taaseesanuk

Have a google.

I'm guessing they're in the process of changing names, if not more. I've eaten there several times, and up until til a few weeks ago the website showed you the No Idea Restaurant info, including their menu. Now the menu is not online, so I suspect changes are afoot. I hope it's only a change of the stupid name, because I loved their old menu.
Nice that some of you took Toto out for a nice dinner. She's the best.

Backstory
ToTo is visiting BKK as she is looking for wholesalers for her new Laos business and has also been invited to the WN04 Staff Trip later this week. @Behan suggested we take her to No Idea, which is a really nice restaurant on soi 18. 
I had visited No Idea with @Behan once before and remembered that it was a favourite of Iain's when it was located on soi 22. As Iain was a qualified chef, that was quite the recommendation.
There was a comical episode when I was trying to give the directions to ToTo:
ToTo: Where we meet?
SAG: No idea
ToTo: What name of restaurant?
SAG: No idea
ToTo: How I find it?
SAG: On soi 18.
ToTo: How I know I am there?
SAG: Stop at No idea
etc.
I finally managed to cut through the confusion, but must admit, it is a daft name for a restaurant!
The Restaurant
No Idea is situated about 300 metres, or a 5 minutes walk, inside soi 18, on the left hand side. It is set back from the road, with steps leading up to an outside area. 
The inside is spacious and feels very roomy, with a modern decor and tables far enough away from each other that you can have a private conversation.
There is also a bar area, which has a bar menu, and there must be 1,000+ bottles of wine on the walls. The cocktails and wine menu is extensive, 
What makes the restaurant stand out is that there are a lot of staff, who are very attentive and are well trained, with excellent English. 
The menu has about 8-10 starters and the same number of main courses and desserts. But what is quite unique about No Idea is that the list of specials is probably bigger than the menu itself. I have never seen so many specials and they definitely change from visit to visit.
The type of food is modern farang, and is probably most similar to the Wine Connection on soi 11, although the quality at No Idea is way better and the service cannot be compared.
If you're thinking that it is expensive, you would be wrong, I had the grilled chicken and seasonal vegetable, which was about THB 500 and the portions were very generous.
ToTo had the Wagyu Carpaccio as a starter and then the seafood pasta, which she seemed to enjoy. The carpaccio was THB 550 and the seafood pasta, which had a lot of seafood in it was 950. 
A sign of a good restaurant is that there is little to no staff turnover and I recognised three of the waiting on staff from the previous visit.
Summary
If you are looking for a nice place, that has very good food and excellent service, but is neither pretentious nor over-priced, then No Idea ticks all of the boxes. It is a perfect place to take a LB out for a special occasion, without her feeling intimidated or like a fish out of water.
If you set the benchmark at Wine Connection, then that place gets a 3.5/5.0 from me, as it is just OK food, with cramped tables and so-so service, as compared to much better quality food, way better service and a nice spacious layout. It is the difference between a corporate chain restaurant and an individually owned establishment.
I give No Idea a 4.5/5.0 and IMHO it cannot be faulted.
Highly recommended if you fancy some farang food and it has a highly extensive drinks list!
The customers were mainly farangs and it was a nice relaxed atmosphere.
Cheers
SAG
 

Nope, Nam's are fantastic and most of her drivers are single mothers.
Providing the service if of the usual excellent levels then for sure round it up to 2k. it will be appreciated.

Nope, Nam's are fantastic and most of her drivers are single mothers.
Providing the service if of the usual excellent levels then for sure round it up to 2k. it will be appreciated.

I have a trip coming up to go from Bangkok to Pattaya.  I have already booked my trip with Nams for a Camry for thb1600.  Usually I am just lazy and give them 2k and don’t want anything back.  Is that too generous?  I know it also depends on driver/driving.
my question is what do you generally tip the driver?

Agree ... no need for bells and whistles for me 
I really recommend to book first with a free cancellation option and do a check closer to the actual date. Never harms ... 

Think of the downturn in straws!
@SAGuy will be gutted, he loves a stroll behind them as he makes his way along Soi11 

Think of the downturn in straws!
@SAGuy will be gutted, he loves a stroll behind them as he makes his way along Soi11 

Oh please, don't let there be a shortage in watch-sellers 

no visa free for indian brothers 555

Mainly because some of us have a long drive to and from the airports where direct flights depart.
Norse Atlantic ran a direct service from Manchester last winter which was brilliant. Unfortunately they have now knocked that on he head which leaves Heathrow and Gatwick as the only UK airports offering direct flights to BKK.

Might be worth it if it curtails the hordes of Israeli's and Russians 

Having avoided the middle east now for at least the last decade there's no way I'm going to be tempted by saving a few hundred quid. Strange really as I used to have a gold card with Qatar Airways but after the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud incident left many stranded the decision was taken to fly direct to BKK whenever possible. That subsequently proved to be a very good decision during March this year when all flights through the middle east were grounded and our direct flight was unaffected.
That said I have occasionally flown via Paris & Amsterdam but getting stuck there shouldn't be anywhere near as much of an issue.

