Bangkok is known for its food scene, and every time we’re in Bangkok, we always make it a point to visit a nice restaurant. After browsing many reviews online, I came across Saawaan and decided to give it a go. This is our Saawaan review, without sugarcoating.
Note: we not professional food reviewers, this is piece is just purely our opinion.
About Saawaan
Saawaan is located in a shophouse along Suanplu Road, in the Sathorn area of Bangkok. The cosy restaurant sits about seven tables, in a dimly-lit space decorated in colourful wallpaper against wooden flooring.
Saawan is a fine dining Thai restaurant with each of the dishes representing a technique or concept commonly found in traditional Thai cooking, such as fermenting, boiling and steaming. Saawaan was awarded a Michelin Star in 2019 but lost it in 2023, and hasn’t regained it since.
The current 8 course menu (THB 2,790) also comes with 3 “free” items, an amuse-bouche, palate cleanser and petit four. A wine pairing is available for an additional THB 1,990. This menu we had in December 2024 has been around for about 9 months now, and they told us they would be changing it out soon.
Reservations
It was easy for us to get a reservation just a week before our meal. The place also wasn’t full during our 8.30pm seating on a Friday night.
Amuse-Bouche
The dinner started with the first “free” dish, an amuse-bouche, comprising of a chilli meringue, som tum, shallot mousse, fish sauce cake and torch ginger tart. Yes, the chilli meringue was spicy, but just a tiny bit. The shallot mousse was interesting, in a good way, as I’ve never thought shallot and mousse would ever a good combination.
Raw
The raw dish features Ranong blue swimmer crab in finely cut mango, complemented with mango jelly and sauce, as well as locally sourced cashew nuts from Phang Nga province.
Though not a fan of mango, the mango was really the main star of this dish. It was a waste that the mango did overpower the crab and I hardly tasted any traces of crab.
Fermented
The fermented dish is a take on the fermentation technique widely used in southern Thailand, featuring krill, Ratchaburi pork jowl and Phuket pineapple. The pineapple-flavoured foam added an interesting texture to this dish.
Yum
Hairy fruited eggplant nestled between layers of yolk and white from Nakhon Pathom organic eggs are used for the Yum dish. This was one of the most forgettable dishes; I only remembered this dish existed when browsing through my photos.
Boiled
Another dish that is inspired by southern Thai cooking techniques, the boiled dish features French Charolais beef in a double-boiled broth.
We gave the beef and broth a good stir to ensure well mixed before consuming it. The combination was great, but the broth got a little too spicy towards the end for me.
Steamed
At the centre of the steamed dish is a line-caught Ranong squid, som saa (bitter orange), kalamansi, lime and kaffir lime.
The squid was steamed right by our table, in a pretty cool short presentation. I would say the presentation really carried this dish, as the squid tasted a little bland after the intense broth from the dish before.
Palate Cleanser
The palate cleanser was a lime sorbet. Honestly, not too much to say about this.
Charcoal
The star of the dish is a Phuket slipper lobster chargrilled over charcoal and finished with fresh herbs. This dish was inspired by an ancient Thai chilli paste known as Nam Prik Bai Tum Mang.
Curry
This dish draws inspiration from the southern thai class, curry soup with chicken. The curry is crafted with French Poularde (chicken), banana stalk, bacon and coconut milk, accompanying rice encased in banana leaf.
Similar to the steamed squid dish, the presentation for this dish outshone the actual dish itself. Having rice right out of the banana leaf was an interesting first-time experience for us, but the rice was nothing to shout about.
Dessert
In my opinion, the most basic dish, the dessert is a house-made peanut cream with Thai chocolate ganache, coffee foam, chocolate malt crystal gel and homemade vanilla ice cream.
Petit Four
The final dish was comprised of 4 bite-sized confectioneries — a pandan tart, a pink guava pate de fruit, a lychee choux and a Thai tea ganache.
Service
Personally, I think service can make or break my opinion of a restaurant. Although good service may not save really bad food, bad service will definitely leave a bad taste.
The service we received at Saawaan really leaves much to be desired. The service staff felt really judgemental, and seldom made direct eye contact with me when introducing the dishes. I’m not too sure how to describe it, but the vibe just did not feel good, like as though the place was “above” us.
We arrived at Saawaan about 30 minutes before our scheduled dining time, and were shown to a waiting area upstairs. However, we weren’t given any instructions; weren’t told if the staff would come get us when it was time and weren’t offered any water as well. Basically, we were just left there, clueless.
Conclusion, Final Ratings
The food at Saawaan is good, no doubt. The interesting textures and flavours really shows why they were awarded the Michelin star from 2019 – 2022.
The food rating below was given because I enjoyed ingredients that I usually would not have, like mangoes and shallots. Presentation also played a big part and it is definitely a something Saawaan puts a lot of effort into. We noticed that every dish came with a different set of utensils, all of different styles. Overall, it is a good meal, especially for the price.
Price: 5/5
Food quality and taste: 4/5
Ambience: 3/5
Service: 2/5
Address: 39/19 Soi Suanplu, Sathorn Road, Thungmahamek, Sathorn, Bangkok 10120 Thailand
Seatings: 5.30pm and 8.30pm
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