Ah-Yat-Abalone Forum

This famous Chinese restaurant offers authentic selections of Cantonese, Dim Sum and BBQ cuisines and specializes in abalone and sharks fin. The restaurant has branches in Hong Kong, Beijing and other locations while this outlet on the second floor of the hotel that sits on the famous Chao Praya river in Bangkok is a large, typical Chinese-style restaurant with circular tables, recessed lighting and wood covered columns.

We were here for dinner and each of us tried a different set abalone menu along with items not on the set menu. I had the most expensive set menu at 7,880 baht, consisting of dry braised Japanese abalone, and stewed goose web with fish maw arriving on a single plate and looking delicious. Having eaten at the Forum in Hong Kong, the food tasted identical as previously sampled over the years in Hong Kong.

The texture of the dry abalone is different from the fresh or canned due to its 2 day hydrating process before being cooked. The braised goose web is prepared on abalone sauce as is the fish maw.

Next, we had the sharkfins soup, which is served separate from the clear broth. The Buddha jump over the wall, a soup that has quality and expensive ingredients is stewed in a clear aromatic broth. This bowl of soup is very expensive because of three items. First, there is small whole abalone. Next, there is sharks fin and finally it has dry scallops that have been re-hydrated in a very rich clear stock. Seafood dishes are plentiful and include perfectly prepared steamed lobster with garlic.

Fresh Australian abalone is huge and our server explained that Japanese abalone is the most highly prized while there are other items on the menu, such as, the baked barbecue pork bao which was not too sweet and has a perfect amount of stuffing for the amount of dough. The braised beef with turnips was absolutely delicious and with a bowl of rice and a little dipping sauce offers guests a heavenly dining experience while the crispy chicken was wonderful as the meat was moist & tender with the crispy skin as sweet as candy. There are many desserts but what I ended up liking more than the birds nest in almond soup were the pastries filled with custard.

Dress: No shorts
Set Meals: Lunch & Dinner
Buffets: No
Vegetarian: Yes
Use MSG: No
Smoking: No
Mobile Phones: Yes
Private Parking: Yes
Corkage Charge: None
Opened: 2001

Accepts Major Credit Cards