Review

Nava at the Salil Hotel Riverside on the banks of the Chao Praya is the hotel's all day dining restaurant, with a multitude of areas, to satisfy all. Choose to sit overlooking the open kitchen, or the glass house with design inspired by Wat Arun on the opposite bank. Nava translates to vessel, paying tribute to the cuisines of the rivers of Siam and the Gulf of Thailand. This is authentic Thai heirloom recipes from across Thailand perfectly reproduced as originally intended. The a la carte menu is extensive and there are a number of signature set menus. Begin with an appetizer of deep-fried Is an sausages, accompanied by crunchy vegetables or refreshing watermelon cubes, lightly topped with sun-dried snakehead fish. Continue with a yellow crab curry with chunks of juicy ci-ab in a spicy sauce, accompanied by fermented rice noodles. Tom yum with young coconut is also recommended as are other classics of a green chicken curry and a memorable pork belly in kapi, shrimp paste sauce. A low and slow cooked beef cheek in turmeric paste is a menu highlight. Desserts include deep-fried banana with coconut ice cream and mango sticky rice, and purple potato dumplings in coconut cream with fried milk tea ice cream.