Thai at Silk Restaurant

I have to give interior designers Cynthia and Ivy Almario a lot of credit for creating a very inviting restaurant in this corner of Piazza Serendra in Fort Bonifacio. While I heard mixed reviews of Thai at Silk from several friends, our dining experience was aesthetically pleasing given the wonderful interiors and the dish after dish of artfully thoughtful creations by chef/owner Cecille Ysmael. I have to admit that I was more enamored with taking the photographs than the dining experience partly because I was still stuffed from the non-stop dining during this trip back home.

The grapefruit salad with coconut shavings was a pleasant surprise to my nouveau-midwestern palette. The pad thai noodle "nest" was striking to the eye. One of my favorite soups in the world is the tom ka gai soup. While Thai at Silk's version is good, it  lacks depth. I learned from a Thai chef from, of all places, San Juan, Puerto Rico, that the secret to a great tom ka gai soup is to use galangal instead of ginger. Perhaps, that was the missing component.

Given the atmosphere, the prices and the clientele, I expected the servers to be more versed on the food. Service is something we Filipinos pride ourselves and you can almost guarantee that the service in most Manila restaurants would be decent. However, I wish that more restaurant operators would spend more time teaching the servers about the food and the wines to add some soul to the dining experience.

I look forward to my return trip to Thai at Silk. This time, I'll bring extra galangal slices for my tom ka gai.