Found along the coast of marine drive, Ban Thai Seafood Restaurant hasn't been around too long. In fact, they only opened up about a month ago and somehow fit themselves into the restaurant scene without much effort.
With a bunch of good reviews on their social media platforms and some pretty stellar looking dishes, we decided to leave it all aside and give them a shot.
Ambience
Ban Thai Seafood is on Marine Drive and is also connected to the Ban Thai Spa that also happens to be the other half of the building. It seems slightly dodgy at first considering how we were literally directed to a flight of stairs leading to a Thai Spa, but the restaurant is on the first floor.
So, while it may be a tad intimidating at first, all fear pretty much leaves when you go into the restaurant.
With plenty of seating to seat at least 30 people without any effort, the ambience at Ban Thai Seafood Restaurant essentially comprised of air conditioning, comfy seats, a dimmed out sea view and plenty of brown/ golden-hued walls to tie it all together. All in all, we liked it. It was clean, comfy and we couldn't find anything to complain about this one.
The Food
Ban Thai may be a seafood restaurant, and while they do have a whole heap of seafood-based dishes, they also have meats along the lines of pork and chicken to satiate those of you who can't handle just seafood.
Take the Tom Yum Soup (Rs. 900) for instance. They have at least a dozen soup options and even the chicken version of the Tom Yum if you're interested. Thankfully, we decided to go with the seafood, and boy are we glad we went with this.
A portion big enough for 2, the Tom Yum Soup was brilliant. Hands down, one of the best Tom Yum's we've had in a while.
With a light woody creaminess seeping in from the coconut milk, shards of acid from the lemongrass and a sharp sweetness from the ginger, we loved this one. Spiced to the point where you could feel the back of your throat burning when you take a sip but not too much that you'd have any leftovers and having lots of cut-up squid and whole prawns in the dish, this deserves a kudos from us.
If you do happen to go to Ban Thai, get the Tom yum soup – the small serving is easily enough for two.
This is the portion of Stir-Fried Vegetables (Rs. 700). A combination of carrots, greens, baby corn and mushrooms, it was great. The Veggies were super fresh and with enough seasoning to kick it up a notch but not too far that you can't taste the veggies, this was more of a chop suey, but we couldn't, no, didn't want to complain. We loved it.
The Spicy Seafood (Rs. 1100) was one of the more pricy dishes we got. Essentially a heap of cut-up squid and prawns in a peppery, chilli-ed up broth type sauce, this was brilliant. The meat was super fresh and balanced everything out wonderfully and the broth was the literal epitome of a good dish. It wasn't too oily, not too salty and giving enough room for us to taste the seafood in itself, we positively loved this one.
Service
Bringing our food within minutes of us ordering, the service at Ban Thai Seafood Restaurant is brilliant. The staff is from Thailand, and if you've got any questions about the food, they are happy to clarify.
Conclusion
The food at Ban Thai can be a tad expensive, but we'd say it's worth it. It's a solid place if you're looking for some good Thai fare with a super authentic touch.
