Minibar Royale...just like a French bistro on the streets of New York

I drove past what seemed to be a restaurant/ bar in Sukhumvit 23 the other day, and coincidentally, this restaurant was featured in the latest issue of BK Magazine. It's called Minibar Royale, and it was opened by the famous sisters that own the Sretsis fashion house along with their friends from their NYU days. The cuisine was reported as French bistro style with bits and pieces of American comfort food that you might find in New York.

J and I decided to give Minibar Royale a try today, since we had some errands to run in that area and I was craving some corned beef hash topped with poached eggs (highly recommended by BK).

Walking into Minibar Royale was like being transported into a chic bistro in Paris. It has a vintage vibe with the dark green furniture and mosaic tiles; at the same time there was a hint of cheekiness which was best epitomized by the poodle dog lanterns on the shelves. For some weird reason, the ambience made me feel like there should be people smoking in here (even though I don't smoke and I hate inhaling second hand smoke). I guess the decoration was so authentic that it reminded me of smoke-filled bistros in Paris.

The menu was very cool (see above pic). I knew even before I came into the restaurant that its theme and design would be stylish. After all, this place is owned by the tres chic Sretsis sisters! Speaking of Sretsis, I still remember the cute and whimsical dresses I bought from their boutique at a hefty price. I was trying on the dresses on my leave day when my boss called to assign more work. Feeling stressed out and 'justified' to spend foolishly, I told the saleswoman that I'd get both the dresses without looking at the price tags. Biggest mistake ever. Not that the dresses weren't cute; I'm just too boring and don't feel comfortable dressing whimsically. Plus, I'd lost quite a bit of weight since then, so those dresses are just hanging in my closet to remind me never to swipe my credit card mindlessly again.

Anyway, back to the food. Unfortunately for me, the corned beef hash is only available during brunch time. So we went for the items that were recommended in the menu: Goat cheese salad with cranberry and walnuts, meaty crab cakes, mini burgers and fries, and "Gorgonzola Ed & Ted," which is basically spaghetti in a mushroom-gorgonzola sauce topped with grilled chicken.

I wish I had more good things to say about the food. Not that they weren't good. I think they definitely had the potential to be pretty good. However, the kitchen staff made the biggest mistake of cooking and serving everything all at once. I literally had all 4 dishes listed above in front of me at the same time, plus the complimentary garlic bread. J & I just didn't know where to start! We wanted to savor the garlic bread since it looked so yummy and was clearly fresh out of the oven. But if we had the bread first, the pasta would start growing cold, the crab cakes would get soggy, and the fries would wilt... you get the idea.

So despite our best effort to eat as quickly as we could to do justice to the food, we still didn't get to eat each of the dishes at their peak deliciousness. By the time I got to the salad, the melted goat cheese wasn't warm and gooey. It was hard and plastered like bluetac on the salad leaves. The crab cakes had also gotten too soggy and cold. I think another factor that made the crab cake this soggy was its thickness. The inside of the crab cake didn't taste fully cooked yet, and if the cake had been shaped into a flatter disc, the results would probably be better.

The mini burgers were ok. The bun was well buttered and toasted, but the burger patty was overcooked (one side of the burger patty was completely charred, so you can imagine how dry it was). The accompanying fries were very tasty, but sadly, it was cold and wilted by the time I got to it.

The pasta was cooked al dente, and the mushroom-gorgonzola sauce and chicken both tasted good. I was initially scared that the gorgonzola would smell too overpowering, but it was pleasantly nutty and creamy. Unfortunately the sauce was a bit too gooey by the time I got to it. Gosh, I repeat this phrase so often, but really, the timing ruined everything!

This freshly baked garlic bread was slathered with butter and garlic and topped with cheese. Could have been a bit saltier though.

The crab cakes were filled with lots and lots of crab meat and paired with fresh salad greens. Too bad that the patties were too thick, which made it too soggy.

Mini burgers with really yummy burger buns. The patties could've been moister, though it was well-seasoned with Worcestershire sauce.

Gorgonzola Ed & Ted pasta

The better part of the meal was definitely the desserts. J ordered Earl Grey creme brulee, and I ordered grilled pears with mascarpone and toffee sauce. The creme brulee was strongly scented with Ear Grey and wasn't too sweet--a big plus in my books. One look at the creme brulee and you'll know why the Earl Grey scent was so strong--the tea wasn't just steeped in the cream; it was included in the cream! (See the layer of black paste at the bottom of the dish) I guess they actually cooked the cream with the tea leaves instead of just steeping the tea bags in the cream, and these leaves later sunk to the bottom of the dish while baking.

The very last bits of the Earl Grey creme brulee

My favorite dish of the night was the grilled pears with cool, creamy mascarpone on toffee sauce. The pears were warm, tender and not too sweet, which made it a good match for the buttery and sweet toffee sauce. There were even crunchy shards of almond toffee sprinkled on the dish for a textural contrast. I liked this dessert enough, but if I were to do it myself, I'd change the toffee sauce (which I got sick of after a while because it felt too rich) to just a drizzle of lavender honey and sprinkle bits of honeycomb on top. Or maybe I'd make a spiced red wine syrup, which always goes well with pears.

My verdict on Minibar Royale? Definitely worth a second visit, at least for the brunch (and the corned beef hash I'm still craving!). The way that the food was flavored was up to standard, and I think the restaurant has potential. This is only their first month of operation, so I'm sure they'll get better with more experience. Their drinks selection seemed really interesting too, e.g. the Bumble Bee (champagne with gin, honey and lime), and together with the chill bistro ambience, Minibar Royale is the perfect place for having drinks with a group of friends. I've also already given feedback to the manager about serving the dishes in sequence instead of all at once, so hopefully that fatal mistake would never happen again.


Minibar Royale

Citadines Bangkok

33/7 Sukhumvit 23

Tel: 02-261-5533

Email: dining@minibarroyale.com