January 30, 2005

Philippe French restaurant in Sukhumvit Soi 39

Philippe Restaurant
20/15-17 Sukhumvit soi 39
Tel: 02 259 4577
Credit Cards accepted
Website

Visit Saturday January 29th.
I was thinking of saying this restaurant is one of the best kept secrets in Bangkok: but it is not because it is often full. What I meant was that this restaurant is not mentioned in most culinary guides. I can only think of one reason they are not: not because they don't pay to do so, but because they don't need to!
Philippe restaurant has been around for six years. The last time I went there was about three years ago: then I remembered what was a good if somewhat staid establishment. Well I trundled back last night and had a superb meal. However it was the little things that really impressed me. In the trendier Bangkok restaurants, I sometimes think there is a competition going on to see how long they can stop you from getting a drink. In a good restaurant, I will usually have a bottle of white wine as an aperitif. Too often getting the wine in your glass is a three-ring circus: choosing, showing, getting an ice bucket, opening, tasting and then the look of surprise when an inadequate first glass disappears in a micro second! But not at Philippe’s: I do not think I had been sitting at the table for five minutes before I had wine in my glass and bread on my table. The most impressive bit was that the place was full and we were given the last table!
The menu is a good clean menu, well laid out with a good range of hot and cold starters. I had rock lobster with avocado and mango. The use of rock lobster instead of prawns suggests that Philippe has the same low opinion of local (warm water) prawns that I have. It was a small starter: I have seen larger amuse bouches: but it was delicious. My lady On had duck salad with smoked duck and duck foie gras: more substantial and also first class. I heard a man at nearby table announce to his friends before they ordered, that the portions were small. I was agreeing at that moment: but not after the mains!

One of the nice parts of the menu is a section called French stews and includes five items including ox tail and braised tongue. However in the special menu cassoulet was offered: I could not resist as it is a long time since I had that. On had corn fed chicken. This was a small local chicken that was clearly cooked to order and was declared the best chicken ever by a life-long chicken eater. I have never seen a whole chicken stripped quite clean. Those of us in polite society would have left the carcass: but not a country girl who sucked every bone clean of meat! My cassoulet was the treat I had expected.
We were encouraged to have some cheese but in the end a pud of fromage frais was enough for me. Although the cheese board did look tempting and I think this I the first place I have seen a cheese board, in Thailand, other than at Le Normandie.
The wine list is interesting and the red section is substantial with a good selection of good clarets including a Mouton Rothschild 1982 at 45,000 Baht which I thought made the Lafite Rothschild 1983 at 14,000 Baht look well priced. But apart from the top end Bordeauxs there was also a good Burgundy selection. Equally impressive was the selection of wines at around 1,000 baht a bottle. I had an Oxford Landing Sauvignon blanc at 1,100 Baht and a Cahors (Chateau Pradel) at 1,050 Baht. That is a big plus because most places now have little drinkable wine under 1,500 Baht a bottle.
Philippes itself is a comfortable drawing room style restaurant on two levels and the man himself always comes round to see that all is well. So I will end as I started by saying this is definitely one of the better restaurant in Bangkok but without the pretensions: just a single-minded seriousness about good food and the serving of it!

Posted by Sam at 9:11 AM | Comments (1)

January 28, 2005

Giusto a special Italian restaurant in Soi 23 Sukhumvit

Giusto
16 Soi Sukhumvit 23
Tel: 02 258 4321
Few restaurants have impressed me as much as this one did when I first stumbled upon it. I should have known it was there but I was simply strolling up Soi 23 looking for dinner, and lo and behold a positive mirage appeared. Fortunately it was not an illusion. Located in a pleasant old house with glass walls and pleasant garden out front, it gives exactly the sophisticated impression that is sought.
Inside there are confusing levels as the route to the restaurant proper is around the house rather than straight in. From the moment I sat down I knew I was somewhere I was going to enjoy. The menu is good and full of nice surprises and things that are different. Of course so it should be, but all too many restaurants in reality sell roughly the same dishes. I am not saying none of those are here but they are complimented by such dishes as Tuna tartare with oscietra caviar fried sea urchin and dill maionese sauce and Australian swordfish in balsamic sauce soft and juice with sauteed spinach as well as fresh fish and crustaceans from France. However the real star is the wine list: I spent twenty minutes marvelling at it, although I fear I did not feel the event justified a bottle of Romanee Conti at 90,000 baht! However there were more modest offerings such as an 82 Chateaux Margaux, or even a Mouton Rothschild of the same year! I did ask about the sale of these great wines and was assured they did move. Of course there is a proper glass-sided wine cellar with these precious jewels kept at the right temperature.
Needless to say there are two special people behind this operation the Chef Fabio Colautti and the wine expert Giulio Saverino. The restaurant is their dream and they deserve to get their true reward.
See website

