Aantarm Cafe - Viral Affordable Steaks in Bangkok’s Old Town
This is probably the best looking plate of steak and eggs I have ever seen!
If you’ve been on Bangkok Food TikTok long enough, you’ll definitely come across an influencer showcasing the recently viral Aantarm Cafe, a local family run steak diner with a charming backstory behind the origins of the cafe.
As with all hyped and viral restaurants, I was a bit skeptical with Aantarm Cafe, however I was very hopeful that this would be a hidden gem amongst the plethora of legendary family run restaurants in Bangkok’s Old Town, such as the locally famous Khanom Jeen HaiLam KoLun.
I have a lot to say about Aantarm Cafe sop let’s get right into the review!
Affiliate Disclaimer: This page contains affiliate links. By clicking on the links and purchasing the product, I will receive a partial commission at no cost to you. All of these products are ones that I fully trust and recommend with my heart. Thank you for your support!
The Story of Aantarm Cafe
This doesn’t feel like a restaurant, it feels like someone’s home!
Aantarm Cafe is a family run restaurant located in the Thonburi neighbourhood of Bangkok on the western bank of the Chao Phraya River. Aantarm has been around for just over 4 years now (as of 2024) and the name comes of the cafe comes from the names of the 3 family members who run the eatery, the Daughter, Wife, and Husband, named A, Ant, and Arm respectively.
Aantarm Cafe originates from the desire to have a cozy and home-y style restaurant where the customers are treated like family friends rather than patrons.
Those steaks are pretty much swimming in a pool of butter
The steaks come from the husband’s love of well… Steak. However, the key here is affordability as well as using quality ingredients. The passion in the owners really shine here as the idea of the restaurant is about having a place to meet new friends while sharing with them delicious food, because as readers of my blog would know, food is what connects us together.
If you are interested in discovering more humble and iconic eats like Aantarm in Bangkok’s Old Town (of which many of Bangkok’s food culture was born), then I recommend you book a Bangkok Backstreet Food Tour to sample 15 of Bangkok’s most legendary food icons including a full street food tour of Bangkok’s Historical Food Culture epicenter, Yaowarat Chinatown.
Aantarm Cafe’s Menu
Small yet concise menu
Aantarm Cafe’s menu is small yet concise with the steak based dishes of course, being front and center. The main dishes are rice bowls and steaks, some extra appetizers like salads and chicken wings are also on offer as well as spaghetti dishes.
Some recommended dishes are:
Beef Striploin Steak
Beef Rice Bowl
Steak Sandwich
The portion is alright I’d say, not to small, yet not too big. I will say however that I did order a handful of dishes but I still felt hungry after finishing my meal. Mind you that I went to Aantarm Cafe with my girlfriend so that’s why we ordered a lot.
Pricing
From the menu, you’ll notice that the price is incredibly cheap for what you’re getting, but don’t mistake the cheap price for cheap quality! I guarantee that the quality is good and to be honest, more quality than a lot of “fancy” steakhouses in Bangkok.
I mean a Beef Tenderloin for 180 THB? Insanely good pricing!
Aantarm Cafe’s Caesar Salad
That’s a solid plate of Caesar Salad if I’ve ever seen one
Our first dish to arrive was unsurprisingly our appetizer, the Caesar Salad. And I got to say, the caesar salad looks beautiful, beautiful green lettuce leaves tossed in Caesar Salad dressing and topped with tomatoes, croutons, shredded parmesan, and NOT bacon (surprisingly) but chunks of smoked ham, that tasted kind of like spam to be honest…
Aantarm Cafe’s Caesar salad is nice and refreshing the dressing is tangy and I love the sharpness of the parmesan cheese. The smoked ham is also real tasty despite tasting a bit like spam. Overall a good salad to start off our meal.
Aantarm Cafe’s Mashed Potato with Gravy
I would happily just drink a bowl of that gravy
The next dish we got was the Mashed Potatoes with gravy and guys, this one’s a winner! Such a simple dish but so incredibly tasty, with much of that flavor coming from the gravy.
The mashed potatoes are very smooth and well seasoned with black pepper and butter. But the highlight is definitely the gravy.
The gravy is really rich and full of peppery and beefy flavor. This is because when the chef finished grilling the steaks he literally pours the beef juices (along with the butter, garlic, and thyme) directly into the gravy!
like seriously, forget about the mashed potatoes, the gravy is simply divine, oh my god!
Insanely Long Wait Times…
Here is where I unfortunately have to talk about the elephant in the room. The service time is incredibly long. Like unacceptably long. We waited upwards of 40 minutes between each of our dishes. It doesn’t take long to scoop a small bowl of mashed potatoes!
This is because there is only one person cooking the food (the husband) and he cooks them in batches. I understand that quality control is paramount to ensuring that each diner gets the best food they can. BUT that argument for “quality control” goes out the window when I talk about the next few dishes we got…
I can understand waiting a long time for good food, but my meal service took about 3 hours in total… Which is pretty unacceptable for food that is suppose to be quick and easy…
Aantarm Cafe’s Steak and Eggs
The steaks are seasoned with a lot of freshly crushed black pepper
Now I ordered the Steak and Eggs as my main dish instead of the signature Beef Striploin, but that’s because I wanted a more filling meal with more protein.
This dish took a while to come out, but I did get the chance to spectate the chef searing and basting the meat as I go the counter seating.
From what I saw, each piece of meat is seared to develop a nice outer crust while also being baste in an enormous amount of butter, garlic, and thyme. And guys, when the chef put in the thyme, the aromatics in the room was through the roof!
