Royal Thai – A Special Place for Special Memories
Published on Indulge – the weekend supplement of the Nation newspaper on 23rd March, 2008
After a long time we had occasion to patronize Royal Thai – the signature Thai restaurant at Hotel Trans Asia – a premier city hotel in Colombo.Royal Thai has always been an all-time favorite of ours. We have celebrated so many occasions and times with friends and family at this wonderful place and indeed the times there invoke such happy memories.
Lately the visits have got far and further apart, but it is not due to any miss by the restaurant. It’s more due to the chronic depression our poor rupee is currently sinking in Sri Lanka. A simple meal at Royal Thai over the past few years have moved from ‘value for money’ to ‘expensive’ to down-right ‘exorbitant’.
This is one of those rare times where the restaurant remains top quality in food, ambience, and service and really in every aspect, but the rupee has gone haywire that just casually dropping in is no longer an option. Even at the time of our visit, patronage seems to have dropped drastically, but not the quality. The usual scenario is when a restaurant becomes popular, the portions become smaller; when the patronage drops, so does the quality, but thankfully this does not apply here.
The only visible change this fantastic place has undergone is from Lantra to Sumith. Till recently, in fact till Long Feng – the other signature restaurant of Trans Asia revamped and re-launched with a Singaporean Chinese menu – it was Lantra who made the experience at Royal Thai a very personal one. In a shy manner he would inquire after you and every one of your whims was his pleasure. There was nothing – short of leaving without paying the bill – that was difficult or beyond him. He elevated paying customers to guests. The newly re-launched Long Feng would be a resounding success for chief among the many new changes Long Feng has undergone is the inclusion of Lantra in the team.
Royal Thai ’s regular patrons would have certainly felt the gaping void of Lantra’s absence, which would have spoiled their dinning experience if it was not for Sumith. Just like Lantra, Sumith also exudes utter kindness. This occasion was not our first experience with Sumith – time before also he had been there and went out of his way to give us a superb service. That time, I remembered my loyalty card only after the bill was closed, and upon asking if points could still be added, the prompt reply was ‘no’. Sumith, upon hearing this laughed and said, “Let’s see – no harm in trying” and got me my points.
The special mention of Lantra and Sumith does not in any way mean that the quality of service from others is bad – no, it’s good, but their failure to go beyond the call of their duty and their blind adherence to hotel policies leaves them anonymous – no matter how many times they’ve served us. Even on this occasion, when I made the reservations for lunch, I specified that I’ll be there between 1.30 PM and 2.00 PM. I was surprised when I was asked to come before 2.00 PM. When asked why, the reply was that the last order is taken at 2.30 PM.
The restaurant when I went was empty and remained empty. Thus, the kitchen couldn’t have been so busy or pushed to the limit for this person who took my reservation to wish my presence at least ½ hour before the last order was taken. This kind of terseness makes me feel that my patronage is more a nuisance than a welcome.
In any case, I dislike this rule where restaurants insist on closing by 2.30 PM. We go to a restaurant – especially one in a 5-star hotel – to be pampered and these kinds of regulations makes the whole dinning experience so very restrictive. Besides, who can in this busy Colombo life get off for lunch by 2.00PM and beat traffic, check points etc to be at the restaurant by 2.30PM? I really, really wish the hotels would realize the near impossibility and extend the time to at least 3.30 PM. In any case whether the last order is 2.30 PM or 3.30 PM, it really can’t hurt these restaurants to be a little bit more accommodating.
This is however not unique to Royal Thai and apart from these few minor glitches, Royal Thai reigns supreme thanks to the firm commitment of the hotel management, dedicated effort by the culinary team and the kind hospitality from people like Sumith. These are hard times – but thankfully places like Royal Thai add a splash of color to an otherwise bleak picture.
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