Celadon, Bangkok, Thailand, tasted on December 3, 2005 — In general, eating alone is no way to eat. Eating is a social experience meant to be shared. Social interaction aside, when you're trying to get a sense of a restaurant, going with many people is best so you can try as many dishes as possible. Imagine how difficult it is to try a bunch of dishes when you're not only eating alone, but the food is served family style (as it is in most Thai restaurants). I suppose that's all I can really complain about given how good the food was at Celadon, a super interesting and refined Thai restaurant at the Sukkothai hotel in Bangkok.

Celadon is a beautiful restaurant. Thai design is gorgeous in general with all the dark wood. The modern lines combined with the antique sculptures and icons are just beautiful. It was still my first day in Thailand so I decided to order calmly and  have at least one thing that I knew so I could acclimate my stomach slowly. Chicken Satay fit the bill. You might argue that chicken satay is so simple, why order it if you're trying to see whether there's any talent in the kitchen. I claim that the simpler dishes are the true litmus tests because there's no hiding if they aren't good. When something is simple, the flavor has to be right out in front. And it's easy tell when it isn't.

No worries with the satay at Celadon. The meat was buttery and creamy. The peanut sauce had sweet and roasted qualities. Though only accompaniments, the cucumbers were excellent too. Attention anyone who makes food for other human beings and cares about quality. Attention to detail makes a difference. A big difference. The cucumbers had these ridges and were sliced small and super thin. Their texture was super enjoyable especially in combination with the chicken.

When you spend this much time telling others what you think of various food experiences it's important to know your own blind spots, limitations, and biases. I won't claim to be introspective and secure enough to know them all (much less admit them) but I will point out that I am a sucker for refined ethnic cuisines. And Celadon was definitely refined Thai food. It's not that the ingredients changed, or the recipes were modernized. It's just that things were done with care and precision. Refined to me is the opposite of rustic. I like both, but I really adore refined. The flavors feel clean and pure to me. And while Celadon plays the refined notes well, I was also pleased to see that their dishes could be hearty at the same time. Case in point was my next dish - Green Curry of River Fish Dumplings. In terms of trying new things, this seemed like a good idea. Frankly, the fish balls were amazing. They had a slight rubbery quality in a good way (like a sausage or Vietnamese beef ball should). The texture was super smooth and the flavor was deep. These were heavenly.

Celadon has a dirty little secret - it's in a hotel. The Sukkothai hotel to be exact. And frankly, hotel restaurants are almost never good. This is because hotels need restaurants on premises (to serve room service, breakfast, etc.). In order to entice restaurants to reside on premises they either create them on their own (following their own mass market formulas) or the subsidize the restaurant's existence. Either way, the staff of the restaurant are almost never competing for business. They have a sure thing. It doesn't matter how bad they do as the hotel will never shut them down. They can't. This atmosphere makes for lousy food. This however appears to be mainly an American phenomenon. In Asia, forget it. Some of the best restaurants I've eaten at are in hotels. And Celadon is no exception.

For my final dish (I know it's a bummer that I only had three) I got a regional specialty from central Thailand. I thought that would mix things up a bit. I ordered Baked Yellow Curry Rice with Prawn, Chinese Pork Sausage, and Eggs.  This was a perfect complement to the spicy curry. The rice was sweet but not overly so. Normally I'm not someone who enjoys an emphasis on the sweet part of the spectrum, but the little juice pineapple cubes were super enjoyable. The dish was also covered with (what I think were) coconut filaments. Well, to be honest, I'm not sure what they were exactly but they tasted like coconut cotton candy.

This was pretty much a superb first day in Bangkok. My lunch at essentially a grandma's restaurant was excellent as was my dinner at a high end hotel restaurant. (By the way, the high end here was also pretty cheap - $6 for an entree.) So far I'm pretty much in love with Bangkok and the food at  has to offer.