BANGKOK RESTAURANT

Gastro 1/6 (RMA Institute)

3
Average: 3 (1 vote)

The charming backyard adjoining RMA Institute boasts a summer-ready, Arabian-influenced menu devised by Bo.lan's Bo Songvasiva. That means local, sustainably caught fish and Royal Projects produce. Stretch out in the sun and try dishes like smoked barracuda in a dressing of herb yogurt with baby cucumber, and the baba ganoush (an Arabic eggplant dip) with hazelnut dukkha and flatbread.

This adorable garden café with loads of hanging greenery has become very popular, among Thais and expats alike, as one of the few places in the city with a non-buffet brunch. Among the hot favorites here are the tortilla with Spanish ham (a kind of egg and potato frittata, B180) and the full English breakfast (B380++) which boasts, in addition to good eggs and proper toasted baguette, homemade Cumberland sausages, sautéed mushrooms and very garlicky spinach. Of course, eggs alone don’t make a legitimate restaurant, and we’re sometimes confused by the service model (order and pay upfront at the window, fetch your own paper napkins and utensils) and the haphazard service on busy days. Not to mention that the place closes at 3pm. Still, we hesitate to dismiss Gastro 1/6 as another not-really-a-restaurant where the focus is on atmosphere and coffee—though both are plentiful. The lesser-known delights here are their lunch specials, which number only two or three at a time, but change frequently and are lovely. In the past, we’ve been amazed by the potato salad: diced potatoes cooked in clarified butter, a tart topping of cherry tomatoes, sliced shallots and lovely herbs. Also delicious in recent months was the beefsteak tomato salad, which relied heavily on the flavor and body of good ingredients. On our last visit, the special was a fettuccine with tomato sauce, mussels and chorizo (B380++). The mussels were abundant, fat and fresh and what at other places could have been a flat and boring tomato sauce was made extremely exciting by the spicy chorizo, capers and olives. While we will mourn the day they will move onto another special, we’ve had enough good experiences here to trust whatever comes next. Especially when you have the decadent and delightfully rich (if a little pricy), evergreen breakfast offerings to fall back on, the rustic, comforting menu and the attention to detail paid in the mismatched iron and wood furniture and the reused Bonne Maman jam jars all make Gastro 1/6 a pretty idyllic daytime experience.

Venue Details
Address: Gastro 1/6 (RMA Institute), RMA Institute, Soi Sai Namthip 2, 238 Sukhumvit Soi 22, Bangkok, Thailand
Phone: 080-603-6421
Area: Nana Asoke
Cuisine: International
Price Range: BBB
Open since: February, 2011
Opening hours: Tue-Sun 7:30am-2:30pm
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