That luscious gravy is the main highlight of this dish for me
So it was to my surprise that when my plate of Steak and Eggs came out, the beef was pretty bland…
The plating was gorgeous though, two beautiful Thai style fried eggs (the one with the crispy egg whites), A scoop of that velvety smooth mashed potatoes, and a perfectly cooked medium rare beef tenderloin, doused in that wonderfully beefy gravy.
But yeah, everything on that plate was really good, except for the steak itself which was underwhelming. The texture was tender though, beautifully cooked, just not seasoned well. Luckily Aantarm provides black pepper and sea salt as seasoning so that helped a bit.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not bad, It’s just average, the gravy really carried this dish.
Honestly I was a bit disappointed, seeing all the butter and seasonings combined with the insanely long wait times. I was hoping for something more…
Aantarm Cafe’s Steak Don Rice Bowl
A cute random piece of cherry tomato as a garnish
My girlfriend ordered Aantarm Cafe’s Steak Don Rice Bowl, and while I had mixed feelings about my Steak and Eggs, my girlfriend and I both agreed that this Steak Rice Bowl fared much worse…
There is a trend of Steak Rice Bowls (or Steak Don) in Thailand such as the one at Wild Beef Butcher Shop (another local steak house) and in my opinion no one has gotten it right so far, unfortunately Aantarm Cafe follows the same trend…
Juicy medium rare steak and fired garlic chips topped over fresh hot Thai jasmine rice, all drizzled with a sweet sauce.
This sweet sauce ruins it.
The sauce is incredibly sweet and as it soaks into the rice it becomes wayyyyy too sweet. While the steak was nice, again it’s the same issue I had with Wild Beef’s steak rice bowl, the flavor of the steak as well as the juiciness of it is not enough to be a good pairing with the dry jasmine rice.
If only the rice was more moist like Japanese rice or the steak was more intense in flavor then you’ll get something special here. Thai Jasmine rice needs to be eaten with something very saucy or storing in flavor for it to be a good pairing.
Aantarm Cafe’s Genuinely Warm Hospitality!
Though it might seem like I have a lot of negative things to say about Aantarm’s food and service, I do have to give it up to their incredibly friendly hospitality. They really do treat you like family, and you’ll definitely notice the regulars who come here often, it feels like a small community.
Aantarm Cafe’s hospitality extends beyond personality and charm, their service is also very considerate of the customer. Waiting in a long queue outside the restaurant can be extremely hot from the Thai heat, but once you’re inside the cafe, Aantarm provides you with little portable fans to help cool you off, so thoughtful!
Aantarm Cafe’s Steak Sandwich
The dream sandwich of every meat lover
No doubt Aantarm Cafe’s most iconic dish is their steak sandwich! Similar in concept to a Japanese Katsu Sando, Aantarm’s version are chunks of tender medium rare steak, glazed with a sweet Worcester/Tonkatsu-like sauce sandwiched between two thick slices of buttered toast.
This sandwich was good, while the steak suffered the same drawbacks as the other dishes, being quite bland, the tenderness and done-ness is perfect. The Tonkatsu sauce is salty yet sweet, combined with the creamy butter, and it really helps add flavor to the sandwich.
It’s a real tasty sandwich, unfortunately brought down a bit by the lackluster beef itself. Still though, I recommend you order this sandwich, because Aantarm only has a limited supply.
Seriously while I was there, they only served 10 steak sandwiches and I was the FIRST group of customers who went in. Needless to say, the second batch of customers did not get the chance to try this sandwich.
Conclusion
Pros
Incredibly hospitality, feels like I’m eating at a friend’s house
Really affordable and cheap food. We ordered 3 steak-based dishes, total bill is under 1000 THB
Simple dishes yet quite tasty, gravy is really good.
Cons
Only one chef creates insanely long service times, not only that, long queues and popularity means you’ll have to come 1 or 2 hours before opening to reserve your spot.
The steaks were disappointingly bland despite the massive amounts of seasoning…
Overall I cautiously recommend you eat at Aantarm, no doubt my opinions were tarnished by the ridiculous wait times, but I do have to give it up to Aantarm Cafe for their incredible service, affordable pricing, and overall general good quality and taste in their food.
If the owners could employ one more chef then service could be better. And maybe wait a bit when the TikTok hype has died down so the long queues wouldn’t be an issue.
Aantarm has a lot of potential to be great, and while I was a little bit let down, I do hope that they improve their business and reach a lot of success in the future!
Aantarm Cafe | 7 / 10
Phone: 081 831 7630
Location: 1231/6 ถ. เทอดไท Talat Phlu, Thon Buri, Bangkok 10600
Opening Hours: 11:45AM - 3:00PM | Thu - Mon
Pricing: $ | ~200 per dish
Looking for Things to Do in Bangkok?
SEA LIFE Bangkok Ocean World - Encounter over 400 marine species and 30000 creatures
Floating Markets Day Tour - Tour 3 major markets: Damnoen Saduak, Maeklong, Amphawa
Safari World Bangkok - Meet exotic and friendly animals at Bangkok’s animal kingdom
Discounted Tickets - Browse a variety of attractions, tours, and transports all for a great price
Useful Resources for Traveling in Thailand
Tourism Information - All the information you need when traveling in Thailand
4G/5G SIM Card - 8 days, 15GB, Important for staying connected while in Thailand
Private Airport Transfers - Transfer from Suvarnabhumi Airport to the city without worry
Best Bangkok Hostels - A list of the best hostels to stay for cheap and meet new friends
CHECK OUT OUR OTHER ARTICLES!
