Most restaurants open with good intentions—dreams of full dining rooms, clinking plates and the buzz of satisfied diners. Anyone familiar with Soi Sala Daeng will be aware of the restaurant space underneath the Saladaeng Inn just a few meters away from Som Tum Der. This is where good intentions go to die. Over the past three years it’s housed a beleaguered burger restaurant, a ghost town wholefoods grocery and, most recently, Thaithyme, a Thai-European fusion restaurant.

First, the good intentions. The new owners obviously invested some cash into the place—remodeling the interior with wood paneling, comfy cushions and warm lighting—and paid a decent food photographer to give their dishes social media appeal. But, just like the last two businesses to occupy the space, Thaithyme is empty most days, and it’s not hard to understand why.

The menu isn’t fusion so much as standard Thai and Italian dishes crammed together. The only commonality that “fuses” them is how poorly they’re prepared.  We appreciate the al dente noodles in the spaghetti meatball pasta (B259), but the watery tomato sauce crammed with half-raw onions and dry, lukewarm “signature” meatballs would make Italians cry. The strange playlist of melancholy ballads blasting through a Bluetooth speaker doesn’t help either.

Much of the menu follows this theme—completely void of personality, pride or care. Even can’t-screw-up dishes like the tomato and mozzarella tartare (B155) bungle the basics with poor seasoning and stodgy supermarket sauces. Need Instagram fodder? Try the pad kaprao (B149). On our last visit, the fried egg yolk was solid and smeared into oblivion, the minced pork was swimming in a pool of its own fat and there were at least four-to-five chopped chilies crammed into a single serving—enough to make even the most ambitious Thai heat-heads sweat.

Even the few things Thaithyme does well don’t warrant a return visit. Yes, there are craft beers (B145), like Chalawan and Chiang Mai Weizen, but Mash down the street has a better selection. Sure, the pineapple crumble with ice cream (B165) is tasty, but with After You Dessert Cafe in Silom Complex why walk all the way down here for a dessert?

Thaithyme seems destined to go the way of the space’s predecessors. That’s too bad, but maybe the place really is cursed. Corkage B300

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.