River Café and Terrace at Peninsula Bangkok (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★☆☆

Most of us have been to Bangkok many times but surprisingly, some of us have never been to the banks of the Chao Phraya River before. Since we didn't have a very busy itinerary today, I thought a day-trip to the river and ICONSIAM (on the other side of the river) would be a nice retreat to the hustle and bustle of the city centre. And for those who haven't been to that part of Bangkok, it would be nice to add the boat ride experience to the trip.

After getting off Saphan Taksin BTS Station, we slowly walked over to the water side. Personally, I was expecting a huge crowd at the Sathorn Pier but I couldn't be more wrong. Amazingly, there was zero lineup!

But I didn't care anyways since we have the express boat service courtesy of Peninsula Hotel Bangkok. 



We didn't have to wait long until a Peninsula Hotel shuttle boat came to pick us up. This turned out to be a very comfortable ride. We got the chance to admire the scenery on both sides of the river and snatched up countless pictures. Too bad the ride only lasted a mere 5 minutes so the enjoyment was very short-lived.





After settling ourselves down at the hotel, I went on to check out our lunch venue, River Café and Terrace. As the name suggests, it's an outdoor café overlooking Chao Phraya River. I thought everyone would appreciate the vibe and most importantly, the view but I was again wrong with my prediction!




Obviously, no one wanted to sit on the terrace in this incredible heat so after consulting with the service team, we decided to move indoor.



River Café and Terrace is a casual eatery at Peninsula Hotel Bangkok famous for their buffets served during breakfast and dinner. Apart from the buffet, they also offer an all-day international food menu during lunch and dinner for those of us looking for a quick bite. I actually had a look at their menu before the trip and it was a short one that surprisingly covered a lot of ground. Not only does it serve up some popular Thai dishes (Phad Thai, Tom Yum Goong, mango sticky rice just to name a few), it also incorporates a variety of international flavors (pasta) into the mix.



Thai Milk Tea (120 Baht) - Oh yeah at last! We missed out on my first Thai milk tea yesterday at Greyhound coz they don't offer it anymore. Had to wait a day to get my fix but it's all worth it. This was very thirst-quenching. I like the abundance of condensed milk and the tea wasn't as strong as the ones from some of these places. In fact, it was very milky which was right up my alley.



Chicken Satay (420 Baht) - Some beloved chicken skewers to start things off. The Thai spiced chicken fillets were grilled to golden brown color and served with the usual peanut sauce and pickled cucumber. Pretty tasty.



Phad Thai Goong Rue Gai (420 Baht) - Stir-fried rice noodles with prawns for the little nugget. I like the balance of sweetness and acidity with these noodles. Yum~!



Tom Yum Goong (480 Baht) - Our first taste of the traditional spicy soup with tiger prawns and lemongrass on this trip. The heat from the ginger and spices was pretty powerful.



Sustainable Hokkaido scallops (800 Baht) - Ordered this for mom coz she's a Hokkaido scallop freak.

These were grilled with a sunflower seed crust, and served on a bed of cauliflower purée and sautéed garlic kale. This dish took a while to arrive and we later learned from the restaurant manager that there was an "accident" in the kitchen as she put it. I immediately thought it was some kind of fire that broke out but luckily, it was just a mishap where they accidentally dropped some of the scallops on the floor. Thus, they had to re-do another one.

The replacement finally came and they weren't bad at all. Just that it didn't have the same size as the Hokkaido scallops we all came to enjoy over the years. And of course, the combination of scallop and cauliflower was a bit boring.



Club Sandwich (550 Baht) - Our sandwich ended up being the last dish to show up despite the freak accident with our Hokkaido scallops.



This was another excellent dish. Love the texture of the multigrain toast combining well with the pan-fried chicken breast, lettuce, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes and fried egg.



The homemade french fries was seriously good too. Underneath the sizzling hot and crunchy crust, the potato was surprisingly soft almost like a mash. I could eat this all day long! (I didn't have a picture of the yummy fries so I had to use one with my sandwich instead).



I was expecting the usual average food from a hotel lobby restaurant and bar but I ended up getting more than what I bargained for. Service was totally up to the standard of a five-star hotel and they even got the food to match it. Adding in the free shuttle boat ride and we got ourselves a pretty good experience all around. Now that we were done here, it's time to head back out to the heat and spend our afternoon at ICONSIAM.




Food Rating: 5.7/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: Terrace Level, Peninsula Hotel Bangkok, 333 Charoennakorn Road, Klongsan, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest BTS Station: Saphan Taksin (and then with shuttle boat at Sahorn Pier)
Tel: +66 (0) 2020-2888
Website: www.peninsula.com/en/bangkok/hotel-fine-dining/river-cafe-terrace-buffet