June 15, 2026

Thai meets French cuisine at THB Bistronome

By now, quite a few would have heard of THB Bistronome, short for The Humble Beginning – a restaurant after his own heart. By his, I mean chef Andy Choy, formerly from Chateau Dionne who also runs his other current establishment, Nice Bistronome, together with chef Kuik Wei Han.

The French technique meets Thai flavour approach here resonates with the Asian palate, making the foreign and often perceived aloof French cuisine, a little more friendly to this side of the world.

Step inside, and you instantly mesmerised by the inviting and elegant ambiance, like a cozy Parisien cafe, except that it’s a lot bigger.

If nothing else, the lemongrass brioche (RM20) is a must-try, so soft, fluffy, buttery, beautifully paired with lemongrass accented butter. And the soft, jiggly omelette Soufflé, with or without crab meat, was enough to make me happy. Delicious French Escargot is a given at any French restaurant but here, they are covered in Thai basil and spices, almost like a pesto. I also enjoyed this immensely.

We had duck confit (RM38), which is as French as they come by, except for the Thai herbed sauce at the side. Red Snapper bouillabaisse (RM50) was more Thai, with lemongrass and other spices/herbs to flavour the soup. The fish was super fresh, while it was delicious, it wasn’t all that unusual and more Asian in presentation. The Pad Thai (RM25), though commendable, was not mind-blowing – we opted to omit the Tiger prawns – but that doesn’t impact the taste.

The menu for mains seemed to lean more towards Thai flavours with very slight French nuances, but lacked any star dishes that made us go wow. That being said, there were hardly any strong spicy or sour notes, mostly coasting on mild.

I hear the offerings have since changed since my last visit, so it’ll be good to check out THB again now that they’re more stable. There are quite a few rice dishes now in the menu, I hear. It’ll also be interesting to see how much more differently French cooking can complement Thai food.

For dessert we had Red Ruby (RM25), all dressed up, and chef Andy’s famous canele (RM9).