Krua Apsorn @Dinso
Founder Chanchawee "Aunt Daeng" Sakunkan cooked a 1969 reception for the Princess Mother, spent the next 25-plus years as her personal chef, and since 1996 has sold that repertoire from a plain dining room where the crab omelette costs B120.
Why go
This is Bangkok home-style cooking with a palace paper trail, told in the house's own history and echoed by Time Out's line that the chef-owner "used to cook for Thai royalty." The food argues restraint: the gaeng leung lai bua runs sour and tart instead of hot, and Jeff's note explains the technique that matters, the curry is made hours before service so the flavors meld. Time Out's verdict on the room's output: "flavorful Thai dishes at pocket-friendly prices."
Order this / avoid
- Order: Jeff's pair: the tiger prawn curry with lotus stalks, which Time Out describes as
a spice-heavy yellow curry with shrimp and lotus stems,
and the stir-fried pork with oyster sauce and garlic. Add the kai foo poo,a fluffy omelet packed with crab meat
(Time Out), which arrives as a golden dome rather than a folded crepe. - Avoid: Sunday (closed), and the assumption that any branch is this branch; Dinso is the pin, Samsen the 1996 original.
What locals & experts say
- Time Out Bangkok: kai foo poo is
a fluffy omelet packed with crab meat,
and the kitchen turns outflavorful Thai dishes at pocket-friendly prices.
1 - Krua Apsorn (house history): personal chef to Princess Mother Srinagarindra for over 25 years before opening the restaurant in 1996.2
- Michelin Guide Thailand: listed; the exact current distinction and branch scope are unpinned, so no award is claimed here.3
Good to know
- Timing: Monday to Saturday, 10:30am to about 7:30pm; closed Sunday. Dinner means an early one.
- Booking: Time Out recommends calling ahead; the room fills fast at Thai lunch hours.
- Getting there: Dinso Road near the Giant Swing and City Hall; pairs with a Jay Fai or Thipsamai pilgrimage, ten minutes away on foot.
- Budget: B120-150 for the omelette and curry; the crab-with-curry-powder plate at B530 is the ceiling.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Order: tiger prawn curry with lotus stalks. It’s a Bangkok version of a yellow curry and it’s sour and tart instead of overly spicy and is just delicious. It’s made several hours before it’s served and the flavours have had time to meld together. There’s also some stir-fried pork with oyster sauce and garlic.
Verdict
should-visit — A cook who ran the Princess Mother's kitchen for a quarter century selling her repertoire at B120-530 a plate is the best pedigree-to-price ratio in the Old Town. Jeff's order, the sour tiger-prawn curry with lotus stems, is the thesis dish: acid over chili, melded for hours before service. Short of must-visit because the room is plain, the branches dilute, and the Michelin anchor is currently fuzzy.