So, it looks as though there is some stability with travel in and out of The Middle East.
We are seeing some very attractive deals from the likes of Emirates, Quatar, and Etihad as the companies
try to entice us back to using them? Would you be confident to take them up on this? Certainly, you will unlikely be
covered by Travel Insurance in the event of being stranded, trust me I was victim of this! Alongside the threat of conflict is
now the added concern of possible aviation fuel shortages. It's a difficult situation to balance as some deals do look attractive,
personally, I will be sticking with flying direct to LOS for the immediate future.

I agree, I found out the hard way about Insurance and their "Act of war" get out clause!
I'm sure the girls will be pleased to see you in WN when you get back mate.

Exactly this - insurance. I am off to Asia for month next week. When booking the (company) flights, connections with EK, QR, EY etc are ~70% cheaper than what I am taking instead (BA direct, ANA etc).
FCDO is clear, advice against all but etc travel. Insurance companies will do whatever they can not pay out, so the moment you get stuck, let alone travel to the region (ME) and end up in hospital, medevac flight you are buggered. Queue a front page Daily Mail sob story image in your head of some family from shitsville in the UK stuck in Tenerife after granny had to have her kidneys removed. 
I will have to go to Oman, and that’s only possible with special company approval and dedicated insurance. Insurance Insurance insurance ….check check check.
I will be back in Bangkok as part of the trip - so may see some of you there. May even do a Lidl version of last years speed pool event. 
 
 

So, it looks as though there is some stability with travel in and out of The Middle East.
We are seeing some very attractive deals from the likes of Emirates, Quatar, and Etihad as the companies
try to entice us back to using them? Would you be confident to take them up on this? Certainly, you will unlikely be
covered by Travel Insurance in the event of being stranded, trust me I was victim of this! Alongside the threat of conflict is
now the added concern of possible aviation fuel shortages. It's a difficult situation to balance as some deals do look attractive,
personally, I will be sticking with flying direct to LOS for the immediate future.

Ouch...talk about misinformed medical advice.
First off, if a person (LB or whoever) is HIV+ and is regularly taking an approved ART drug, you are exceedingly unlikely to be able to be infected when having sex with them. If a person is on an approved PrEP drug, ditto.
Second, use a condom, regardless. Not only are condoms quite effective against HIV, they are also quite effective against a long list of other sexually transmitted diseases that HIV drugs provide zero protection against, and some of those diseases are pretty nasty in their own right. And if you're using condoms you don't have to worry about the honesty of your partner.
Third, no, people should not be on PrEP (not PReP, get the acronym right, dude!) no matter what. If you're using condoms it makes no sense. PrEP drugs are pretty potent and not suited for everyone. Those who might want to consider PrEP as an option are those who drink to excess or take party drugs when playing with the LBs, and might stupidly go bareback under those conditions. Or those who plan on rolling the dice and going bareback.

If they brew a decent cappuccino,  they can sign me up as their first regular 

Seriously thinking of stealing the idea, along with the name and then opening a chain of coffee shops throughout all the main tourist areas of Thailand.
Now how do I get Fiat to come in 50/50 with me ?

Indeed, and well played to you both.
I would add that the concept is actually a really good one......Toto is in the Minivan to Laos as I write this, I might suggest she
tells the driver to turn back, I could really see her running a bakery/coffee shop with a crew of Poom Pui Ladyboy waitresses!

Indeed, and well played to you both.
I would add that the concept is actually a really good one......Toto is in the Minivan to Laos as I write this, I might suggest she
tells the driver to turn back, I could really see her running a bakery/coffee shop with a crew of Poom Pui Ladyboy waitresses!

Indeed, and well played to you both.
I would add that the concept is actually a really good one......Toto is in the Minivan to Laos as I write this, I might suggest she
tells the driver to turn back, I could really see her running a bakery/coffee shop with a crew of Poom Pui Ladyboy waitresses!

I actually thought it was a great idea and it would really suit a LB reaching retirement age. Maybe they could also have ST rooms upstairs?
The concept was in the making for 8+ months and whilst I wrote the script, another far more clever BM than me created the AI images.
What was interesting was how the AI models have improved over the past year. The original images weren't great and look cloned, but in the past few months, it has come along in leaps and bounds.
It is fascinating and scary at the same time.
My favourite image was the alley, if you look closely it really looks like a tip. You wouldn't want to stay in a hotel down soi 8/1.

Note I decided to create a fake soi to give the game away and as expected that's how we were busted on both forums. The jape did last longer than I thought though!
How the AI images improved over time:
The original versions of Amah









I actually got the hots for this version:


Amah and the Crew
Notice how the crew looked very 'clonish', this was a big problem with the earlier AI models.











Finally, I will share a video of my new online girlfriend with you all:
1754677950336.mp4
The creative genius behind all of this is a BM, whom I will not name, but he is more than welcome to step up and receive his accolades. He put a lot of work into all of this.
Cheers, until next year...
SAG