Thailand Tatler Best Restaurants Review
The other day I picked up a copy of Thailand Tatler 2008 book which is Thailand’s closest equivalent to the Michelin Guide that we have in Europe to rate resturants. I got the chance to digg deap inside the book over the weekend and I thought I’d give you my opinions of the Thailand Tatler book here:
Overview
The book starts out with a few articles from covering the basics of dining in Thailand (such as tipping etc.) to the role of the Restaurant Sommelier (which was quite interesting). The book features restaurants in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Koi Samui however the main focus is restaurants based in Bangkok.
Each restaurant is graded a number from 1 to 10 in three different areas: food, choice of wine and service. There is also a handy meter for average pricing of meals.
You can buy the book from Asia Books priced at 350b and American Express card holder’s can enjoy discounts/promotions on selected restaurants mentioned in the book.
The reviews are questionable
Out of the 150 Bangkok based restaurants in Thailand Tatler 2008, I’m guessing I’ve visited around 30 of them and I personally wouldn’t necessarily agree with the ratings for the food, however the ratings for the service, price and wine lists are spot on.
Gengai is prominent
You can tell Thai’s have written the reviews as when they say something slightly negative it’s always followed up by some good points – A common trait among Thai’s being Geng Jai. It’s almost like they don’t want to offend the restaurant owners by being honest, which defeats the point of a restaurant review publication for me.
Lot’s of grammar mistakes
I was quite surprised for a magazine of this calibre, which has been around for a good few years and is sponsored by American Express, with the number of grammar errors and with many sentences just don’t seem to flow. It doesn’t bother me at all, but would it bother you?
Lot’s of missing images
A picture says a thousand words right? Well, there are more than a handful of restaurants that do not have any supporting images for their listings which is a real shame and let down. Surely they could have at least got a picture of the restaurant entrance or something.
It’s great to find new restaurants
With all of the above set aside, this is a great little book that will let you find new restaurants very easily and quickly by cuisine or location. There are 3 restaurants in the book that are located only a small walk from my home that I never new existed, so from the view of buying the book to find new restaurants it’s well worth the 350b if you take your dining remotely serious.
Have you read Thailand Tatler before? What were your thoughts?
Dear Chris,
I am very glad to read your review about the Thailand tatler as I am quite sceptical concerning the ratings too.
The pictures are missing because the restaurants do not pay to have a picture with the review which is a nonsense to me.
The guide is interesting when you do not know Thailand(tourist) and where to eat but I can’t rely on their rating and prefer to go to the restaurant and make my own idea about the place and food.
Culinary yours,
If pictures are missing because restaurants will not pay to have them included, you have to question whether restaurants are also excluded for the same reason? We have all seen examples where it’s so obvious that a restaurant or company has paid for a favourable review, without it being clearly mentioned the article is a paid-for advertorial. It happens far too much.
I guess this is business nowadays… ad revenue just isn’t enough… shame
The whole guide is a paid advertorial… the inconsistencies are glaring, how are the restaurants picked… does Amex have a say in which restaurants go in based on how much revenue they earn from each of them… it would me nice to know how the outlets are picked…
You comment about the grammar errors in the book, but maybe you should check your own words.
You cannot ‘digg deap’ inside the book but you can dig deep into your pockets.
You will note my people that the guide is the ‘Best’ restaurants. Now i don’t think that they would choose a horrible place just to slate in the review. All these places, i know by experience, have been chosen because the editors feel they are the top places. negative reviews just won’t happen too often unless the reviewer has a particularly bad night.