Eating by the Sea

At Sailom Bangpu Seafood Restaurant

After a meeting at the geriatric hospital on Tuesday morning, we drove for about 15 minutes along Sukhumvit Road until we reached the seaside – where the Chao Phraya River spills into the Gulf of Thailand. We were now officially in the Province of Samut Prakan, but the reality is we were in suburban Bangkok. New Skytrain stations are being added to the Sukhumvit line and there soon will be a station almost right at the beach. (Wake up Toronto. Bangkok is building rapid transit at breakneck speeds, so that it doesn’t fall into Toronto’s situation of not having done anything for 20 years.)

We ended our drive at a really lovely restaurant which sits right by the sea called the Sailom Bangpu Seafood Restaurant. This place is more than just a restaurant. It’s a whole compound with various buildings that offer different eating experiences as well as a handicrafts area where local craftsman exhibit and sell their work – mostly ceramics and wood carvings. The area in and around the restaurant is really beautiful with views of the sea as well as plenty of lovely trees to shade the outdoor eating areas. We chose one of these outdoor spaces, as it was not hot and the breeze from the sea was very refreshing.

Before getting our meal, it was pointed out to me that this place also had, in addition to great food, historical significance in Thailand.  It was here that Japanese forces landed less than two hours after their attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941. According to a plaque just beyond the restaurant site:

“A small group of brave local forces rushed to form a defensive position just two kilometres north-west of this landmark. This group consisted of police, the army youth corps and civilian volunteers all from Samut Prakan. Just before the two sides clashed, a last minute accord was reached between the Thai government and Japanese which permitted Japanese military forces to pass through Thai territory unmolested.”

The food was, as expected, fantastic. After our meal, we wandered around a bit looking at the crafts and, in my case, taking a good look at the compound’s Spirit House. The House was a simple one with Grandma and Grandpa Spirits happily ensconced inside. I was told that the two Spirits depicted in the carvings were the original owners of this restaurant/crafts compound. After their deaths, they stayed on in Spirit form to protect their compound and to bring it and their decedents good luck.