enabled us to experience what is being served to those accustomed to a high spice level, while on the other hand, restaurants that allow guests to determine that level might enable diners to eat more comfortably. The skill of the chef at a restaurant like Thiptara, of course, is to continue to balance the flavours while dialling down the spiciness.
The dessert course was Thiptara homemade ice cream kati kub khao-neaw sangkaya cha Thai. This was homemade coconut ice cream with salted egg yolk sauce, Thai tea custard and sweet sticky rice. The description alone had me intrigued. It arrived served in a small glass bowl and looked as exotic as our surroundings. The sticky rice was purple, which was our introduction to the many ways the butterfly pea flower is used in Thailand. An edible purple flower, the butterfly pea is soaked in water and the liquid is used in drinks and added to foods, often to sticky rice. It doesn’t have a particular flavour that I could discern but over my travels in Thailand, I enjoyed it many times over.
At Thiptara, I discovered how chefs use colours to create mini works of art with desserts. Alongside the purple rice, the Thai tea mousse was an orange colour. This was my introduction to the orange tea, which is served throughout Thailand – usually iced – and to which I developed an addiction that required a daily fix. The salted egg yolk was yellow. These colours were layered and looked so appetising – purple, then white, yellow, and green micro herbs. Then, in a final flourish of culinary creativity, the chef had placed on top an onion wafer made from onion water fried in a dry pan. It brought to mind the sort of dessert that Heston Blumenthal might make – taking something so deeply savoury and pairing it with a sweet dessert in a way that makes the diners sit up and take notice. It was, indeed, an unusual experience to eat the sweet rice and mousse with an onion-flavoured wafer that added both some crunch along with a deep, umami, savoury note.
The meal at Thiptara came to a resounding end with petits fours. There was a flower-shaped green pandan jelly that reminded me of mochi paired with coconut milk and mung beans and served in a sage green bowl. Here was another colourful creation – a swirl of green, a puddle of white, all strewn with yellow mung bean and finished off with a red petal.
I finished this generous meal at Thiptara with an iced Thai tea, which I was told is made by brewing Thai tea leaves (which have a vanilla aroma), to which is added sweetened condensed milk, coconut milk or whole milk. It turns an orange colour because the tea leaves are dyed with food colouring, and it is served over lots of ice in a tall glass. It is a pick-me-up like no other in this steamy climate.
The set menu at Thiptara was a wonderful evening from start to finish. Each of the eight courses introduced us to another aspect of Thai cuisine. It was all delicious and gave us much to savour and think about. The food was beautifully presented, and each piece of tableware looked special. The service was attentive and very helpful in explaining what we were eating, which we found added to our experience. The ambience was simply stunning at the riverside, surrounded by Thai trees, plants, architecture and music.
Thiptara Thai Restaurant is located within The Peninsula Bangkok.
333 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok 10600 Thailand
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