‹ Bangkok observations (continued) •
The countdown is on… only 3 days till we leave Bangkok. Here’s a couple more thoughts about our trip:
1. Anna’s Cafe (near Sala Daeng) has a vastly over-rated reputation. Service: abysmal. Food: average. General decor: dated, and in sore need of a tidy up. Save your money and go to the S&P restaurant on South Sathorn (excellent service, excellent food, reasonably priced). Actually the S&P on Sathorn is my favourite restaurant in Bangkok. A trip here isn’t completely without more than a few visits for lunch.
2. I first went to Shabu shabu (Sukhumvit 33) about 6 years ago. We’d thought it had closed down, since they never answered the phone when we rang. Turns out we should’ve just taken a drive past, since it hasn’t closed down at all — and is as good as it ever was (meaning it’s about a million times better than the aforementioned Shabushi). What I don’t understand is how the excellent Shabu Shabu can only have one restaurant, when the awful Shabushi has multiple outlets.
3. There’s a distressing increase in the number of restaurants which include the service charge in the bill. Large hotels usually do this, but now smaller chains, and single restaurants appear to be doing the same in larger numbers. I say distressing, because the service from waiting staff in some of these places, is absolutely abysmal. Not in all cases (service in hotel restaurants is generally excellent), but 9 out of 10 establishments we’ve visited, which have the charge included, have had terrible service. Two possibilities: either the staff know they’re getting the tip anyway, so feel no incentive to make an effort — or the restaurant is pocketing the money, and the same is true regarding making an effort.
Not sure what the approach is in Thailand regarding an included service charge accompanied by profoundly indifferent service. In the UK, I’d probably pay the food portion of the bill and leave out the service. In NZ, thankfully we don’t have the problem. But here, I’m not sure whether refusing to pay a service charge is acceptable (my wife has been out of the country long enough that she doesn’t know and we keep forgetting to ask friends).
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