Ruen Urai — Restaurant in Si Phraya Subdistrict

Found this restaurant of a gem off the main street, nestled in a small road and behind the Rose Residence hotel.

Overlooking the hotel's small pool and garden, the restaurant is cozy with an indoor and outdoor seating area. I'd recommend sitting indoor unless you prefer to feed mozzies. Even though we were seated inside, we were still not spared of a few bites!!

Service is friendly but not the most attentive and they sometimes appear a little overwhelmed, and may take a while to respond to your requests.

The food however is spot on. Authentic, perfectly seasoned and tasty. feels like I've come to a friend's home for a meal cooked by his mother. It's unpretentious and homely. Very often you need to go out of the city to get such home cooked yet delicious meals, so we are just glad we found this place.

Every dish, with the exception of the deep fried vegetable, was delicious. I'd even say, the green curry is the best I've ever had in a while. It had the right consistency and spiciness (though it might taste salty if you take it without rice). The pomelo salad was unique and the stuffed chicken tasty. The deep fried veg tasted more of dough than veg, and were unfortunately bland. That was the only letdown.

We didn't have any dessert as it wasn't anything different from what we usually see. I do think if there's a special dish they could serve as sweets, that would've really finished dinner off nicely.

Still a very good meal IMHO and I'd def come back, even if it's just for the green curry! Sorry no pics of the curry as we devoured it...

The food was good and the portions were good too. Food wasn't a problem and that's not the reason of my 1 star review. But from the beginning to the end the service was one of the worst I never had and I'm in Thailand since 13 years. Firstly they don't update the website so one of the special Menu that we wanted to take for my mother birthday weren't available anymore.They justified that by the fact that most of the dishes were on the menu but it's wasn't true AND we had then to.choose between endless propositions that wasnt easy to put togheter to get a proprer experience of the food. Secondly they don't have half to the red wines that were proposed in the wine Menu so no wines for the dinner. 3rd They mistake almost EVERYTHING we asked. It was so absurd that we decided that it was better to.laugh instead of being mad. And lastly I communicated with the restaurant for prepare a birthday cake for my mom and of course they didn't prepare anything after promised me by Facebook messenger that they would have take care of it... Fortunately it's the first time of my Mom in Thailand and it was her birthday so she was still smiling and happy but I prefer to warned people that if they are looking for a peaceful night it won't be there as it's difficult to get an understanding from that...

Once I gave here 5 stars. A thai restaurant that knows how to season the food. Most of the thai cooking over seasoned that no character of the ingredient shall be pronounced, but Reuan Urai is well balancing the seasoning and let's the ingredient reveal its beauty in each dish. It should be noted that though most of the customers are foreigner but the they prepare with the taste for Thai tongue.

Revisit on Dec 2017 The cooking changed so much. I assumed the chef has changed. Once Ruan Urai's strong characters was that it does pronounce the taste of the main ingredient with refinement. I also saw this type of interpretation of Thai cuisine at Nara (under ground of Erawan Hotel). Nara has intension to show its taste of main ingredient without overshadow by seasoning, but unfortunately the technique was not yet well precipitate, while the concept well precipitate in previos Ruan Urai and make the cooking of Ruan Urai is an outstanding with a unique character. But I found Ruan Urai totally lost this cooking character on my last visit. There was nothing special anymore. It is just a plain cooking that you may find anywhere in Bangkok. Ruan Urai provide Thai regional dishes from North, North East, as well as South, but no regional character could be achieved. Thus, I re-ranking...