James Bond: A midnight snack might be just the thing.

Mary Goodnight: I’ll keep the wine properly chilled.

James Bond: And everything else warm, I trust.

Always suave, is our Jimmy Bond 😉

Today was a case of when two worlds collide.

For Dave, a stay at the Mandarin Oriental, the Bangkok filming location of ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’, one of his favourite James Bond Movies.

For me, Bangkok’s most acclaimed restaurant in that same hotel – La Normandie.

Just like in a movie, my version of JB whisked me away for two amazing nights. A holiday within a holiday. A treat within a treat.

Not only does James Bond always have the smooth words to flatter his leading lady, he also always manages to look pretty dapper, especially when he’s going out to dinner, visiting a casino or at the hotel bar ordering his Dry Martini… shaken not stirred.

How dapper does Dave look!

Many people don’t realise that the James Bond Ian Fleming wrote about in his 007 novels was actually a foodie. While martinis and hotel room seductions are featured throughout 007 movies, the films don’t actually depict the lead character as the books do, a man who definitely enjoyed his food. Ian Fleming novel fans know that the original James Bond book series lingers on food, described in vibrant and delicious detail. Apart from writing novels, newspaper features and a number of non-fiction books, Ian Fleming was also a published food writer.

Dave had organised early check-in, so we could take advantage of this beautiful hotel. Our room, while not the top floor honeymoon suite, is nevertheless sheer luxury. A fruit platter and bottle of champagne was brought into the room by the butler on our arrival, the fresh orchards around the room (with petals on the pillows) gave the most exquisite perfume. Today’s toilet put yesterday’s to shame 😉

Sorry to be over-the-top, but I’m sure many of you would expect no less than seeing all the pictures of our amazing dinner. You know when the Crown Princess of Thailand is eating in the same restaurant as you (with all her special forces security guards), that this restaurant is ‘the place to be’.

At 7pm, after sizing Dave up for a jacket for him to wear to the ‘jacket and tie only’ restaurant, the butler escorted us to Le Normandie, which was on the top floor of a separate building from our room. (I know right – this is the most amazing thing I have ever experienced). On arrival we were ushered into a plush waiting area where a blind man played a grand piano. Surely this is a movie not real life? Our arrival was at the same time as the Princess, and while we were treated like royalty, her and her entourage got preference to be seated!

After four amazing bite-size tastes of our Amuse Bouche, which included an oyster from Normandy topped with truffle foam; crisp cumin crackers; and this incredibly amazing presentation and serving of a seafood consommé which filtered through fresh seaweed onto raw fish with a scallop cream! OMG!

We then moved on to the actual menu. We chose the six course degustation, because hey, when you’ve come this far for a great meal, you need to experience it all.

Thankfully at the end of the night they gave us a copy of the menu, otherwise I might not have remembered everything we ate. My favourite course was the wild venison, pear and fennel, while Dave particularly enjoyed the John Dory, but given the waiter kept restocking his freshly baked bread, maybe that, with its choice of four butters was actually the top dish for him! (some of the butters below: Caramelized onion butter, plain salted, and a delicious seaweed infused version)

Some of the pictures I managed to take are below. It was not really the type of place where you can set up ‘instagrammable’ pics like some places are, so I needed to be conspicuous! (We are being James Bond look-alikes remember)

I don’t know if you can see the heavy army presence in the background, there to protect the Princess!

When we got back to our room, our beds were turned down, the lights were dimmed, the hotel slippers placed beside our beds and, now that it was dark, we had a beautiful view of the Chao Phraya river from our window. The departing gift from the restaurant was a small golden paper bag filled with a Kauign Amann – an individual traditional cake made in Brittany. It was a lovely touch but there was no way we were able to fit that in. Maybe that’s the midnight snack Mary Goodnight was referring to in the Man with the Golden Gun!

I’m not sure that many days in life are ever going to be better than this one. No wonder we have stayed married for almost 29 years!