Medium Rare Tha Tian - Good Steaks and Vibes at Wat Pho Temple in Bangkok
A nice spread of classic Isaan dishes combined with steak?
If you are around Bangkok’s Old Town, you’re probably checking out some Famous Temples in thee area. And if you’re hungry, you might be looking for some good Thai food as well as some great ambiance to enjoy your dinner. Meet Medium Rare Tha Tian, a popular Thai restaurant located right next to Wat Pho serving up steaks, beer, and even wine in addition to your typical Isaan Thai food.
Medium Rare Tha Tian has been blowing up on Thai TikTok and Lemon8 and with this increase popularity of course I want to try it out for myself. However, my experience was… let’s just say very mixed.
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Steaks with Wine and a View
The old town aesthetic creates a really relaxing and nostalgic atmosphere
Medium Rare Tha Tian is located right next to Wat Pho (the one with the Emerald Buddha), one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Bangkok. When the sun sets there are bright yellow LED lights that line the temple’s structure creating a very romantic atmosphere.
Medium Rare Tha Tian also has some outdoor seating, and I even saw a couple enjoying a few Singha bears while playing Uno!
I really like the old town atmosphere and vibe, it’s the perfect place to chill and relax especially after a long day of exploring the streets of Bangkok.
The Downsides of Social Media Popularity…
As I mentioned before, Medium Rare Tha Tien has been blowing up on social medias so of course you can expect a long line before you can actually sit down and dine. I had to wait for about 30 minutes before I could be seated.
Now before I go any further, I need to warn you. DO NOT TRUST TIKTOK FOOD INFLUENCERS. I have been disappointed so many times by restaurant discoveries on TikTok that it had actually become my motto for when I go out to explore for food.
I also want to preface my experience by saying that my girlfriend had eaten at Medium Rare Tha Tian before they became popular and in fact she brought me here as a recommendation because the food was so good. However, now that this restaurant has become viral, the experience was very different…
Medium Rare Tha Tian Menu
Google translate is your best friend, though the price is not bad
Medium Rare Tha Tian is of course famous for their steaks, though it isn’t like your traditional Western style 1 inch thick steaks based with thyme, butter, and garlic, this is your traditional Thai style grilled meat.
There are sizes for steaks: Small, Medium, and Large. My girlfriend and I ordered the Medium and it was a pretty good portion for 2 people.
Aside from steaks, Medium Rare Tha Tien serves your regular Isaan style Thai food. So there are dishes like:
Larb - Spicy minced meat salad
Som Tum - Varieties of spicy and sour papaya salads
Grilled meats and seafood - Fatty Pork Neck (recommend), squid, shrimp, intestines, etc…
The menu is quite small but all the Isaan staples are there.
On the side of drinks, there is beer (of course) and believe it or not wine! Red wine to be exact.
The menu is only in Thai though so you might need Google translate to help you out.
Pricing
The pricing is good, despite being in the touristy part of Bangkok, the pricing for dishes at Medium Rare Tha Tian remains humble. Larb and Somtums go for about 770 THB per plate which is fair. Our plate of Medium steak was 200 THB.
The portions were quite small but that is fine as it allows you to try many different dishes without getting full.
Crab Somtam with Fermented Fish Sauce
It might look like your regular som tam but this hides a pungent secret
The first dish to come out is my girlfriend’s favorite (but not mine…) Som Tum Poo Pla Ra.
I know there’s “poo” in the name but it’s not poo ok, poo means “crab” in Thai -.-
Som Tum Poo Pla Ra is raw crab papaya salad with fermented fish sauce, while my girlfriend loves it, I don’t because I do not like the Pla Ra, the smell and taste is too pungent for me. I had a little taste and it was ok, not the most pungent version of this dish I’ve ever had, actually the flavor seemed to be too mild for this dish.
My girlfriend also said the same, it was so-so, just an average Som Tum. This is where our dining experience at Medium Rare Tha Tian starts to fall apart…
Fried Small Intestines
Some sad looking fried intestines…
Fried (and grilled) small intestines are my favorite dish to snack on when I’m eating at a Thai Isaan restaurant. Usually fried intestines would be served with a mountain of fried garlics and shallots (or at least a sprinkle). As for the version at Medium Rare Tha Tian? No fried garlic in sight. In fact, we actually thought we were served the grilled intestines instead because of the lack of well… fried-ness.
And the taste was pretty bad too, it wasn’t hot or crispy, the intestines were really tough to chew on. it felt like the intestines were already fried about 4 hours ago beforehand and the chef just chopped it up for us.
Mind you we didn’t go near the closing time or anything, Medium Rare Tha Tien opens at 4PM (and closes at midnight), we went for dinner at ~5PM, so it was just after opening and around peak service hours.
