Media Tasting
When visiting the Suan Lum Night Bazaar at Ratchada, make a mental note to have your dinner at Talay Zaa – You won’t regret it. The restaurant is by the same folks who opened Ping’s Thai Teochew Seafood Restaurant, and for those in the know, you can expect the same quality in terms of food and service. We met up with Eddie of Stranger in Bangkok when we were there, and enjoyed a lovely feast together.
What they hope to do at Talay Zaa is to bring quality seafood dishes to the locals and tourists at affordable prices so that they can have a taste of the sea even without going to the beach or places like Hua Hin, which is a three hours’ drive out of Bangkok. The whole restaurant also exudes a more casual feel as compared to Ping’s, with alfresco dining concept. You can be assured that every dish served to you is fresh and delicious because they rear their seafood in the restaurant!
My kids love drinking coconut and Joey commented that their coconut was exceptionally fresh & sweet. With temperature soaring to 39 degrees Celsius when we were at Bangkok, I was more than glad to let them cool off naturally with more coconuts!
The signature dishes of Talay Zaa were served to our table and the first dish already got the husband super excited! He is a big fan of cockles and those were the biggest and freshest he has ever tasted. He kept going, ‘So good! So good!’ Can’t blame him – I don’t take cockles, so he could finally eat to his heart’s content at Bangkok with Eddie (Stranger in Bangkok) whom we were having dinner with. In fact, this might be one of the best places in Bangkok to enjoy this delicacy if you are a fan as well because non-tourists typically would not dare to eat from roadside stalls, where we cannot be sure of the source of the seafood. At Talay Zaa, you can absolutely eat at ease.
Their oyster omelette was exceptionally well done. I don’t take oysters but I tried the fried egg and starch and loved the ‘wok-taste’. Such an authentic dish bursting with so much flavors!
The main dish for the kids that night was the grilled fish, which is a very common local dish. I always see many locals gathered to eat this dish along the roadside, but never dared to try them of course. I was so glad that I finally had a chance to taste it, and I absolutely LOVE IT! The fish was as fresh as it gets, with tender and firm flesh in every bite. The original sweetness of the fish was totally amazing, and you just cannot stop eating it. The kids kept asking for more of the fish to go with their rice – It was so good.
The stir-fried cabbage was fragrantly done with dried prawns, garlic and fish sauce. A very simple dish but a hearty one nonetheless.
The next two dishes were spicy and the kids couldn’t eat them but the adults enjoyed them tremendously. They were so appetizing and I had to stop myself from asking for another bowl of rice. The steamed sotong in sour & spicy sauce was good and every bite was fresh and chewy.
The Tom Yum prawns was delicious as well – Prawns are my favorite and these are just perfectly cooked and so sweet!
We ended the meal with crabmeat fried rice, which was nice especially with huge chunks of crabmeat in every mouthful. Super love it.
Had such a wonderful time with my friends over dinner at Talay Zaa. While we were feasting at the restaurant’s alfresco area, we could people watch as the Suan Lum Night Bazaar was being set up. Such a lovely vibe in this whole place.
The next time you visit Bangkok, be sure to visit Talay Zaa for some authentic Thai seafood dishes that are super fresh and value-for-money!
How to Get There:
MRT Ratchadaphisek Station Exit 2 or MRT Lad Phrao Station Exit 1. Just a short walk away.
