Blue Elephant: an adapted Thai modern cuisine locale behind Parnell Village

Blue Elephant is located behind Parnell Village if you are walking from Parnell Road.

This place is very popular amongst the locals.  The restaurant's menus are thus presented and cooked to suit local palates.  If you're a true-blue Thai, you will find the food rather bland, quite sweet-ish at times, and might not be used to some of the ingredients that seem out-of-place in certain menus.  However, that being said, I loved how their food was presented on the plates, and also how they innovate Thai classics.

Overall grade:  2.5/5.0

Unique charms:

• Some wines are available in "tasting sizes" (in small aperitif glasses).  So if you are dining alone and want to taste several different ones, you will not burn a hole through your wallet here.
• Traditional Thai furnitures and fabrics decorate the dining area and give an ambience that you're eating a quick dinner in the old town of Krung Thep (that's "Bangkok" for all non-Thai speakers) if you factor out the winter chill.

The name is inspired by the famous culinary institution in Bangkok, but it is unaffiliated.

Tasting size Pinot Noir from Otago

Shrimp cakes with the same reddish tint like traditional fish cakes with tidbits of scallops in individual spoons

Crispy almond chicken in red curry sauce.  The vegetables have been parboiled and have no flavour.  The sauce was watery and insipid.  Finally, the crispy chicken was dominated by the oiliness of the sliced almonds which have been "toasted" in vegetable oil.  This dish has a lot of room for improvement.