Jim Thompson's Café 9

Jim Thompson was a legendary American Thai silk entrepreneur who occupied the charming wooden Jim Thompson Thai House, which is now a museum, up until his disappearance in 1967. The Jim Thompson brand lives on, however, and has branched out into cafes and restaurants too.

Café 9 fits in with the old world charm of The Jim Thompson House with wooden floors, Asian style wooden tables and chairs and even wooden panels up the walls, with an ornate wooden frieze, to create the impression of dining in an old wooden house.

Starters include deep-fried spring rolls with chicken, vegetables and glass noodles. Salads include the classic Thai Som Dtam which is a grated papaya salad with some added spice, served with bashed tomatoes, crunchy long beans and roasted peanuts in a sweet tamarind palm-sugar dressing. Fresh prawns come with a full salad rather than the tiny dried variety that you see on the streets.

Café 9 adds some nice extra touches without changing the essence of the flavours and many of the dishes are exactly what visitors to Thailand love to eat, such as Thai green chicken or prawn curry and the rich stew of meat, potatoes and peanuts that is massaman curry.

One of the highlights of the menu and a real comfort food dish that is again classically Thai is half a roast chicken served with spicy, crunchy papaya salad and sticky rice which can be rolled into balls, dipped into the salad juices and eaten with moist morsels of succulent meat. This is the staple diet in the rural heartland of Thailand and Café 9 is about real Thai food, just as the silks next door are about the real arts and craft traditions of the country too.

Opening Times:

Everyday - 9am - 9pm

From 6pm - 9pm (only bakery items and drinks are served)