Nara is one of my go-to restaurants whenever I travel to Bangkok for work. In my previous job, I travelled to Bangkok almost every 3 months and I would always go to Nara for my meal. Since I started this blog after I changed my job, I realised I have never reviewed Nara so this time round I made sure I visited Nara again
There are a few outlets for Nara in Bangkok and we went for the one at Central World which is also one of the most crowded since this mall is highly visited by many tourists. With many awards like Best Restaurant and Michelin Guide under its belt, Nara is well-loved by affluent Thais as well as foreigners
From the last time I visited before 2018, the outlet at Central World has expanded to double its capacity with a renovation to better utilised their space for tables and convert the outdoor area to seating space as well. The overall decor of the restaurant is opulent with its signature purple sofas, hanging lanterns and gold-coloured wall ornaments
We waited for almost 1 hour before getting a table at the outdoor area. One of the dishes I will always order is the yellow curry crab but as we did not wish to use our hands, we order the river prawn version instead. The river prawn was grilled before being laid on top of a plate of thick yellow curry gravy. The prawn was fresh and the meat very bouncy and the taste of the curry was still smooth and savoury. It was not overly spicy but had a light fragrance from the spice and coconut cream. I still like the dish except they stopped serving the normal prawns version so this river prawn version was too pricey for just 1 prawn in my opinion
We also had the Thai prawn cakes which were served with a side dipping sauce of sweet and spicy chilli sauce. The prawn cakes were springy and soft at the same time and were great when paired with the sweet and spicy sauce
This other dish I like is the fried pork belly with morning glory which is stir-fried with garlic and cut chillis. The pork belly was fried till extremely crispy and added an additional layer of flavour and texture to the vegetable. The vegetable was fried perfectly with the crunch of the vegetable still remaining but without the raw vegetable taste. This dish was perfect when paired with rice
We initially wanted to order the steamed fish with chilli and lime which is my must-order dish but this dish took my attention away and we decided to try this instead. This was a deep-fried fish with garlic and black pepper. To facilitate easy consumption, the fish meat is cut out from the fish into chunks and fried till golden brown and stir-fried with garlic and pepper before reassembling it back onto the fish body. The meat was soft and tender with an extremely crispy crust however I found the pepper slightly over-powering and spicy that I was unable to fully enjoy the fish
I ordered my sticky rice as usual and it was served in this cute rattan boat to keep the rice moist and warm. The lemongrass drink was also very refreshing when accompanied by spicy food
Overall, some of the dishes at Nara still hits the spot with me and the quality is still the same. The only disappointment I feel is the price has been going up due to the popularity and there are some dishes which are not exactly that good. I can only say Nara is a safe choice to bring first-timers to Bangkok but only if you do not mind the hefty price tag. For myself, the long wait and price might propel me to look for the next best restaurant
Address: Ratchadamri Rd, Khwaeng Pathum Wan, Pathum Wan, Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Operating hours: 11 am to 10 pm
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