Le Bouchon — Restaurant in Thung Maha Mek Subdistrict

Had the pleasure of dining with my boyfriend when the French owner was in during my last night in Bangkok, on January 8 this year. Initially, the waitress didn't want us to sit at the bar since he was there but he waved her aside and told her to let us sit down beside him. He was talking to other gentlemen, friends of his obviously. We found this pleasant since we had no reservations and just walked in. We intentionally looked for the place after reading recommendations and reviews from TripAdvisor and Lonely Planet earlier during the day, but figured if we couldn't find seats, we could always hop into a taxi and look for some place else to eat. We're glad we were given the opportunity to experience the French style pub-restaurant.

(Look for a metered taxi that actually uses its meter to avoid being charged twice or thrice the normal fare. A young man in a metered taxi fooled us saying he had a meter but when we sat down and he started driving, we saw his meter wasn't on. When asked about it, he said it was broken. We, however, found an elderly man who was honest and had his meter up on the way back to our hotel in Kaosan Road. We found out that the first man charged us thrice the normal fare and the tuktuks usually charged twice to thrice the right amount so not wise to ride them unless for the novelty.)

Reservations are a must since this place gets pretty packed with expats during the night. We walked in though, but were lucky enough to find two empty seats at the bar. The food is pretty good and the overall experience worth its price. They served complimentary bread while we looked at the menu scrawled in a small blackboard at the bar and ordered our dinner. Had foei gras, frog's legs, and goat cheese salad. Had wine as well. I believe it was pinot noir. I love the food. It alone is enough to make me want to come back. However, do not expect to be served immediately as this is not a fast food joint.

We definitely will come back when we go to Bangkok again. This is one of the restaurants I wish would expand and open a branch back at home. I long to go back and wish I discovered it earlier on...

For some reason I had French twice today. This is where I came for dinner — for the first time. It’s so strange that I pass this place every night but never noticed it.

The restaurant looks like something from a Hemmingway novel. Intimate and full of character. Not an ounce of pretension. The owner is charming and gracious and should be cast in a French film.

I started off with the tomato and chèvre salad. Very simple but absolutely delicious. It’s difficult finding really good tomatoes in Thailand so any chance I get to eat decent ones — I jump at it. I used to love the tomato and olive oil ice cream salad at Eat Me on Soi Convent but they changed the recipe a few months ago. This is my new go-to tomato salad in Bangkok. Very quietly seasoned and rustic but completely what I was looking for. Fabulous!

For my main I had the lamb burger with mixed vegetable and chips. Totally delicious. They were also accommodating enough to give me a side of the au poivre sauce which made it even better. Everything was perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned with lots of understated technique.

For dessert we had the chocolate mousse. Not too sweet with a few slivered almonds and whipped cream.

Cannot say enough good things about this incredibly fantastic...

The experience at Le Bouchon was mostly great, however there were a couple of small issues with the food.

First, the restaurant is gorgeous. It feels elegant, sophisticated, romantic. It’s a lovely space - such a great atmosphere.

The food was mostly good. The duck and foie gras ravioli was excellent. Extremely rich and delicious. The quenelles were absolutely delicious and probably the highlight of the meal.

My issue was with the rack of lamb, which was quite fatty. However, the biggest issue was the cook. I asked for medium rare, but I fear the server heard “rare” as it came out very very rare.

I was too shy to say anything, and the lamb was still fine. But I feel letting it time to cook more could have helped render the fat a little more. Medium rare would have been ideal. I don’t think this is the fault of the food quality, but rather the miscommunication as I asked for med rare and it came rare - almost blue. Attached photos show lamb.

No complaints about the service apart from the miscommunication about the cook of the lamb.

Overall it was a fine experience. I’d probably go back for their lunch specials - but would hesitate ordering...