Review

Food journeys have become a somewhat trendy approach to describe dining, where meals become as much social media content as food. Praya Dining brings a literal meaning to the concept, given its private riverside locale, reachable only by boat. Your culinary experience begins on the banks of the Chao Phraya to board an exclusive boat to a century-old Palladian-style mansion, now the charming 15-room Praya Palazzo hotel, appropriately named, given its many Italian design touches. The ride is a particularly enjoyable pace-setter before arriving, disembarking, and entering a serene dining room filled with antiques, artifacts, and photographs reflecting Siam’s key historical periods. Here, one will enjoy a menu that offers Royal Thai specialties from nearly a thousand years of culinary history. Chef Jo Patnithi makes daily market trips to ensure each dish is assembled with the freshest of ingredients. Select a dish from each era, such as Rattanakosin’s sang wa gong, a spicy grilled prawn and catfish combination, or Sukhothai’s moo phad som siew, a stir-fried pork in a “forgotten” yellow chili paste that is perfectly balanced and packed full of flavour, and Ayutthaya’s beef Massaman, Australian beef in red curry slow-cooked to deliver silky succulence. Chef-selected traditional desserts round off an experiential food journey through time. Complement your dishes with a well-priced, three-glass wine package.