Soei — Restaurant in Phaya Thai Subdistrict

While the food is above average we did not enjoy it. The vibe was not welcoming at all, the head waitress greeted us with an added air of arrogance, the remaining staff looks stressed. Restaurant wasn't busy with about 3 full tables when we arrived so idk why the vibe is so tense. When we sat down we immediately noticed so many warning posters plastered over restaurant about the"rules"; waiting patiently for your food and if you cant wait dont eat here etc. They repeat the same slogan in the menu as well, just incase customers have amnesia. 🙄 We understand that good food takes time and are willing to wait. We also understand that each chef cooks his dishes a certain way and wouldn't want to alter the formula. We respect all that and are not fussy customers by any means. After all that's why we are here, because of the the way they prepared their food. However, we are also travelling with 2 small kids and their pallet is not fully developed, especially for the level of chilli. So we politely explained our situation and asked for ONE dish without chilli, their favourite Thai dish, a basil stir fry. It would help us out greatly and everyone can enjoy their food without the tantrums. Waitress flat out refused, we only serve it as it is! How hard is it to not put chilli in? It's not the dish is pre made food court style. After some convincing we managed to get the kids to order the fried rice and supprise! it came with Chilli!! No Chilli was mentioned in the menu, my husband is Thai so no lost in translation here. The waitress knew we were ordering it for the kids to eat too!🤨🤨🤨 Lucky we ordered 2 fried rice and the other one didn't have any chilli. We won't be coming back or recommending this restaurant to people. We like our food without the Diva chef and arrogant...

Ignore the nay sayers on here. Each dish is delectable. If you want street food prices, go to a street hawker. And, the owner still watches over the kitchen to ensure the amazing quality. The best Thai food I have experienced so far.

Favourite dish: fried egg salad. The gooey egg surrounded by the fried egg whites, slices of red onion, chilies and garlic. Wow. We ordered another plate after the first. And I mixed this with the fried pork and chillies. Debauchery for the taste buds. The shrimp ceviche was a zesty, fiery mix of lemon, lime, wasabi and chilli. The wasabi blasted up my nose. The perfect way to start the meal. I was a bit scared that I wouldn’t be able to eat anything else if it was this spicy, but everything else was perfectly balanced and delicious. The shrimp salad was fresh, pulling out the meat from the shell and making sure it was covered in filling and the leaves. I think the mackerel heads have been over hyped - we were in a panic to get these pre-ordered this morning. Couldn’t taste the garlic or the fish. And along with the soft shell crab (and this was the most expensive), these are the two dishes we wouldn’t have again. I was dubious about the ow-tung, a sweet iced drink made up of shaved ice, palm sugar and basil seeds. It was a pleasant surprise, refreshing and enough to share between two but I could of had my own by the end as I didn’t want to share, it was that good.

We will definitely go back if...

Long awaited visit to Soei. I had the fried egg salad, fried mackarel heads, and soft shell crab curry. I must admit that perhaps my expectations might've been too high, as the food tasted just alright, not outstanding or great by any stretch of the imagination.

The mackarel heads were crispy and salted, which made for a nice snack. However, I would have liked it more if it was at least warm, as it was room temperature. On top of that, the fried garlic didn't really do anything to the dish, as there was simply not enough of it, as you can tell from the pic.

The egg salad was a miss for me. Although the yolk was nice and molten, I felt like the sauce that came with it was way too salty to the point where it almost felt like pure soy sauce. I could feel my blood pressure shoot through the roof.

The crab curry was decent but with a few caveats. The curry here is thinner than what you'd commonly find elsewhere, and it almost has a soup-like consistency. That said, while the curry powder seasoning was pronounced, the maggi seasoning (or perhaps some type of soy sauce blend) was even more prominent in the dish. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing (it's umami, after all), but too much maggi seasoning can overpower the natural taste of ingredients rather than complement it à la white fish or crustaceans. Catch my drift?

In conclusion, the food is satisfactory, but not what it has been...