Posted by Sam at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)

Le Bouchon is Patpong's French outpost and restaurant

Le Bouchon
37/17 Patpong 2,
Surawongse Road.
Tel: 02-234 9109.
Credit cards accepted.

Le Bouchon is a popular little French bistro with good food and a friendly staff. Le Patron can often be found sitting outside muttering about the new 'no smoking' regulations. The menus are on blackboards featuring both the regular, and a special menu and the food is typically French with very little consideration given to the location. It usually always full of Frenchmen. They do a very good terrine and another of my favourites is the ox tongue in a parsley sauce. I have had many a happy meal here, often sitting at the bar.

Posted by Sam at 9:48 AM | Comments (1)

Le Moulin de Sommai, French restaurant in Soi Langsuan

Le Moulin de Sommai,
93/3A Soi Langsuan,
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 251 3058
I heartily approve of the recent decoration upgrade here. The fascinating art photos and prints are shown off well by the clean white walls. And the bar here is important too as it allows Johan to entertain his many passing friends. The tables are well spaced and the place settings generous. The food is classic French with many items imported. An interesting and varied menu that is enough: no novel to read here as when selecting a dish it means reading a simple but good short story. Last time I dined I had soup du poisson and braised lamb shank. My companion had cuisse de grenouille and salmon. I followed mine with a crepe Suzette and a little Roquefort cheese. What more could you want and with a couple of bottles of very drinkable Cotes du Rhone.

Posted by Sam at 9:39 AM | Comments (0)

Reflexions at the Plaza Athenee, Wireless Road

Reflexions
Plaza Athenee,
Wittayu-Wireless Road.
Tel: 02-650 8800.
Open: 6pm-12.30am. Music from 7pm.
Credit cards accepted.
At first sight the room appears stark, almost art deco, with a bar straight out of Rebel Without A Cause and a montage of black and white photos above it. It is a very modern restaurant and the menu is the same. In the starter section there are five salads out of a total of 11 options. The main courses have the usual flowing descriptions that mean damn all to most of us. A good example was “Crispy roast duck with Peruvian purple potato puree with broad beans and a cabernet raspberry reduction.” Delicious I am sure! Of course the food is cooked and presented with great care and much thought goes into the presentation.. There is live music that comes from a talented trio who will play virtually anything you ask for: although sometimes I think it is better to let them do what they do best: entertain you. A good restaurant with some nice music: a bit stark maybe when not so full.

November 2005

I had a very interesting meal here recently and an update is required. The current chef is Martin Faist from Germany cooking in the modern French style. The food was first class although I do have some serious reservations about the service. The decor and music are as described.

As a starter I had a dish from the daily special menu. It was described as "Whole rabbit served four ways: Saltimbocca, braised shoulder, home-made terrine and crispy leg." As can be seen from the picture, this was the dish of a craftsman with five fiddly, small dishes coming together as one. My main was Crepinette of Guinea Fowl, although I fear that description does little to justify the incredibly detailed dish I was presented with - a moist, rolled guinea fowl with mushrooms and spinach inside and two sauces - including a really rich foie gras reduction. The other half had frogs legs unlike anything she had ever had before, and steak. For puddings, the ice cream pralines and mango and ginger tart were both good looking and in the case of the tart, (was it really a tart?) highly inventive.
Summing up what I thought of the cooking is simple. It was genuine cutting edge modern French cooking and, on that basis, the cooking, if in France would almost certainly gain one star, if not two, from those tyre people turned restaurant reviewers. I still find the room a little sparse, and as I said the service was sometimes lacking in "attention" I think is the word. I also found the wine list a little confusing, until I had worked it out. At first sight it seemed to be a single page, but there was life and indeed a very sensible list under that front page.
I have now classified Reflexions as French from European

Posted by Sam at 9:08 AM | Comments (0)

Casa Pascal, a top Pattaya restaurant

Casa Pascal
Just off Second Road opposite Marriot
Tel: 038. 723 660
Credit Cards accepted.

