Saneh Jaan (Bangkok, THAILAND) ★★★★☆

After having Spanish food for lunch this afternoon, we’re going to switch back to Thai cuisine tonight. Saneh Jaan, a Michelin-starred restaurant since 2018 will be our dinner venue this evening and it was a pretty easy choice for me. For starters, it is one of the few starred restaurants with a reasonable price tag and, secondly and most importantly, it doesn’t require everyone to order from a multi-course set menu which almost all other Michelin-starred restaurants in Bangkok do these days. 

We made a poor decision by opting to walk all the way from Phloen Chit Station (Jelloman was warned before the trip but she decided to give it a try) and let’s just say that none of us found this walk to be a leisurely one on a hot and humid summer day.

I had to admit I was impressed with the interior décor of Saneh Jaan. It was elegant but not pretentious; subtle but not unsophisticated. There was so much space around here that it felt like we were playing guests at a mansion.

It looked like that everyone was still stuffed from our late lunch at Uno Mas so I decided to order the minimum amount of food hoping not to waste anything while we also managed to check out some signature offerings from the talented kitchen.

Our amuse bouche tonight was salmon salad with Thai herbs and spices. The small piece of salmon, slightly torched was to be eaten with the leaf underneath (I was told to wrap it up into a ball). As expected, this came with a mix of flavors including some extra kick from the spices and fruity notes from what I thought was tamarind. The first and last thing that stood out was the numbing effect which was pretty ever-lasting with most of us immediately reaching out for our iced water. 

Fried river fish cake with sweet dipping sauce (฿390) – This was pretty decent and as usual, it was paired with a Thai sweet chilli sauce.

Stir-fried string beans with shrimp paste (฿390) – A signature appetizer which was hyped up by our server and it didn’t disappoint. The string beans, diced vegetables and minced pork were all working well with the shrimp paste and of course steamed rice.

Thai omelets with crab meat (฿680) – Almost everyone agreed that the super-crispy egg omelette with lump crab meat we had last night was a better version of it than this one. 

Grilled Kurobuta pork with Northeastern dip (฿580) – Tasted a bit like the grilled pork's neck we have back in Hong Kong. The chilli dip and glutinous rice were the perfect companion.

Pad Thai with grilled river prawn (฿590) – The presence of the jumbo river prawn really took this ordinary Pad Thai noodles to a whole new level. Not bad. 

River prawn tom yum soup, kaffir lime, lemongrass and mushroom (฿780) – It’s been a while since I last had tom yum soup and I wasn’t going to pass up the chance to check it out on my second night in Bangkok, especially when we were at a highly regarded Michelin-starred Thai restaurant.

As expected, this came with a strong burst of spiciness only to be overshadowed by the intense acidity from the kaffir lime and lemongrass. A really powerful combination which was nicely complemented by the jumbo-sized river prawn that was so meaty and succulent.

Mussaman curry with chicken (฿450) – I was going to get ourselves some roasted duck in red curry but since many of us couldn't take that level of spiciness, we went with this Mussaman curry instead. 

Saneh Jaan is best known for its traditional Thai cuisine with a modern twist, exquisite presentation, and a focus on high-quality ingredients. All these were at full display along with the impeccable service from the team, making our return visit a forgone conclusion.

Food Rating: 6.5/10

Price: ฿฿฿

Address: 130 Witthayu Road, Lumphini, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand

Closest BTS Station: Phloen Chit

Tel: +66 (0) 2650-9880

Website: https://sanehjaan.com/

Opening Hours: 11:30am - 2:00pm, 6:00pm - 10:00pm daily