Le Du — Restaurant in Si Lom Subdistrict

To misquote a classic "It was the best of Thai, it was the worst of Thai..."

Let me begin by stating that A) I have nothing to gain by giving a good or bad review (refer the 400+ to date) B) I am not a food snob nor critic and enjoy a Cheese & Ham baguette or a good Steak Sandwich as much as Haute Cuisine ... by way of credibility for my opinion (and it is only that) I/we have eaten at many 1, 2 & 3 Michelin Star restaurants throughout Europe, US and Austral-Asia over many years as well as many unrated, new, avante garde and traditional establishments from a wide variety of cuisines.

To be clear, I have never, ever, walked out of any of the Michelin starred restaurants half way through a degustation service... but there is always a first time for everything.

For context (The Best of Thai) we had the set menu with wine pairing at a Bangkok Two Hat "Culinary Thai Experience" two nights prior to this and it was outstanding. Not only the best Thai meal we have had, ever, but possibly the best overall food/wine experience worldwide.

Tonight (The Worst of Thai) was the antithesis of that experience, whilst Le Du has been given one Hat in 2023 and their price was a lot less than 50% of the previous restaurant, their food, wines & service were not even close to 50% of the previous Two Hat Thai culinary and wine experience... In my opinion, probably closer to 5%.

To be fair, the two Amuse Bouche were lovely, everything after that was, seriously, a joke.

The Squid - inedible/tasteless, made me want to leave then and there.

The Crab - tasteless is being generous - just putting raw red chilli powder and some unknown green powder over the bland crab meat, then spraying some '90s era coconut foam in the bowl, does not make it "Haute Cuisine", just dated, boring and to me, inedible.

2nd course : I have no idea what it was supposed to be, they said sous vide pork jowl and some indescribable fermented thing in a square lump that tasted almost as good as salted saw dust. Inedible.

The wine pairing - Amuse Bouche : Cold Tea in a wine glass.. really? OK it's complimentary, let's be polite and suck it up. It wasn't bad. Just ...cold tea in a wine glass...?

1st course pairing: The waiter decided he could palm off the remainder of the flat, partial, bottle of Champagne from last night ... then top it up with a fresh bottle.. FFS??? Are you a Michelin Star restaurant or a start up trying to penny pinch a few Baht ? Why would you even bother to serve this? Unprofessional.

Fortunately, after refusing to drink flat, old Champagne they promptly replaced the "thimbleful" of flat wine with another "thimbleful" from a fresh bottle. Chalk and cheese.

The two wines offered for pairings with the 2nd courses: an Alsace Off Dry Riesling - (way too sickly sweet for either dish) and a Tasmanian Chardonnay - I'm an Aussie, and that is not a great example.

After experiencing the first two courses, the service and their "pairing" of wines, we had lost all hope, agreed to save our palates, stomachs and dignity and take the hit on our wallet.

We paid full price for 2 X set menu 4 course meals .

We explained that we did not like the food or the wine and did not haggle over price and they "generously" comped us the cost of the Wine pairing (wow... Thank you sooo much)

We paid THB10,800 for the above, do the conversion into your currency but it was AUD500+ for us to walk away from a poor choice in a city (& nation) full of exceptional cooks, chefs & restaurants.

NB: We ended up having satay chicken skewers, a very decent grower Champagne (double the size and half the cost of Le Du) and a good G+T at our hotel's Jazz bar that was eminently more satisfying, hospitable and value for money than the "One Hat" restaurant we had just walked out of.

In summary, and in this Google Local Guide's opinion, it is one to avoid until they get a reality check and re-think their whole menu, style and attitude to the customer... Or not. Just my opinion and, ultimately, it is your choice as to if you want to spend your money...

DO NOT GO! ABSOLUTE RIP OFF Unreasonably overpriced Food that is completely overpowered by excessive flavour finished with arrogant and selective service base on customer profile.

So this restaurant was asia’ #1 in 2023, so my partner decided to give it a try.