Really disappointing…
Raw Shrimp with with Seafood Sauce
Don’t knock it till you try it! Raw Shrimp in a spicy, sour, and garlicy sauce is the best
Another one of m favorites is Goong Shae Nam Pla, or Raw Shrimp marinated in fish sauce. It’s usually served with some shredded cabbage, Thai seafood sauce, fried shallots, and a few slices of garlic. At least Medium Rare Tha Tian got that right…
The flavor was alright. Not as spicy or sour as I would’ve liked but it was pretty enjoyable. I just wished the Thai seafood sauce was more strong in flavor.
Medium Rare’s Grilled Steak
I know it doesn’t look appetizing but the taste is pretty good
Finally we come to the highlight of the meal, the Medium Rare Steak. Despite the namesake of the restaurant, the steak was more on the side of well done rather than medium rare.
The steak was served with a side of flaky sea salt which was nice. The flavor was was also really good, beefy and very buttery because I could tell they just submerged this piece of meat in tons of butter…
However, while the flavor was pretty good, the steak was very tough to chew. Plus it looked very grey and unappetizing… Maybe it was the dim lighting in the restaurant? I don’t know, there was no grill marks, it looked like the steak was soggy like it was pan fried in it’s own juices making for a really grey and wet steak, like it was boiled almost…
I don’t like to be negative about food but guys this is a pretty bad meal so far, especially for this popular restaurant…
Warning: Incredibly Horrible Service
I think they rented out an adjacent restaurant to accommodate more customers
Here is where things go from average/decent to absolutely horrible… Again, I really don’t like to be negative, but I just really need to complain about some MAJOR RED FLAGS.
Firstly, the wait times for our food was stupidly long, we waited about 15-20 minutes between dishes. There were a lot of people sure, but some people who came in way later than us got served BEFORE us???
The waitresses forgets basic things, we ordered 2 glasses of ice, we only served one? I mean it was me and my girlfriend, two people, it was common sense no? that we should get two glasses? Plus we ordered them, and the waitress repeated our order to us to confirm. They gave us food without utensils? we had to ask for them, not once, but three times.
The staff didn’t even know their own menu? We noticed other tables were served like a spicy chili sauce with their steaks as well, we didn’t get that? When we got served or fried intestines and questioned it, the waitress said “Oh yeah, it’s just missing fried garlic”… Ok??? Then give us the fried garlic hello??? They didn’t give us the fried garlic, despite us asking.
They calculated the bill separately, the food was calculated separately from the drinks? Who does that??? We didn’t know. Our food bill came to 400 THB which was ok, so we paid and then left. Seconds later another waitress basically shouted at us to pay for our drinks and claimed that the bill we paid was only for the food. WHY DIDN’T YOU CACLCULATE THEM TOGETHER????
They tried to scam us for 1 bottle of water and 2 glasses of ice! They said our drinks were 60 THB, insane! 60 THB for water and ice. We rebutted of course, in the end the drinks were 19THB. We asked them how much the bottle of water was, 15 THB. Ok so you’re telling me that you tried to initially charge us 60 THB, when the water was 15, the ice costs 45 THB???? WTF???
And some of you might say “It’s just 60 THB and it’s a local business trying to make money”. No, it’s not just 60 THB, it’s the fact that they think they can get away with charging 45 THB for a few cubes of ice. And they’re not just some small family business, they receive hundreds of customers and got famous on social media. Medium rare Tha Tien was already a popular restaurant prior to their social media popularity.
It’s like social media virality caused their service and food to lose a massive amount of quality.
Conclusion
Pros
The steak tasted good
The price was fair
Cons
Terrible serivce
Average food at best, there are way better places to get Isaan food.
Long wait times.
We almost got scammed.
Overall I DO NOT recommend you dine at Medium Rare Tha Tien, the food is average at best, the only thing good was the steak and even then it was kind of suspicious. The service is horrible, the wait times is long. It was all around really bad. The worst dining experience I’ve ever had. There was not a single redeeming factor. The views of Wat Pho don’t even make up for it.
If you want some real good local Thai food, here are some of my recommendations for the best street food restaurants to try in Bangkok.
My girlfriend and I are really disappointed with Medium Rare Tha Tian…
Medium Rare Tha Tien | 4 / 10
Phone: +66 84 680 4564
Location: 310 Tha Suphan Alley, Phra Borom Maha Ratchawang, Phra Nakhon, Bangkok 10200
Opening Hours: 4:00 PM - 12:00 AM | Mon - Sun
Pricing: ~70 THB per dish, up to 300 THB for steak | $$
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