Gdansk Trip – Lao Thai

I wasn’t quite in the mood for pierogi filled with random ingredients and served with a dish of lard, so I thought that I’d go for something more Asian based. Located on the riverside, the restaurant was well reviewed. Not so well reviewed that influencers would be holding their phones aloft like votive candles with the arrangement, but a solid and reliable option. The welcome was polite, although I did that thing I do when a staff member says “sit anywhere you like” and I then ask if I can sit at what looks like the best table with the most interesting view. She said I could, probably thinking she’d just covered that by saying that I could sit anywhere.

I sat by the window realising I couldn’t see much through the shrubbery, but it was a clean and comfortable restaurant.

I had some beer I’d never heard of because, well, I’ve got to complete Untappd haven’t I? There’s a bit of Inbetweeners style banter with Jay saying “I’ve completed Untappd, I’ve got the around the world badge”, but there we go. This is the chicken kai phad, which had a sauce of some richness and the cashew nuts added some texture. It came with lychees which I consider to be the oddest fruit, the texture doesn’t seem to quite fit, but it did add some extra flavour. I didn’t go for a noodle dish as I didn’t want to splatter sauce on me or the surrounding furniture, I can do without tangled up food. Anyway, I’m digressing once again, I liked the whole ambience and that I had a candle lit just for me.

I had a look on TripAdvisor for reviews of the restaurant. Once sifting through a couple of reviews noting that this was a hidden gem that someone has been searching for all their life, there’s some occasional and deliberate negativity such as:

“We sat in a table with 2 other customers. After we finished eating, we waited for 20minutes for the waiter to come serve us and get our dirty plates from us. While we waited, the other two customers had their dirty plates taken, taken dessert order and get their desserts while we still had our dirty plates in front of us. The waiter never came to us and finally we waived to her. The waiter was the same for us and the customers next to us. In addition, the food was mediocre and there were ants in the dining table.”

They took a photo of the solitary ant as well, but not the table next to them that they were so jealous of. Does this really warrant a one star review? The notification from TripAdvisor would have pinged on the manager’s phone, with them hoping it was another positive. And they discover that someone has complained about a single ant, although perhaps they were really just angry that another table was served a bit quicker.

Or the 1 out of 5 noting:

“Some kind of fusion between Poland and Thailand.”

I can’t imagine how that could have possibly happened with a Thai restaurant in Poland.

“Over the last decade, Thai food has been one of the core measures I use to evaluate the quality of life of every city I visit. As an itinerant cybersecurity professional, one often finds oneself in really interesting places across the globe.”

I’m saying nothing. It all seemed decent to me and the food looked well presented, so I’m pleased it makes the photo look good.