A stay at the Dusit Thani Manila wouldn’t be complete without eating at their Benjarong Thai restaurant. So far, I’ve eaten in Dusit’s Tosca Italian Restaurant and UMU Japanese restaurant. The latter remains my favorite but I guess it depends on the person’s taste 🙂
The resto has “stately” interiors and evokes formal fine dining. What greets diners upon entering are these attractive, different sized porcelain ware hanging on the wall. Benjarong literally means “five colors.”
When it comes to the food, honestly am now more biased to the homegrown Thai restaurants that dot the metro. Good Thai food isn’t just limited to these five-star hotels. But I have to say the pad thai at Benjarong bowled me over. I would have been turned off if this was sweetish (like it tastes in some restos) but how it was seasoned & the flavors all blending together were just perfect!
What would Thai cuisine be without curry? The yellow chicken curry was good, with just the right kind of spiciness. I wonder if they adjust the flavors to suit the Filipino taste.
Another Thai classic that shouldn’t be missed is the Crispy Catfish Salad. I call this the “Di Ko Mawari” (I Can’t place this) Salad because of the contrasting textures & flavors – sour,sweet,salty, spicy etc. Weird but good…in fact, addicting!
The stir-fried kailan with salted fish was delightful to eat. For a while there, I thought I was enjoying some healthy Chinese food.
Another interesting dish: deep-fried dried shrimps with shallots & herb sauce in pastry cups. Eyecatching presentation, but I’d rather stick with the popular Thai cuisine classics.
Marjorie and I were laughing that the pomelo salad disappeared from our sight before we could even taste it. Maybe because they ordered one salad to to share among 16 persons? LOL.
So okay, my dinner mate was not Marjorie Barretto but Marjorie Uy, the better half of Jonel… they’re a blogging husband-and-wife team.
It was just as good that the pomelo salad disappeared. We were too full to eat the rest of the food….these are the not-too-outstanding ones from the menu.
Baked pork spare ribs with pineapple. Am really not too fond of dishes with pineapple (except Jollibee’s Amazing Aloha!)
Steamed mussels with lemon grass and basil leaves.
Dessert: Ripe mango with sticky rice.
Benjarong Royal Thai Restaurant
Mezzanine Level
Dusit Thani Manila
Ayala Center, Makati City
Philippines
Tel. No. 867-3333 ext 3351
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