Saturday Brunch Bangkok – W does brunch
It’s not easy to find a Saturday brunch in Asia. Sunday seems to be the appointed day, no matter what the city, and that usually works out just fine for us, with Sunday night being a popular time to fly home to Australia.
On a recent trip to Bangkok and Hua Hin, where we availed ourselves of a Luxury Escapes voucher for our accommodation, we were due to fly out on a Saturday night. We had no late checkout privileges so that precipitated a thorough online search for long lunch options. Happily, with the W Hotel in Silom, we came up trumps.
At the moment (Greedy Girl can’t swear if this continues year round), the W Hotel has Saturday brunch on two Saturdays in any given month. We just happened to be lucky enough to be in Bangkok on the right Saturday. A short ride on the excellent (if crowded) Bangkok Sky Train, we headed for North Sathorn Road and could see the top of the hotel from the elevated train platform.
Following the signs, however, takes you into a commercial building and the signage once inside is somewhat haphazard. It’s probably easiest to stay outside and just walk around the corner, although the sun beating down in the middle of the day can be fearsomely hot.
Undeterred, we found our way into the W Hotel’s lobby and then searched around for the signs to the Kitchen Table restaurant, which happened to be on the second floor. There are a number of options for brunch, in terms of alcohol. A continuous pour of Prosecco, as well as wines, beers and a number of cocktail stations is 3100 Thai bhat per person (plus tax and service charge). Food alone is 2500 bhat, so the booze package is quite a reasonable deal.
Given wristbands so the wait staff can easily see what you’ve purchased, we were shown into a large, long dining room past a range of food and booze stations. The spread was hugely impressive; wonderful arrays of seafood, sushi, roast meats, desserts, even a taco station – but Greedy Girl is getting ahead of herself.
Shown to a table by the windows, we found ourselves deposited right underneath a huge loudspeaker. The Saturday brunch features a DJ playing what can only be described as ‘doof doof’ music – and it’s seriously loud. Given we actually like to talk to each other while eating, it was a bit hard on the senses. The friendly staff were happy to move us to the other end of the dining room where we sat behind one of the speakers instead of in front. Sorted.
While Greedy Girl loves her bubbles, there’s only so much Prosecco she can drink. On offer was a Pitars Cuvee Stella from Friuli Venezia-Giulia. It’s a reasonably light and fruity sparkling but could have been a bit drier for Greedy Girl’s taste. Still, it was a decent wine.
And so we dived into the food. Gluttonous husband headed for the oysters and seafood while Greedy Girl took a variety of sushi and sashimi.
Part of the seafood selection
Yummy sushi and sashimi
Is there any better way to start a brunch? Greedy Girl thinks not. The quality of the produce here was excellent and replenished often – which was just as well given there were a lot of large tables in the restaurant.
Of course, we immediately looked to see if any foie gras was available. Greedy Girl spied slices of cold foie gras on top of grilled bread and helped herself.
Cold foie gras
This wasn’t prepared as well as Greedy Girl would have liked. The bread, despite the grill marks, was still soft and it needed to be toasted and a bit crunchy to give texture to the foie gras.
Gluttonous husband decided to check out the taco station. All the ingredients are lined up and the friendly chefs assemble them to order, including toasting the taco shell. We were a long way from Mexico but these tacos were pretty delish.
Good tacos!
Greedy Girl spied a number of satay sticks and helped herself to an utterly delicious chorizo skewer, as well as chicken and beef varieties. The added fat in the chorizo made it delectable but the other skewers were a bit dry. Gluttonous husband went to get some for himself and was disappointed to find there was no peanut sauce to accompany them. No problem, said the affable chef, and promptly made gluttonous husband a dish. Sensational stuff.
Chicken, beef or chorizo?
A yummy peanut sauce
Greedy Girl decided it was time for some more meat and had already noted the very impressive ribeye at the roast station.
The roast station
The chef talked her into having some brisket alongside the roast ribeye and while it didn’t do a lot for her, not really enjoying the texture, gluttonous husband hoovered it up. There were a range of sides available, but we took a simple coleslaw, mashed potato and a very good Yorkshire pudding.
Feed the girl meat …
Starting to struggle, we were about to investigate dessert options when gluttonous husband made another discovery – pan seared foie gras with drops of a fruit sauce (pictured at the top of this post). Huzzah! So rich, so decadent …
And it was time to have a sweet treat. Sadly, the display had been picked over quite substantively and there was little of Greedy Girl’s preferred chocolate on offer. She did manage to get a couple of churros but these had been cooked a fair while before and had gone cold and a bit soggy. She brought back a mini Magnum ice-cream for gluttonous husband.
Mini magnum ice-cream
Part of the dessert selection
We ordered double espressos and, having had more than enough of everything, looked to depart.
This was a real bonus for travellers looking to fill in a day between checking out of the hotel and heading to the airport. We settled up, wandered back to the train to retrieve our luggage from the hotel and made the hair raising trip out to the airport in Bangkok’s chaotic traffic.
If you’re looking for a Saturday brunch, Bangkok seems to be the way to go.
A bold and bright dining room
W Does Brunch
W Hotel Bangkok
106 North Sathorn Road, Silom, Bangkok,
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