Red Oven

Cold-cut heaven

What are the four English words most Thai, Southeast Asian, Asian people love the most....

All You Can Eat

And buffet is the six-letter word that cranks up the lust/greed/glutton levels in many normally mild mannered folks across the region. Whether it's pizza, ice cream, sushi, noodles, dim sum, or steamboat there'll always be a queue outside restaurants offering buffet menus.

I like the "food nirvana dream" sold by the buffet concept but the reality (for me), is a whole lot different. I always enter the buffet arena with "pace yourself" good intensions, but invariably end up eating plates of mis-matched food, and going home with a stomach ache.

Table overlooking Lumphini Park

That was until a recent Mother's Day visit to Red Oven (at the newish and very smart and elegant Hotel Sofitel So Bangkok in Bangrak) and its "world market" array of dishes. True to its marketing hype, Red Oven offers Spanish cold cuts and olives, French cheeses, Turkish dips, a sushi station, a teriyaki bar, a salad station, a seafood station, Thai salads, asian and thai favourites, mongolian pork, roast meats, tandoori kebabs, pastas, shepherd's pie, truffle mash potatoes, cannelloni, a patisserie and even teppanyaki ice cream.

Pretty comprehensive and pretty delicious. And good value too given the 1,000 baht++  charge per diner. But that's not all, the dining room offers a magnificent view over Lumphini Park.

Stuff of ice cream dreams.... toppings galore.

While Red Oven is special occasion dining destination just up a few blocks is another super - and much, much cheaper - buffet alternative at the Furama Silom Hotel. From Monday to Friday they offer the best value for money lunch deal in town.

Thanks again to my buddy Adam - one of the good food finders in Bangkok - for this recommendation. For just 200 baht (just a bit more than a Big Mac set) you can choose from an array of Thai, Western and Japanese dishes. They also have a noodle station and Khao Soy noodles available. To finish up, the coconut ice cream is delicious and you can also sip a post meal cup of tea or coffee.

Cool graphic take of Krungthep.