Cabbages and Condoms, Bangkok > Reviews (2)

My husband and I were lucky enough to visit Thailand for our honeymoon in May of this year. We were recommended this place by several people before our trip to Thailand, and, despite hubby being a little concerned by the name, we decided to give it a go.

We did some research online before we went, and their website states - 'Our restaurant was conceptualized in part to promote better understanding and acceptance of family planning and to generate income to support various development activities of the Population and Community Development Association (PDA)'. So it's all for charity and to help local people - sounded good to us!

We didn't have long in Bangkok, and decided that we would visit this restaurant on our first night there. We had only arrived at our hotel at around 5pm, so were pretty exhausted. The restaurant is off Sukhumvit Road and it is easy to get the skytrain here, which we did. Unfortunately, the restaurant is pretty well hidden from the main road and the only reason we found it was because I saw the name in lights in the distance as we were crossing the road on a bridge!

You have to walk down a couple of questionable alleys to get to the restaurant, and considering this was our first experience of Thailand, we were a little dubious to say the least. But, we continued and were soon greeted by the 'Cabbages & Condoms - our food is guaranteed not to cause pregnancy' sign!

We were asked where we would like to sit, and I asked for the courtyard, which I had been recommended. It was a really lovely outside area, although it was very warm. This may just have been highlighted by the fact that it was our first night in Thailand. There were some suspended fans, although we didn't seem to have one near us. Fairy lights are strung up everywhere and it is really pretty. It is a fantastic place, and they have been very creative with the use of the condoms - all of the lightshades are made of condoms and there are lots of statues too - fascinating!

There was plenty of choice on the menus for us, and, although it was in Thai, there was an English translation. For a starter, my husband had satay chicken and I had minced chicken and corn served in waffle cups. This was possibly the best starter I have ever tasted! Having had Thai food in England and loved it, in Thailand it's a whole different ball game - EVERYTHING is so incredibly tasty.

For our main courses we had a Green Chicken Curry and a Red Prawn Curry. From my experience before, green curries have always been the milder option, but this doesn't seem to be the case in Thailand. Both were very spicy, but so tasty that you just couldn't stop eating!!! The prawns in my red curry were huge, and it was all beautifully cooked.

Following the meal, we were given our bill. We were amused to see that, instead of an after dinner mint, you were given condoms instead!

The food was really lovely and the atmosphere sitting outside in the courtyard was perfect. It's very reasonable and probably the cheapest place that we ate in Bangkok (excluding street food!

). I think that the 2 course meal for both of us, plus 4 drinks, ended up costing less than £15! The waiting staff were very friendly and couldn't do enough to help you.

After our meal, we visited the shop, which had all kinds of condom related gifts - some of which were hilarious! They also sold handicraft items made by Thai people, which were really beautiful.

All in all, we had a really wonderful experience with Cabbages & Condoms and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this place to anyone coming to Bangkok. If we had stayed for longer, we would certainly have eaten here again. The fact that you are actually helping local people by visiting, just tops off what was a really great night out.

Website: http://www.pda.or.th/restaurant/home.htm​l