Ōre – Bangkok, Thailand

Ōre – Bangkok, Thailand
On December 1st, 2024 my wife and I went to our first counter service fine dining resturant, Ōre. First off, thank you u/AcanthocephalaOwn188 for your review here, it inspired us to dine at Ōre rather than many of the other great options in Bangkok.

Located in the BK Salon, the staff greet you in the first building which appears to be a coffee/drink counter. We were about 25 minutes early to our 2nd seating reservation (we were warned that we cannot trust Bangkok traffic).The resturant suggests arriving 10 minutes early so you can determine your drinks prior to food. The staff asked us to sit in the small waiting area, served us cold water and presented us with the drink menu for Ōre. It is a wine list by the bottle, thai cocktail pairing, or tea pairing. I chose the cocktail pairing and my wife chose the tea pairing.

Once it neared our reservation time, we were escorted through the salon to the main dining space for Ōre. The resturant has 6 seats and our 2nd seating that evening had 5 diners. The space is minimalistic, bright and open. White colors on the diner side are seperated by the large wooden counter from the industrial kitchen area. We spoke with the beverage manager and confirmed our drink pairings that we determined earlier.

Ōre is carefully timed, as our evening was 33 courses paired with 6 drinks, and our courses began to flow 5 minutes into our reservation time.

From here, we were constantly presented with food courses and drinks, each with a staff member explaining what we had in front of us.

The staff made an effort to explain less common ingredients they chose to use, why they were selected and how it was prepared.
We found this information to be clearly presented, valuable to the context of the chef's process, and important because it spaced our dishes out. Each dish was typically presented and cleared within 3-4 minutes. The courses were usually 1-4 bites. We never felt rushed between courses.

Counter resturant dining is not the best place to have a deep conversation with your party. The kitchen is open and an entertainment of itself. There is constant motion, preparations, explanations, plating, and eating to occupy the time.

After 27 courses, all diners are asked to join the staff in a separate area across the salon. This dining space is soft and black in contrast to the hard and white area prior. You are seated at party specific tables at this point, still with a complete view of the new kitchen.

These 6 courses fly by and you are presented a 'book of Ōre'. It details the development of the resturant and menu with illustrations and the chef's insights. You cannot take it home but you can take pictures!

At this point your meal is finished and the parting gift was a chocolate muffin and a hand written menu of your meal that day. The menu changes every day in course number and course variety.

Overall: Ōre deserves its recommendation from the Michelin guide. Service was great. Food was great! I would 100% dine there again.
I can see why it did not receive a star though. The beverage pairings were nice but it is not the resturant's priority presently. 25-35 courses a seating is ambitious. Pairing to that much variety is nearly impossible. The thai cocktail pairing was perfect for 1 out of every 5-6 courses and a similar ratio for the tea pairing. The drinks were fine for the other courses but not enhancing the food with every sip, most courses. These pairings are a unique offering and allowed both of us to explore new and exciting flavors. A superior champagne or white wine may be a better path for a more sophisticated diner.

Ore is great now and based on their 'book of Ōre;' still developing new and exciting courses.