A Chinese Culinary Odyssey at Yao Restaurant

Surawong Road in Bangkok is a storied road and a counterpart to Silom Road. The history of the area and name of the road are anecdotes for another day though. Today we head to a hotel located on Surawong Road, for a Chinese culinary odyssey.

Bangkok Marriott Hotel The Surawongse has a lot going on for them. A storied road, an illustrious owner and some of the best hotel marketing campaigns recently. The hotel is also leafy-green and has a lot of open spaces for meetings and events. Gracing the top deck of the hotel is Yao Restaurant – and that’s where we went for lunch.

Overlooking downtown Bangkok from the 32nd floor, Yao Restaurant celebrates both the traditional and innovative. Indulge in a sophisticated atmosphere, panoramic rooftop vistas and inspired culinary creations is the prime directive on their website – and we did just that. Upon arrival, we were ushered into a private room, and the floor-to-ceiling expansive windows provided the panoramic vistas. The sky hugging towers of Sathorn and beyond the river… and the cacophony of sounds down below felt like many realms away. We were shielded, in this Chinese sanctuary, almost in the clouds.

Lunch began with an assortment of Dim Sum baskets. The steamed rice noodle rolls were big enough for sharing and the sauce, just the right balance of sweet and other flavours. If given the chance, best not to share! The pan-fried turnip cake is a must of course in any dimsum lunch – it is a clear and easy litmus test, and at Yao – it was flying colours all the way. You can also ask for a side of that spicy XO sauce, for all the extra oomph…

Tip: Make room for ordering a second or third portion of their Foie Gras with Shrimp Dumpling. Their crispy pork platter also hit all the right notes when one imagines what a crispy pork should and can be. The hoisin sauce had a tinge of wasabi added and brought it to new heights. At this point in the lunch, we decided against more pork as the Peking Duck would soon roll in [Up the volume for imperial Chinese music]

Here at Yao, they added caviar into the duck eating ritual. We still dream of the accompanying lychee jam till today. It was that good…

After savouring the duck skin in the expected ritual, diners will need to select an option for the duck meat. For wok-fry options, choose between minced meat served with green salads or duck slices with black pepper. Or go the deep frying way, with garlic in abundance.

There is also an additional soup option with pickled Chinese plum and tofu. As time went by and some memories did fade, this hearty soup brought it home. It was just like how grandma used to make back in the heydays. Bring out the rice, and this itself is a simple and elegant meal to have with family and friends.

For desserts, four choices are presented in their menu. We highly recommend their chilled Pang Da Hai (malva nuts) with sea coconut – a very cooling dish. Malva nuts have a lot of health benefits too. The chilled poached pear with Bird’s Nest and Aloe Vera Jelly is Insta-perfect, and not overly sweet.

Still not convinced to come for a meal? For more pictures and latest promos, check out their social channels @yaobangkok