Tucked down a vibrant, multicultural Silom backstreet, this little cafe revels in the simple pleasure of well-made holy basil stir-fries. Its blond-wood furniture and twee pop soundtrack are straight from the cutesy-cafe playbook, but there’s no denying it makes a comfier place to sit of a lunch hour than out on the street or in some godforsaken food court.

You’d also be hard pressed to find a kaprao made using better ingredients. Kaprow Khun Phor makes big on the fact they use Company B’s dry-aged Australian beef in the kao kaprao nuea (B129) and kurobuta pork in the kao kaprao moo sub (B79), along with a recipe that relies on only young holy basil leaves and a mix of Thai bird’s eye and prik jinda daeng chilies.

Some dishes are simply delicious. The minced beef kaprao relies only on its meat to provide moistness, the stir-fry itself being authentically dry. Holy basil and garlic all taste excellent and pungent, while Kaprow Khun Phor’s sliding heat scale lets you specify very unholy levels of chili—level 2 (out of 4) would challenge many. It’s on a par with the awesome kaprao nuea at Thitid Tassanakajohn’s Baan, and that’s saying something.

The chicken kaprao (B79), by comparison, is on a more everyday level—no denying that the meat is succulent, but we could name two dozen spots to get something tasting exactly the same. But at just B79, who’s expecting more? Even the fanciest of kaprao, like one made using fresh scallops, will only set you back B179, despite the amply portioned seafood tasting plump and fresh.

Complaints are few. Various kaprao dishes take up about 80 percent of the menu, and what little else there is provides few fireworks—a plate of crispy belly pork (B120) tastes past its prime, a lemongrass salad of raw oysters (B160) slimily offputting, the chrysanthemum juice (B20) too sweet—and service can be painfully slow (we suspect there’s only one wok working behind the scenes). None of this detracts from what’s the lunch cafeteria of many people’s office-break dreams—comfortable, cheap and serving good produce prepared well. Thanks to the bottled local beers at B100, we might even return outside work hours. 

This review took place in November 2017 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.