 
We drove into the
small parking lot of Bangkok in Quéretaro. It was a Saturday
night, 8pm, early for the Quéretaro dinner crowd, and we
were the only clients in the restaurant. There were several people
in the lounge-bar part of the establishment, a partially enclosed,
brightly furnished, outdoor palapa-like structure. The main
part of the restaurant was a large, modern, well-lit, L-shaped room,
enclosed by ten-foot high windows that could probably seat 60 clients
comfortably.
There was a large, serene pool-fountain, with cascading falls, which
was supposed to induce a feeling of calmness and possibly an atmosphere
of meditation. The electronic chill-out music, however, blasting
in from the lounge next door, took care of that. The combination
of the fountain, the music, the movement of chairs and tables over
hard wood and marble floors, and projected TV-screen depicting killer
whales on the hunt, made it almost impossible to concentrate on
your immediate table conversation.
The waiters were cordial, but started pushing drinks aggressively
before bringing the menu. They asked if we wanted a wine served
with our meal. I looked at them in false-dismay, and asked what
sort of food was served in the establishment. They told us it was
a combination of Thai and Mexican. I remembered my days in Thailand,
and unless there was French or European cuisine, we mostly drank
local beer with our meals. The Mexican-Thai-Beer Accords must be
respected and upheld!
 We
began with the appetizers and someone ordered the Mar y Tierra Tailandesa,
shrimp and chicken strips skewered on-a-stick, with a choice of
spicy vinegar and classical Asian peanut sauces to dip in,
both were excellent. The second appetizer was called Prik Haeng,
and consisted of a chile-ancho stuffed with tuna, cooked and covered
with a peanut sauce with cracked-bits of toasted almonds. Bland,
but the presentation of both plates were maaavelous.
By popular demand, the chosen soup of the night was Caldo de Camaron
Thai, a coconut-milk broth with chunks of vegetables, asian mushrooms
and shrimp, probably the best dish of the night.
Someone ordered Pad Thai Kai Geng, a decidedly over-cooked pad thai
(almost fettucine-like in consistency) with some chicken-bits. Bland
and very filling. Another interesting plate was Escalopas de Ternera
en Salsa de Mostaza, a Mexican-Thai version of veal scalopinne,
covered in a light mustard sauce, accompanied by a side order of
spaghetti, very, very pleasant. Ravioles de Carne Rellenos
de Duxcell, these were actually small pieces of beef sautéed
in oyster sauce, with vegetables stuffed in between two thin filets,
which were then fused together.
The final main entry was Salmón Fresco en Curry Amarillo,
these consisted of two dense chunks of salmon filets grilled and
covered with a very light yellow curry sauce, with grilled sweet-peppers
and mushrooms on the side—excellent choice, my friend!!!
We split three desserts amongst the four of us. Noche Tailandesa
consisted of a small chocolate and mango-topped moose with a light
caramel topping. Exquisite. Guay Taag Tog was an immature plantain
banana bathed in kirsch, sautéed whole, cut in thick slivers
and soaked in liqueur. Different, but very enjoyable and creative.
Last, was the Mousse de Limón con Coco, it is the closest
dessert that I have tasted to a fine Key-lime pie, excellent.
Observations:
• We were there on two occasions. On the first, the restaurant
was packed and on this occasion it was a quarter filled by the time
we left. On both occasions, there was a noise problem, where
conversations could not be had without raising our own voices. The
combination of the loud music, the noisy ricocheting floors, the
babbling zen brook, and the visual image of a pack of killer whales
actually tearing apart another species could only be described as:
Information Overload!
• We found that the tiki-lounge is used as a meeting place
by the younger generation in town. It is brightly lit, with modern
casual furnishings, and is a good meeting place to start with drinks
and go onto the main entertainment of the evening.
• Prices were moderately expensive and the plates varied from
$60-135 pesos. Although we did not have any wine with the meal (only
beer) the final price including tip was approximately $290 pesos
per person.
Suggestions:
• Why not turn the music down a notch? And
is TV entertainment really necessary in a first-class restaurant?
Why not leave it out in the lounge.
• Suggest you take a look at your parking lot. You had mayhem
when the restaurant was only a quarter-filled.
• Finally, continue changing the menu. You have a specialty
restaurant but you do not want to limit the choices within your
house. Suggest a special of the day which is not on the menu, consisting
of an appetizer, soup and main entrée. Otherwise, we hope
to see you in the future.
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