Restaurant Trip: Baan Nam Kieng Din

A few weeks ago I went for the first time to a restaurant not far from Bangkok that made me feel like a child again.  It's called Baan Nam Kieng Din, around 45 minutes drive and located on the beautiful Utayan road which is between Nakorn Chaisi and Phuttamonton.  It is very near to the Buddhist Park at Phuttamonton which has the highest standing buddha image in the world. Yes, it's incredibly big.  If you combine the dinner with the buddha image it makes a wonderful afternoon out.

Anyways, this restaurant is wonderful in that it caters to people of all ages and when you go there, you feel like you escape the world a little and go on a little holiday.  The drive out under the big wide sky relaxes you and the spacious garden greets you upon arrival makes it feel fun and exciting.  The garden isn't just any garden, there are small ponds with a pair of black swans, enclosures with bunny rabbits running around and ducks of all sizes that just make you want to stop and feed them.  On one side, they even have about half a dozen pink flamingoes.  I love animals, so this is a great place for me.  I spent a good deal of time just standing there watching the rabbits and the flamingoes.  I suppose the little child inside of me came out that day.

As you walk through the garden, and across bridges in the backgroud are two American styled houses that makes you wonder if you are in the US.  I want to go back again.  However, you start feeling like you are in an amusement park when you see the waiters and waitresses dressed in German traditional costumes.   It's fun and it adds colour to the place.  I immediately like this place.  There are half a dozen flags flying on poles to show the international side of this place and kids were all over the place happily feeding ducks and rabbits.   Some tables even brought along their dogs.  This is an animal friendly restaurant.

Most of the seating is outdoors so you sit by the garden next to ducks and rabbits or next to flamingoes.  It's a big area and I wouldn't be suprised if on one evening they served a thousand guests.  They have tables of all sizes, for couples, for medium families or even larger groups.  They also have indoor seating, but I have yet to see what it's like inside.  What amazes me though is the quality of service.  At such a large restaurant like this, usually service is slow and you can't get anything you want.  Here, the service was just great.  They took care to open up umbrellas to ensure you weren't sitting in the sun and put them away when it started growing dark.  The food all came in quick sucessions and service was never too far for you to grab their attention.  Wonderful.

Don't ask me what nationality the food here is.  They have everything from german food, italian food to thai food.  I had sausages and crispy pork leg german style. It was served with sauerkraut and all the furnishes. It was just about the right size and not too large though I wished they did give me more sauerkraut. It was good nevertheless. Other tables I noticed ordered Thai food which they also have in abundance, ranging from curries to plates of fish in thai sauce.

What amazes me though is how fast the restaurant fills up. I arrived at around 4.30pm and I thought to myself that I must be one of the first few tables.  Who eats dinner at 4.30pm?   To my surprise, most of the tables were filled and if you didn't have reservations you had to sit by the flagpoles (which we did) instead of next to the garden.   By 5pm most of the seats were taken and a long queue had started forming by the entrance.  Amazing.

Customers ranged from families with young kids to groups of friends who were there for the beer.  I suppose in the evenings, this is a good place to go enjoy some cool drinks.  They supposedly have some good beer here if you are a beef lover.

Pricewise, it's very reasonable. The sausages were around 200 thb, the pork leg 350 thb. If you want value for money though, the spaghetti was a bit expensive. It was about three bites worth and was 180thb, though I have to admit it did taste quite good.


Hmm...If you go, I suggest you make reservations in advance so that you'd get a lovely seat by the pond or the ducks.  I did notice a couple all dressed up out on a date too as well as large family groups.  Whoever you go with, I think its a great place if you want to escape the usual shopping malls and city life of Bangkok.  Here, you are less than an hour's drive yet you are out of Bangkok.  Enjoy!

Their number is 02-441-3837  The restaurant opens from 17.00 hours on Mondays to Thursdays and from 16.00 hours. on Fridays to Sundays.  The last order is at 22.00 hours.