We got there sat down and immediately started feeling negative sentiment by the floor staff. We were rudely asked if we had ordered.

If you take a look at picture 1, you will see that the menu was somewhat already set, so the normal person would not understand what is there to order.

We told the staff that we had not ordered anything and the staff whom felt annoyed and frustrated told me that there was another menu i was supposed to choose the items from. Ok sure, but why didnt you guide me and tell me thats the case? Instead of chasing me giving me attitude?

We ordered, and we actually ordered the expensive set with add-ons , so we were genuinely giving this restaurant a proper tasting. We then decided we wanted to order some wine, i then tried to make contact with our server however he looked at us in disgust and then instructed someone else to take our drink orders - which is fine, but again, what have i done to deserve your bad attitude?

We then started our dinner, everything was basically, one protein, and 4-5 different flavours. It wasnt a complex master piece to say the least. Rather it was a complete mess. I had no idea what i was eating and towards the 2-3 course i had already trying to avoid the sauce at all cost.

The horrible service did not end here though, as our server finally returned (probably cause he had no choice) His poor attitude and discriminating behaviour continued. He would introduce the dish and start walking away before he had finished introducing, poor our soup like it was orange juice and spilt it all over the plate intentionally ignore eye contact not once at all asked us how was our food

In conclusion: There was a group next to our table that seem to be influencers and we saw that they had top notch service and was checked on properly and was constantly thanked throughout the meal. They were also brought inside the kitchen to take photos - even though service was still on-going. HEY GUYS, YOUR KITCHEN IS STILL IN SERVICE!!! What happens if other guest’s food was contaminated? You probably dont care.

service was just trash.

The food is a mess - every dish is unnecessairy spiced and has accompanied by very average and undertreated garments as well as overwhleming condiments

It is clear that this restaurant bribed their way to being asia’s number 1

And further more the price is wayyyyyyy too overpriced.

Just dont come here, it is the worst possible meal you can have...

We really wanted to love Le Du but sadly it was a disappointment. My friend and I dined during the first week of January to celebrate our birthdays. We had the 6-course menu, no wine pairing.

I’ll get the worst part out of the way: Raw pork… Our pork dumpling dish arrived raw and cold. I told a server immediately, but unfortunately my friend had her dumpling in one bite, and realized it was raw as she was chewing it. They brought me a new one. We had to ask for another for my friend (they did not offer one.) Mistakes happen, but, for the price point and ranking, this was a big turn off. We at least expected a gesture to compensate for raw pork, but didn’t get more than a quick sorry. When this has happened to me at “smaller”, non-Michelin restaurants, I’ve gotten sincere apologies, a complimentary treat and/or that dish taken off the bill.

The rest of the food: Nice plating, but no dish was memorable and a few we didn’t like at all. Some of the compositions were interesting on paper, but in reality tasted overdone and imbalanced, with too many things or flavours happening at once. I asked our table neighbours about their experience and they expressed similar feelings.

Crab and Squid dishes: We really did not like these two.

Duck and Wagyu dishes: Meat was good, but I’ve had similarly good cuts of meat a hundred times before.

Desserts: By the time dessert came, our expectations were low, and sadly the desserts were underwhelming. Most disappointing of the three was a fruit salad with a small heart-shaped agar. Yes, Thai fruit is delicious, but at this price point, I’m expecting something more interesting than dragon fruit and melon balls.

Service: The servers were kind but the service felt impersonal and clumsy. The switching back and forth between servers didn’t help. We initially were sat really close to the door so had to ask to be changed. Reading other reviews, it seems like there’s room for improvement.

Drinks: We had wine and it was fine. We found it disappointing that after asking to see a drinks menu, we were told that other than wine or beer, the only other options were gin tonics or aperitifs/digestifs. I’ve never experienced this at a fine dining restaurant before. A few cocktail options wouldn’t hurt.

— I had spectacular food in Thailand, street stalls, small restaurants, Michelin guide spots, etc. Le Du was objectively the worst meal I had there (and the most expensive by...