Oriental Hotel
48 Oriental Avenue,
Bangkok 10500
Tel. 02 659 9000
Website: www.mandarinoriental.com
Opening Hours: Lunch 11:30am-2:30pm; Dinner: 6pm-10:pm
Credit Cards: All Major
Prices: Moderate-Expensive

I first dined at China House in the Oriental Hotel when it was a converted Thai house next door to the hotel. It went through a major renovation and became encompassed into the hotel itself as a separate wing along with a few designer stores in 2006. With such a large population of Chinese in Thailand, it makes perfect sense that there is a Chinese restaurant in almost every hotel and many more freestanding ones all over the city.
The interior was completely redesigned to appear as if it was a restaurant in Shanghai in the “good old days” before the communist takeover, when Shanghai was known as one of the most interesting cities in Asia devoted to fun as was Singapore in that same era both were labeled “sin city”. Everything in the restaurant is red and filled with Chinese decorations of all sorts; the female staff are all dressed in long Chinese high-collared slinky dresses—very beautiful.
Jereme Leung, is consulting chef, he was founding chef of the Whampoa Club, the stunning Art-Deco style Shanghainese restaurant located on the Bund in Shanghai. One of his proteges, Chef Kong Khai Meng, with stints in both Hong Kong and Shanghai is resident chef. As it was an impromptu lunch, we ordered two types of spring rolls, noodles and dumplings along with a few other small dishes. Since the cooking was extremely satisfying and well prepared, I look forward to having dinner where I can order more complicated dishes from this marvelous restaurant.