Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu @Dinso Rd — Restaurant in Bowon Niwet Subdistrict

[NOTE: If you choose to use Grab car to get to PTFTL @ Dinso, do not choose "Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu, Dinso Road..." as the dropoff point. It is the wrong place. It took me 10mins++ to walk to the correct location, having to cross the big highway past the monument roundabout, to finally arrive at the opposite side of it. Rather, you should choose "Fai Ta Lu Dinso" or the one immediately below, in Thai.]

For 30 years++, I have never been a Pad Thai fan, avoiding it because the dish is so sickeningly sweet. After watching Mark Wiens and Gary Butler "brag" about Pad Thai on YouTube---or at least where to get the traditional, non-touristy ones, I thought I'd give it another shot. Well, I am proven wrong this time at PTFTL @ Dinso, and long time coming too... 😬

It was 2.40pm, I didn't have to wait. Pity this old and stocky sod, the seats were unfortunately one floor up. 😂

Given that the River Prawns, Crispy Pork Belly and the "Special" were all sold out 😭... I am left with and ordered the one with standard prawns, and another with pork jowl. (Yes---I read the reviews.)

When the Pad Thai arrived, despite looking eh-oh gorgeous and delicious looking, the portions were indeed small... 😂 Two large bites and it's over...

The noodles in both were all dente, full of Umami and tasted the same. So, it meant that the only difference between the 2 plates of Pad Thai was the protein. And well, the one with the pork jowl had a tiny punnet of spicy, sour dipping sauce.

Overall, I enjoyed them. Tasty, packed a punch with the Wok Hei, and well, not sickeningly sweet. 👍👍👍👍👍

My first gripe was the lack of attentiveness of the waiting staff, who was more concerned with their mobile phones throughout the entire time I was there. Another table was so frustrated, they walked away without ordering. 👎👎👎

The second gripe was, for the price paid, one would expect the restaurant to use regular chopsticks as opposed to disposable ones, and to have a jar of Thai chilli flakes instead of the nasty prepacked ones that lacked flavour. There were no other Thai flavouring condiments that one normally sees that are placed on the table either. Odd... 🤔

The price tag is a little high compared to other vendors. My two plates of Pad Thai and a small can of Pepsi totalled more than 500 Baht. I had to remind myself that these Pad Thai here were a class of their own, above and beyond the ones from the street stalls. At least it was not as pricey as RAAN Jay Fai's Drunken Noodles.

If I crave Pad Thai again during my next visit to BKK, I will drop in PTFTL @ Dinso again. And hopefully, I would remember not to choose the wrong dropoff point if I use...

Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu – Dinso Road Branch

The first time I tried Pad Thai Fai Ta Lu was actually on a food bus tour circling the Rattanakosin area. It was so good that this time I decided to bring my partner to the actual restaurant.

Although Pad Thai is usually considered a simple street dish, here the prices are quite high. Most of the customers walking in were foreign tourists accompanied by guides, making the place feel almost like part of an eating tour.

For the first dish, we ordered Pad Thai with Iberico Pork Cracklings. The Iberico pork comes from Spain’s Iberian Peninsula, adding premium value to this Pad Thai. The price goes up to 170 THB, but it’s worth mentioning that the pork cracklings were beautifully fried – light golden, clean-looking, not burnt at all. They were fragrant, crispy, and delightfully crackly in the mouth – delicious enough to forget about cholesterol for a moment.

We also tried a basic Pad Thai (without any meat). Interestingly, the menu here even lists something called “Pad Thai with lousy shrimp” – which, despite the self-deprecating name, refers to farmed shrimp. The funny presentation aside, the price for that version is as high as 260 THB.

So why come here despite the steep prices? Simply because the flavor is outstanding. The noodles are perfectly chewy – springy but not tough – while the sauce is richer and more flavorful than anywhere else I’ve tried.

The restaurant itself is air-conditioned and decorated in a striking deep blue theme. There’s seating both upstairs and downstairs, with the upper floor being quite spacious.

One downside: there’s no...

It feels like FTL is just milking the hype from the Michelin rec. Atmosphere strives to be one of those casual dives with mismatched tables and flooring, disposable chopsticks, worn tabletops, and unkempt toilet. But they serve small portion size for the price as if it's our privilege to be sampling their food. Pork loin was so rubbery our child could only get through one piece. Therefore, owner, you must choose. You can't be cheap on your atmosphere, spend little on rent (this place isn't really public transportation accessible so I can't imagine you pay a premium for rent) but charge as if you are upscale just because you are Micheline recognized. That is a privilege and not your right. We spent 500 bhats for our family of 3 and we still walked away hungry. Compared to spending 400 bhats on a well regarded (better reviewed on google) pad thai place next to the Grand Palace (hint: much higher rent) and we walked away feeling pleasantly full. And for the record, whatever difference in taste between the two restaurants' respective pad thai's was not worth the difference in value. Service was slow. Only thing we liked about the atmosphere was the cold a/c. At least they were generous with that. The owner is not master of pad thai but master of milking the privilege of...