Il Cielo
The Dusit Thani Hotel
946 Rama lV Road
Bangkok
Tel: 02 200 9000

The Dusit Thai Hotel boasts as broad a range of restaurants as can almost be imagined with restaurants described as Thai, French, Steak, Italian, Cantonese, Japanese, International and Viet Namese. And this awesome list of restaurants is further backed up two bars, one of which embraces modern nightlife, a point which will become horribly relevant by the end of this review. But now to Il Cielo which is probably mid range as far as the Dusit is concerned, but which in reality is a high standard Italian eatery.

Décor is modern and open and there is an open kitchen on the far side. Buffets are a big feature here but they also have an excellent a la carte menu. What I like are the various tasting options with a few Insalata dishes which are really little mezes - we shared an Insalato Il Ceilo which included goose liver, rock lobster and San Danielle ham. And decent portion of all the items we got too and portion more than adequate for two. They also do the more normal dried meats and cheese as well as a smoked duck breast salad with cheese. Then there is a pasta tasting option where it is possible to mix different pastas and sauces according to your numbers and desire for variety.
The main courses are enough but not nearly quite so interesting. There was a veritable feast which included, T bone steak, rock lobster, duck liver and river lobster (what ever that is) with mixed salad and grilled vegetables. This feast was for two but had been struck off the menu which is not surprising as Il Ceilo is not exactly the spot for that kind of mammoth dish. I had roast lamb cutlets with polenta and On had duck, all nicely presented and cooked as requested and difficult to fault but not very exciting. I had lunched here before and so I knew the food was good and was therefore not disappointed. There were not many customers and from that point it was rather lacking in atmosphere. We drank a couple of bottles of perfectly acceptable but not under priced wine, and all in all had a good meal.
Now back to the lunch which was ruined by something I still find hard to comprehend. I had had a perfectly reasonable lunch and was thinking it was almost a find. I had had a final course of cheese and decided to have a final glass of red wine. A waiter gave me a wine list and I ordered a glass. A few minutes later the waiter returned with the infuriating words - 'can not.' I was told that after 2 pm alcohol could not be served. To say I was unhappy would be an understatement. Managers were summoned and a full steward's enquiry demanded. I had a fearful argument with an F&B manager who assured me that no establishment sold alcohol after 2 pm in Thailand. I told him, and in no uncertain terms, he was talking ..... ! Until this point I had yet to come across any outlet that will not serve after 2 pm. So I asked the restaurant manager about this. Rather embarrassed he told me the rule still applied. When I asked if he realised his were the only places enforcing this rule in Thailand he looked embarrassed and departed. I simply fail to comprehend how a place calling itself 5-star can have such a policy and still think it is five star. So now you know! Don't go to the Dusit Thani for lunch unless you are on one of the modern business lunches that only involves water. In which case it ain't lunch as I know it!