Chaophraya Edinburgh

Wife and I had an anniversary dinner at this spectacular Thai restaurant just off George St in Edinburgh. Chaophraya Link.

The restaurant is on top of a building and has a glass extension with lovely views over Edinburgh Castle. Its a lively place full of the glitterati of Edinburgh and has a popular bar that attracts its own crowd.

The food is served with panache and its very visual. having said that its not authentic Thai at all. One cannot replace chilli peppers with sweet peppers and get away with it...sorry Chaophraya. Not one dish we had had any bite to it, it was all bland, we might just as well have gone to a Canton Chinese. I think the owners have lost Thailand in an attempt to cater to the crowd.

The starters were the best, we had a lovely pork rib, an excellent duck salad and papaya salad. The dumplings and rolls were average as was the tempura shrimp.  Of the mains the duck with tamarind was good, and all were very eatable. Its just that they didn't taste like Thai food at all. Gone was the sparkle, the bite, the freshness that makes this cuisine stand out.

Finally I have to mention the price, at £160 for 4 people who had no wine I found it very expensive for what we got. Chicken with cashews with maybe 8 pieces of chicken, shrimp with garlic maybe 8 shrimp. We cleaned every plate.