1. Everybody loves a great view so whether you’re visiting here or you live here you owe it to yourself
to check out a view of the city that’s hard to duplicate. And, you can have dinner or drinks at the
same time. I’m talking about taking a trip to Vertigo, the rooftop restaurant of the Banyan Tree Hotel
on Sathorn Road. This is my favorite high-level restaurant in the city. Yes, I do like the Red Sky on 55
complex at the Centara Grand Hotel and its views but the layout of Vertigo and its Moon Bar appeal
to me more.
Maybe it’s the fact that you can see the entire space at once unlike Red Sky where the different
spaces are not visible from each other. Or maybe it’s the fact that at Vertigo you can lean over the
railing and literally look down on the city. If you scared of heights don’t go here. If you love a great
view this is one of the most exhilarating rooms where you’ll ever dine. You feel as if you’re on top of
one of the most vibrant cities in the world while you eat and drink. Of course, when it’s raining the
restaurant is closed but during the dry season, November-May, you can almost be assured that it will
be open. And even during the rainy season it’s usually open because the rains here hardly ever last
longer than 30 minutes or so and are usually in the late afternoon.
It’s not all about the view here, however, as the food is inventive and varied and the wine, while a
bit pricey (as everywhere in Thailand, in all fairness) is also good. Though varied, the menu is not
really big with four soups, six seafood dishes, six meat and poultry dishes and eight vegetarian
dishes. The starters list is good-sized, though, with a decided emphasis on seafood and a specialty of
oysters which come from France and the U.S. and can be ordered by the half-dozen or dozen. The
menu doesn’t list exactly what variety the oysters are so they may be subject to availability and
freshness.
I’ve had several good meals here at different stages of the restaurant’s development and I’ve always
had good meals here. Be prepared to spend more here than you would at most restaurants in
Bangkok but the prices are substantially lower than at another high-altitude restaurant complex
that’s not far away. The chefs work hard and make what seem like fairly regular changes to the
menu. For instance, the steak had the first time I ate here is no longer on the menu. An appetizer
that I enjoyed last time is still on the menu, however, and that’s the Kobe beef carpaccio. I always
order beef carpaccio when I see it on any menu and compare it to the best carpaccios I’ve had over
the years. Kobe beef, in case you haven’t tried it, is a Japanese product that comes from cows that
are hand massaged and fed beer (we should all be so lucky) and the meat is highly marbled and very
rich, not to mention expensive. But the flavor is superb and it gives new meaning to the word
carpaccio.
There are many other dishes on the menu that will interest you too, whether it’s the foie gras
sampler, the truffle-scented asparagus soup with seared foie gras, the broiled snowfish, a house
specialty, the roasted wild Tasmanian salmon or perhaps the veal cheek crepinette. The chances are
excellent hat you’ll be satisfied with these and many other dishes here. And there is one thing that
you will definitely be satisfied with here and that is the view, because it’s one of a kind.