After Wat Pho I was starving, so I sat down and pulled out my copy of Lonely Planet’s guide to Bangkok and searched for someplace nearby that had lunch and if I was lucky AC. I settled on the Coconut Palm and headed off. I spent a half hour going back and forth across the street searching all nooks and crannies for this “nearby” restaurant with apparently stellar food before giving up and going into the Gate. The Gate is a restaurant underneath a hostel. I picked something off the menu that wasn’t pad thai from what I understood and ordered some Thai iced tea. The Gate was air conditioned and had free wifi and after a quick search I found that the Coconut Palm had permanently closed.
When my food came it was pad thai. I clearly hadn’t read the name of my food properly which was Pad Thai Koong but had just pointed. My thai iced tea was refreshing and I ate as much as I could and just soaked up the air conditioning and wifi. They have other items on their menu and it wasn’t until after I had ordered and sat down that I noticed the giant chalkboard of that day’s specials that were more diverse and appetizing. The food was also pretty cheap, my food was 110 baht which comes out to about $3.10
The restaurant also serves coconut ice cream. The kind I mentioned here. They definitely have a lot more options for the coconut ice cream.