Sex in the cabbage patch! (Cabbages & Condoms)

Name: Cargill

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Product:	Cabbages & Condoms
Date:	06/12/04 (4709 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Profits help a good cause, Great food, Stunning decor/ambience

Disadvantages: Bangkok is full of great food!, Over-attentive service, Inattentive service!

Lets think of a cabbage!

A fairly ordinary vegetable that can be boiled away to a green tasteless mulch, something which I would dread being served a few years ago!
I thought how much better the world would be without cabbage, I mean there are plenty of other decent vegetables such as carrots and sweetcorn.

Years later, I realised that it wasn't the cabbage I hated, but the way it was aggressively boiled by my Mother! I'm sure there are many others who can relate to this experience.

In Thailand of course, it is a different story. Here is land who have developed the most amazing fiery and sensational dishes; spicy and fragrant creations laced with coconut; sex on a plate really!

"Who mentioned sex? I was thinking about cabbage!"

Well.... In Thailand, the cabbage is a familiar everyday food, as much a part of life as a tea-bag is here in the UK.
Until recently, something equally familiar to the Thais was a huge birth rate, and the proliferation of AIDS. Yep, they were at it like rabbits, and society was struggling to cope.
If only condoms were as common as cabbages!

And hence, Cabbages and Condoms.

Its a very popular restaurant just off the busy Sukhumvit Road in Bangkok.

This restaurant is run by Thailand's Population and Community Development Association, whose founder, former Thai senator Mechai Viravaidya, believes "birth control should be as cheap as cabbages"—hence the restaurant's name!

Proceeds from the restaurant go towards birth control projects and AIDS awareness projects. Viravaidya has become a popular figure amongst Thais for all his hard work in promoting the association's work. Amongst the folk of Bangkok and those who visit, he has also gained a fine reputation for his restaurant.

So much so, that a second C&C has been established in the Pattaya resort.

I visited his restaurant in Bangkok last year, based on various recommendations, including that of the grail of travelling; The Lonely Planet book!

First things first. Any visitor to Bangkok will not go hungry, neither will they struggle to find an eating place, and most importantly; he/she will enjoy the food that this city throws at them!

So therefore, I figured it would be good to check out C&C, knowing that the profits were driving birth control schemes throughout Bangkok and rural Thailand.

Arriving, I was so impressed by the decor. Tens of Thousands of white fairy lights draped from the canopies, fluttering in the night breeze. Plenty of candles too, and the sounds of hundreds of diners chatter, punctuated by noisy sizzling dishes wafting aroma in to the night air. I was salivating. Surveying the huge dining area, I spotted as many Thai couples/groups as I did Westerners. Wherever I go in the World, a useful barometer of reputation is the ratio of locals to tourists in a restaurant.

Have a look round. There are condoms everywhere, in frames on the walls, and under glass table tops. So many colours, so many patterns, ribbed, studded, and then some proper huge ones. Having been so hungry that I could have eaten a horse, I was staring at a condom that could have suited that horse!

Staff are everywhere, and are very attentive.... too attentive in fact that they seem to irritate. Having been seated in a non-smoking area, I explained that I had requested a smoking table. Two seperate people arrived to apologise, and then a guy in a suit told me we could move to the smokers pit (sorry; bit!) though by this stage I was in too involved with my main course to care.

So, "Who's for starters?"

"But we're on main course!"

Yep, lots of attentive staff, but the food came in the wrong order. Still, this was just a personal experience. I may have been unlucky, it was busy after all!

The menus are in English and Thai, as is the standard in Thailand, and a variety of courses with wine cost just over £10 for two of us. Speaking of the wine, the bottle was placed too far away from us, in a cooler. Have a sip from your glass, and an overly attentive waiter/waitress appears from nowhere to top it up. I personally, do not like this sort of service, and appreciate being left alone to get on with my meal. Maybe others will enjoy the standards, but I felt it all a bit over the top. And besides, attentive waiters should have seated me in a smoking area (like I asked for), and sent me my food in the order I asked for! Lets get the basics right guys!

So hows about the food? Well, it simply is great. Every dish arrived ornately presented, dressed with some amazing garnishes such as flower-shaped carrots, an amazing feat of 3-D sculpture.... this is very good food.
Very good food in a city of... well, errrr..... 'Very good food!'

So, a sticking point here. C&C is great, barring a few flaws which may have been incidental to my visit. But the standard is comparable to so many other places in Bangkok.
C&C stands out for its social welfare connections, and its always packed. But It does not scream "Amazing" across the city rooftops and temples.

I would recommend it, but I would also recommend you going somewhere else!

C&C is a nice evening experience along the otherwise chaotic Sukhumvit Road. The decor is heavenly and its busy environment feels special. The menu is extensive, and the food is great. It is still the most expensive meal I had in all of Thailand, but hardly dented my spending money. Put in to a Western perspective, this is still a very good value meal.

"After dinner mint guys?"

Sorry, no mints here, aside from my bill, there were two condoms on the saucer!
I guess its a nice touch, and it reminds you of what they are trying to do.
I left these on the plate, having sensibly brought a supply from GB with me. Besides, on return to our hotel, my partner washed her hair.

Summary: