Checkmate Bar & Bistro
Warehouse 10, Asiatique The Riverfront, 2194 Charoen Krung Soi 72-74, Bangkok, Thailand
+66 2 108 4704
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1630hrs – 0100hrs
My dad walked past Checkmate and decided that we were going to have our dinner there. Checkmate is located at Warehouse 10, nearer to the river side. The place was quite empty when we arrived but the restaurant filled up shortly after that.
There was a 1 for 1 happy hour promotion on all their cocktails. We ordered a pair of Whisky Sour and a pair of Cosmopolitan. The mix for the Whisky Sour was great and the orange fragrance in the Cosmopolitan came through very well. The alcohol for both drinks was quite strong.
Deep Fried Chicken Wings with Fish Sauce.
Served in a mini metal basket, the wings were super crispy and moist at the centre. The wings were cut into two parts, which in my opinion was brilliant as it really made eating chicken wings a lot easier. The wings came with sweet Thai chilli sauce which was great, but there was no hint of fish sauce in the meat.
Kurobuta Loin Chop
The pork chop was served on top of a wooden board with wedges, boiled garden vegetables and a small cup of mushroom and black pepper sauce. The portion of the pork chop itself wasn’t huge, but it tasted great. The pork was very tender and had a slight sweet taste. The sauce really helps to balance off the sweetness. The wedges was slightly crispy on the outside and the potatoes were really soft.
BBQ Pork Ribs
The pork ribs came without any sides. The ribs were nicely glazed in a very nice bbq sauce and the caramelisation was great. The bbq sauce had a bourbon taste and the tender meat falls off the bone easily.
Salmon Pasta
My younger sister ordered pasta which I can’t remember what it was. While the pasta was al dante, the taste of the pasta was rather weird in my opinion. The addition of the peppercorn seeds made the dish into an asian fusion which just didn’t work for me. The salmon chunks were overcooked rendering the meat dry.
Crispy Shrimp Salad with Cocktail Tobiko Sauce
The salad was the last item that was served for the night, which was weird considering that salads were usually served before the start of the meal. The salad dressing was thousand island sauce and while the salad came with a huge portion of Tobiko, the prawn was overcooked and the meat was very tough.
Overall, the dining experience at Checkmate was mostly a great one. The whole restaurant was quite dark, but it really helped to introduce the chill kind of atmosphere within the whole restaurant. The live band on stage wasn’t playing at a blaring volume that you have to shout to get yourself heard over the dining table, and the drinks were honestly not too bad. The food was generally great other than the Thai Fusion attempts which failed miserably. While the meal was still cheaper compared to Singapore, it is considerably expensive by Thailand’s standard. A really nice place to chill with a couple of friends over some drinks and bar bites, I would highly recommend this place.