Lemongrass, Bangkok

This venerated restaurant can be found about 100 metres into Soi 24 off Sukhumvit Road.

It has been one of the most acclaimed Thai restaurants in Bangkok for many years and it is housed in rustic teak Thai house, with dark wood paneling inside which gives the restaurant a peaceful yet sombre ambience.

Before committing this review to print we dined there on three occasions.

The first night, despite booking and having the reservation confirmed on the day of the visitation, we arrived to find that our names were not on the reservation list.

However a table was found for us but in hindsight it would have been better if they hadn't as what followed was a Keystone Cops routine.

Firstly our entrees arrived and they were not our order.

When they did arrive mine was correct and hers was wrong. I ate mine while she sat and waited for hers. After 15 minutes it arrived but it was barely warm.

The main courses were just OK and with two bottles of beer and a gin and tonic the bill came out at 1100 baht which included 7.5% VAT and a 10% service charge.

As a chef I know only too well from experience that things can go horribly wrong in the kitchen, particularly if a rookie is at the helm.

So we paid another visit a week later, once again being prudent enough to make a reservation.

This time our names were on the reserved list, but we need not have bothered as there were only 12 other diners that evening which could in part be put down the moonsoonal cloudburst that had hit Bangkok an hour earlier, leaving the soi knee high in rain water.

On this second occasion we ordered Tom Young Goon (the litmus test for all Thai food), and the tureen came to the table with sufficient broth for four helpings.

At 200 baht it was one of the most expensive Tom's that we have had and it was no better and no worse that any other eatery in Thailand.

For the main courses we had Duck Red Curry (275 baht), Pork Yellow Curry (275 baht), and a Son Tom salad (200 baht) and two servings of jasmine rice (60 baht).

The food was nowhere near as good as on other visitations over the years and the prices had escalated markedly.

On this terribly wet evening we had two gin and tonics (180 baht each), and two large bottles of Heineken (120 baht each), with the total bill rounding out at just a little short of 2000 baht which at the time equated to $AUD64 which also included the mandatory 7.5% VAT and the equally mandatory 10% service charge.

We felt this was not value for money and the cooking and presentation was no better than a hundred other restaurants in the immediate vicinity whose total tabs would have been very much cheaper.

Once again I was reluctant to put the boot into the revered Lemongrass, so on the third occasion we went with a Swiss chef who has worked in Bangkok for the past three years.

On this final occasion it was deja vu the first.

Our reservation was not on the reserved list, so we sat at the bar for over half an hour drinking some Luke warm Singha until a table was found for us.

We ordered duck soup (185 baht), Tom Young Goon (200 baht), Thai fried noodles (195 baht), Garoupa with chilli and basil (350 baht) and chicken green curry (250 baht) and three serves of jasmine rice (180 baht).

Once again we found the food unremarkable and our Swiss friend Walter agreed.

The tab for this particular evening was almost a Gold Card job as with the drinks at the bar beforehand (430 baht), and six bottles of Heineken with our meals (720 baht), the bill came in at a whopping 2430 baht ($AUD89.00).

So after three visits I think it can be said that I was more than fair in giving Lemongrass a chance to live up to its vaulted reputation.

For us it represented no value for money, it inexplicably failed to record our reservations on two occasion, and its food was nowhere near what it was a few years ago.

Sometimes when a long established restaurant changes hands or head chefs it can lose its ardor and spirit and this is what Walter and I concurred had happened.

VERDICT: Not recommended. No value for money. You could eat just as well nearby for half of the prices charged by Lemongrass.