.Last night was the big night. My wife, granddaughter and I decided it was time to put Bill to the test. As a huge fan of Bill, I also asked Richard
to join us.Before I went, I re-read Bill’s web page about 6 times.
We arrived early. My first impression from the outside was that I thought this was an air conditioned bar. The windows were open, and I could see a lot of fans working overtime
.We entered the place, and to my delight there were substantial furnishings – more than adequate to support my substantial frame
. We said that we would be joined by Richard later, and were lead to the big table in the corner. Even with the fans working overtime, the heat was considerable 
. We said that we wouldn’t order food until Richard arrived, but we ordered drinks. Mine was a cool Singha (no condom or ice) – obviously it didn’t stay cool very long .When Richard arrived he managed to pick me out (obviously my new disguise is not working as this was the first time we had met). Almost immediately after his arrival, the windows were closed and the air conditioning went on – it was going to pay being in the company of a VIP. Once the formalities were out of the way, it was straight down to business – food.
My wife and granddaughter decided to order Thai food. It should be known that my wife was originally refusing (before Richard arrived) to pay Bill’s prices for Thai food
. I explained the obvious overheads etc, and she agreed to eat with us. I’m pleased to say that she and my granddaughter didn’t hold back, and ordered enough food to satisfy both of them. They both said that the food was good - didn’t leave a thing .Me? I couldn’t decide what to order. Richard suggested the Ribs n’ Chicken combo with crinkle cut chips was suited to somebody with a larger appetite (it should be known that I am a very lazy eater, and will not normally select anything with bones). I went with Richard’s suggestion.
When my meal arrived, the presentation was poor. A rack of ribs dumped on top of half a chicken with a few (non-crinkle cut) chips – at least they were real chips. There had been no attempt to make it look nice, and this must be the first meal I’ve ever had in Thailand where they haven’t put a lettuce leaf, 2 slices of tomato and 4 slices of cucumber on the plate for decoration – just as well, I don’t like it anyway.
The meat was nicely cooked and tasted lovely
. I could have used a lot more chips, or a selection of vegetables. I noticed that Richard had a jacket potato with his food. It would have been nice to have had the same choice – the menu did not make the offer.My granddaughter and I decided to have a sweet. Having read Bill’s web page, selection was a no brainer – Brownies – to die for. All that I can say is that life must be cheap in Thailand. Nice – yes; to die for – hardly. At the end of the day, it was just chocolate cake and ice cream
. Overall, the food experience was good. On a rating of 1 to 10, with 10 being excellent, I would score YOBT as a 7.
The prices were a little high, but I know that I could have eaten on the Temple Wall at a fraction of the price, sweating and worried that the plastic chair wouldn’t last the length of my meal. The service charge was also a bit of surprise (although I had read about it on other threads before). 10% seemed a bit excessive. I know that when I explained the service charge theory to my wife, she was a bit put out – she wouldn’t have ever given a tip of 186 Baht to anybody, regardless of how good the service was
.The staff were very attentive, but that was probably to eliminate the boredom factor. We did do a count at one stage – there were 8 staff and 7 customers.
Finally, I have to make a comment on Bill’s toilets (after his recent thread). Yes, they were clean and smelt very nice. Not so sure about the door – seemed more like a prison door once you were locked in. I found it a bit of a distraction having to look Tommy Cooper in the eye whilst peeing. Having thought about the urinal, I have been wondering whether it was a joke, and maybe I shouldn’t have been using it at all – hence the picture of Tommy Cooper. I am 6’ 5” and could just reach it. I would love to have seen a Thai man trying to use it. Unless he had a fire hose inside his trousers, he’d stand no chance
.Overall, not a bad experience this time. Would I return? On my own, probably the answer would be yes. However, I’m probably always out with my wife, and I don’t think she’d want to pay the price – especially the service charge.
Thanks for the kind words 
Oh so true
