Royal Thai cuisine in the opulent Dubai Dusit Thani
Posted on 01 July 2009 with no comments from readers
For lovers of Thai cuisine the best place in Dubai is undoubtedly the Benjarong restaurant on the 24th floor of the Dusit Thani hotel in the Sheikh Zayed Road downtown district.
The hotel itself is unmissable as it is shaped like the traditional Thai greeting of two palms pressed together, and the interior of the Benjarong is equally distinctive with its original hardwoods, actually specially manufactured in the style of a Thai house and shipped to Dubai.
Thai style
So you are eating in an upper-class Thai home at the top of a Dubai skyscraper, and it also now has one of the best views of the new Burj Dubai, the world’s tallest building. However, the main delight of this restaurant is the food.
Royal Thai is a variety of Thai cuisine first invented for the king. Dishes are beautifully presented with flowers carved from vegetables, the best china and silver cutlery. Staff are elegantly attired in Thai silk and work to the highest service standards.
This is the most refined of Thai cooking. The attention to freshness and flavor is reminiscent of French nouvelle cuisine, although the delicate spices are definitely Asian.
Seafood is recommended with steamed snapper immaculately presented, or for a more typical Thai dish then chicken with cashew nuts is also a masterpiece. The Benjarong starter selection is an excellent choice with tasty satay sticks and prawn parcels.
To finish fried sweet bananas are beautifully complemented by coconut ice-cream that is clearly of the chef’s own creation, and this is a Thai hotel chain that prides itself on sourcing its own national staff.
Sensible prices
This is a great restaurant for a special romantic evening or as a place to impress business guests. But the nicest surprise is that the menu prices do not seem to have experienced anything close to the same degree of inflation as some Dubai hotels, and the Benjarong is a rare example of really good value for money.
Actually that is true of the Dusit Thani hotel rooms as well. Its rooms cost from $110 a night at the moment, and are the cheapest five-star rooms available in Dubai, without any compromise on quality.
