February 23, 2005

Chesa: a very good Swiss restaurant in Sukhumvit Soi 20

Chesa
5 Sukhumvit Soi 20
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02 261 6650

I am very much a lunch person, by that I do not mean the modern business lunch of a bottle of water and a sandwich in the office! No, I mean several courses and a decent bottle of wine or several. The real problem is that I like to start around 2 pm with no intention of looking at a computer again that day. But the problem of finding a decent place open is getting greater every day. Why I am not sure because most good restaurants need prep doing outside normal opening hours, so why not simply schedule a chef to work afternoons to do the prep and thus be available to serve anybody who wants feeding. The concept was confirmed as practical by Thomas the friendly Chef Proprietor of Chesa, after a splendid all-afternoon lunch that began at 2.30 pm.

This is a comfortable restaurant tucked away down a short alley. It is in a pleasant house with car parking around it. The tables are large and well spaced with some discreet flowers and a couple of not so discreet cows’ heads watching the diners in the non-smoking section. The smoking part is on the side of the house with a virtual glass side looking onto the garden/car park.
There is a good sized menu with a central European edge to it, as you would expect in a Swiss restaurant. However we did not get further than the specials page at the front of the menu with wild Boar, hare and deer as three of the options - treats indeed this far from their European habitat. In fact we both spotted the hare lion, somewhat cruelly described as wild rabbit, and decided that was just what we wanted. As starters the smoked trout was another unusual Bangkok offering.
The trout was a pleasant mélange of smoked trout and smoked salmon. A very pleasant starter that went well with the Sauvignon Blanc we had selected. We had asked for the hare to be cooked rare and really did not expect that to happen. It was described as roasted so it really depended upon whether it was cooked to order or reheated. When the dish arrived it not only looked good but we could see the meat was indeed rare. This was not only a good dish, but a very clever presentation of the hare. The champignon saucing included nuts, lardons and croutons, providing both varied tastes and textures. I have never had hare served this way and it will undoubtedly stay in the memory bank as one of the most inventive presentations. The vegetables included Brussel sprouts and red cabbage as well as a big bowl of spatzli.
We completed our meal with a decent cheese plate and a bowl of rhubarb.
With the hare I played a small game on Lord Toad. I spotted a red wine on the list and asked that it be opened and a tasting presented to his lordship without him seeing the label. After he had tasted it and declared it as excellent, I informed him that the wine was Romanian. The waitress told us that is was a very popular wine and it was not just the price that attracted people to it!
By the time we had had a few Calvas, the evening trade was beginning to drift into the restaurant. A classic afternoon lunch in pleasant surroundings with great food and an interesting mine host!

Posted by Sam at 12:37 PM | Comments (0)

Sibelius an excellent Finnish restaurant on Chaweng Beach

Sibelius
Chaweng main street, next to Swensen 's
84320 Koh Samui, Suratthani, Thailand
Tel: 078 830 527