There is no doubt that this is a good restaurant, and the last time I ate here I had a meal that was difficult to fault. I was amused by the amuse bouche which was a half dolma elegantly arranged on large plate with the usual dripped sauce and frizzy lettuce leaf. The rest of my food included seared tuna and salmon to start, with a mushroom risotto as a main, which was good and well presented. But I always find this restaurant very dry. The Boss/Chef strode through a few times but there was no cheery smile. Maybe it would be better if I went with a few drunks next time, but that might even lower the amusement threshold.

Posted by Sam at 6:48 AM | Comments (0)

Tropical Murphy's Irish Pub in Chaweng

Tropical Murphys
14.49 Chaweng Beach Road
Tel: 077 413 614
Tropical Murphy’s is not only a very popular Irish pub, but one of the busiest places in Chaweng. That's for a variety of reasons including it’s food. Of course it is pub food. Not haut cuisine, but the menu is extensive with Tex Mex and Thai food, as well as the traditional pies and fry ups. It also has a massive range of draught beers from Guinness to it’s own micro brew. It is run by Irishman Paul Watson: an all round good sort!
Website

Posted by Sam at 6:29 AM | Comments (0)

Zico's Brazilian bar and grill, Chaweng Beach

Zicos
Chaweng Beach Road,
Tel: 077 231560
This is a truly fun operation as well as a place to pig out on meat. The food concept is simple; there is a fixed price menu that includes a salad bar and all the barbequed meat you can eat. The meat is cooked over charcoal on a sword. The sword is then taken round the tables and served to any who want it. On the swords are different meats.

The night I was there we were offered: Chicken (dry), Turkey (OK), Turkey rolled in bacon (good), beef (inside good outside burnt), pork (good), lamb (good), salmon (good), barracuda and prawn (dry). In brackets are my assessments of each meat offered. In fairness I would point out that I like my chicken clucking and my cow mooing. The meat course comes with vegetables and potatoes. Everything is unlimited and the servers did not hold back. A nice touch is the Zico mat beside each place. One side is green the other red, if you want more food leave the green side up, if you want to stop or take a break, put the red side up.
The restaurant is large and airy with the barbecue a feature at the back. The tables are big and the chairs comfortably adequate for the largest person. The service were remarkably good and clearly much time has been spent on staff training.
Just after we sat down a couple of dancers appeared in Mardi Gras kit and waggled their botties at all the tables. The dancers were tall and dark. Obviously our party has spent too much time in Thailand, we thought they were Katoeys. But on the second bottie waggling trip we realised they were not, in fact they are native dancers from Brazil.

Posted by Sam at 6:16 AM | Comments (1)

Osteria Italian Restaurant on Chaweng Beach

Osteria
Chawng Beach Road (Opp. Tradewinds)
Tel: 077-424-079
Open 6 pm- Midnight
Good standard Italian eatery on the first floor with a good cross wind to keep you cool. It has the usual Italian menu with a nice touch with a good selection of brussecta as a different type of starter. Main courses are plentiful in choice, with some good specials. There are dozens of Italian eateries on Samui, but Osteria is definitely a cut above the average.

Posted by Sam at 6:07 AM | Comments (0)

Chez Ban Ban on Big Buddha Beach

Chez Ban-Ban is a strange little restaurant that I nevertheless always enjoy. It normally looks as though it could do with some renovation, which in itself adds a certain charm to it’s idyllic location right on the shore. Le Patron mange ici aussi even if he is pretending very hard to be a customer. The house specialty is crepes but there is a goodly range of classic French dishes in this Swiss-owned operation. Maybe not the best food but a decent standard in a great location and it is normally open all afternoon, which is when I tend to drop in for a slab terrine and a bottle of wine.

Posted by Sam at 5:58 AM | Comments (0)

The Mangrove - near Samui Airport

The Mangrove
Samui airport road
Bangrak
Koh Samui
Tel: 077 427584
Credit Cards accepted
The Mangrove is run by Ilse & Yannick, a young couple from Belgium and La Rochelle respectively. Yannick is clearly a classically-trained and modern chef. The menu is limited but carefully thought out and with more than a hint of fusion in it, yet without the pretensions that so often come with this style of cooking. The restaurant is in wooden building that allows the breeze to waft across the tables and create an idyllic tropical environment.

Posted by Sam at 5:48 AM | Comments (0)

January 26, 2005

The Ninth Cafe on Soi Langsuan

The Ninth
59/5 Soi Langsuan,
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 255 7125
All major credit cards

The Ninth is something of an enigma in that it has very much a café look but in reality is also a good restaurant. It has a good Thai food selection that is presented with a modern restaurant look. The menu otherwise has some good general Italian and international options.
However for me the most interesting point of this operation is the good - and I mean good - Thai wine offerings. It is is worth a detour for that alone. And as a result I suddenly believe that there is some decent Thai made wine!
Link to the winemakers

Posted by Sam at 4:41 AM | Comments (0)

January 22, 2005

Saigon at The Sofitel, Khon Kaen

The Saigon Restaurant,
The Sofitel
Khon Kaen
Tel: 043 322 155
My first impressions of the Saigon, were the same as the Sofitel: good. It is a charming restaurant. However my first problem was getting a bottle, and later, a glass of wine. It took fifteen minutes to get the first bottle of wine and it took the same time to get a glass of wine later. As to the food, I am not an afficionado of Vietnamese cuisine so I wanted to give the menu a proper going over, especially after the glowing recommendations I had received. What I could not understand was why there was no taster-style menu: a menu dégustation would have been nice especially as this is a French operated hotel! As a result I was forced to have a stab at selecting a range of dishes. I am not sure how good a job I did. Some of the food was quite special, but I have to say I was not that impressed. Among other things, there really did seem to be no difference between prawn meat and pork meat! So not a bad meal but not worth the detour I had made.
Website

Posted by Sam at 5:50 AM | Comments (0)

The Cliff - near Lamai Beach

The Cliff
Near Lamai Beach
Koh Samui
077 414265
Credit Cards accepted
The Cliff is located, just short of the big stone on the Chaweng road from Lamai and is in a first class location overlooking a deep bay that
looks east. The new building is right on the edge of a cliff that looks down over some ancient rocks. The structure has a central dining area and a pleasant air-con bar tucked on the end. The dining bit is either on the terrace, that extends over those rocks, or inside an airy central area with all round air flow. There is an open kitchen at one end of this area. The décor is very agreeable with proper people-size seats and big tables.
The menu includes piri piri versions of prawns and chicken, as well as a selection of appetisers, salads, pasta and grills. I was pleased to see that virtually none of the offerings are found elsewhere on the island. Thus this is a nice fresh menu that may be fairly limited, when compared to most run-of-the-mill attempts at restaurants. However it also ensures that the food is cooked to order.

Posted by Sam at 1:36 AM | Comments (1)

Bruno's - a top Pattaya Restaurant

Brunos
Chateau Dale Plaza,
Thappraya Road,
Pattaya City.
Tel: 038 364600
Credit Cards accepted

A year or two ago Bruno, who for years has run this top Pattaya restaurant, took his place at the big gourmet table in the sky. However his chef, and partner, has carried on the name and opened an impressive new restaurant mid-way between Pattaya and Jomtien. I lunched and had a superb meal. Crab spring roll, followed by breaded lamb cutlets (pink), cheese and raspberries (from Viet Nam) washed down with a couple of bottles of wine and a few calvados. Great ambience and a truly stylish restaurant with slick service and properly cooked food, would be my summary. The legend lives on!

Posted by Sam at 1:34 AM | Comments (0)

Witch's Tavern

Witch's Tavern
306/1 Sukhumvit 55
Thong Lor Soi 8-10
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02-391 9791
Credit cards accepted.
Archetypical Thai version of an English pub, with a good central bar for sitting and vast bench at one end to accommodate the bar over flow. The other end has a music stage where a band performs every night. The menu is extensive with a good mix of Thai food, pasta, steaks and traditional pub meals. The wine list owes a great deal to the owners other interest, the upmarket Witches in the city centre. However I do not see a great demand for 5,000 Baht bottles of wine after a few pints of Guinness or Kilkenny!
The spring rolls I had were listed as spinach and cheese spring rolls and that is what they were: I was not sure it really worked but somebody was trying! My lamb burger was, I thought, a little over spicy but otherwise fine. A sign outside says the best burgers in Bangkok are served in the WT: a big claim in a city awash with fast food! My companion had Thai (Issan) food which was very well presented and I was assured first rate. Not haute cuisine but a good honest fun eatery.

Posted by Sam at 1:31 AM | Comments (0)