The name gives away the origin of the owner/chef of this restaurant.
Sibelius was the great Finnish composer as I am sure all those who appreciate his classic orchestral works will know. In its’ own way this small restaurant, almost at the mid-point of Chaweng high street, justifies the high standards that any association with such a prestigious name demands.
Little has been done to change the building from it’s original Irish pub look and feel. The only real change I could see was an old set of ski’s and ski poles: definitely not a required item in tropical Samui! The tables are reasonably cramped and I suppose if a bum was on every seat there might be those who would say too cramped. But that is unlikely to happen that often as most tables are for four. Another downside is the lack of air conditioning: there are plenty of fans and thus it is very habitable, but not as cold as some may prefer.
The menu is fascinating in it’s simplicity. Back in Europe menus are short, but here there are few menus that dare to be that minimalist. Indeed most menu’s are far too long sending a clear message about the food preparation. I suspect that the kitchen here is also limited so that the 6 starter, 6 main course and 4 pudding menu is practical. There seems to be at least one daily special as well. In addition there are 6 Thai dishes.
The starters include dishes such as: Creamy Scandinavian Salmon Soup with homemade dark rye bread; Reindeer Pate Toast with caramelized red onion, lingonberry jam and balsamic glaze; Basil Mousse with mozzarella and green asparagus, and Beef Carpaccio with Sibelius salsa and wasabi sauce.
And for the main course there is Fried Pesto Chicken with a green pepper and red wine sauce; Grilled Norwegian Salmon with dill sour cream and red caviar sauce; Pepper Steak in a creamy pepper sauce; Dijon-marinated Lamb with mint red wine sauce and garlic potato, and Lime-marinated Tuna Steak with salsa and a mango sauce.
Anyway I spotted the items I wanted with little problem and started with Reindeer pate. Excellent and just what I wanted. The main I choose was Scandinavian fish platter which came with smoked salmon, grilled salmon, fish eggs, anchovy style fillets, pickles and potatoes with onion. This was another simple but good dish and both courses are, to say the least, unusual on Samui. My pudding was described as chocolate ice cream with warm banana muffin and Galliano marinated orange. I enjoy a pudding and normally have one (what ever the Doctor might say!) but this was special. It not only looked good but it really worked and the muffin seemed as if it had just come out of the oven.
For once I actually took a photo of all three courses. I normally either forget one course, or more usually they do not make good photo material. I hope you enjoy the photos because I think they show the excellent food in a good light.
I washed my meal down with a pleasant bottle of Hardy’s Cabernet Merlot from a sensible wine list that was reasonably priced.
I was seriously impressed with Sibelius and regretted that the owner was too busy at his stoves not to venture out to see his customers, which his staff said he normally did.

Posted by Sam at 12:24 PM | Comments (1)

Red Snapper a good restaurant on Chaweng Beach

Red Snapper
Chaweng Beach Road (Main Street), Next to Chaweng Regent
84320 Koh Samui
Tel: 0 77 422 008
Website

This restaurant has been around for a long time as part of the Chaweng Regent which was one of the earlier five-star style properties in Chaweng. I am always suspicious of hotel restaurants which all too often are little more than a trap for those staying in the main hotel. Although most good Bangkok hotels do have a decent eatery, I have not always found that to be the case so far away from the capital.
The Red Snapper is described as a bar and grill, and even as a pub restaurant. Well, that it certainly is not. Well not my definition of a pub restaurant. I was greeted on the steps by an English manager, who turned out to be the assistant F&B manager (go for maybe another title). What that told me was the management either thought that there was something wrong, or they were putting real effort into getting the Red Snapper right! As I later saw the Executive Chef and the GM (I think) having a discussion, I suspect the latter is the situation.
The room itself has a typical modern elegant décor with a open bakery section as a display area. In addition there is an extensive salad bar which I never used although I could have added salad to my main course. The bar section is out of sight from the restaurant.
The menu is one of those shiny coloured things that theme restaurants produce. And in many ways the items on the menu are typical modern menu items with sections for salads, soups, starters, pasta, main courses, grills and side orders. Somebody had obviously spent hours writing up the descriptions of reasonably standard menu items, but probably carefully modified by the chef.
I had Classic Caesar salad with crispy bacon, anchovies, quail egg, parmesan and garlic croutons: Caesar salad would have done! I did suggest to the waitress that I would not mind extra anchovies. She shot back that all too familiar Thai response: that would cost extra. In any event it was a good Caesar Salad with half a quail’s egg at two corners of the plate and an anchovy fillet at the other two corners. No extra anchovies and no extra charge I concluded!
For the main I had slow-cooked N.Z. lamb shank on minted sweet potato and pumpkin mash with green peas, although I did toy with the idea of Pernod-flamed white prawns with fragrant curry, coconut cream, banana and rice. In any event I enjoyed my lamb shank and it was presented well. The most remarkable point was that when the plate was delivered, the waitress used a cloth and warned me not to touch the plate because it was hot. That is a first in Thailand! I noted the waitresses used a cloth to take all hot dishes to the table.
I had an impressively presented chocolate cake as my dessert.
All in all a good meal in comfortable surroundings. There was not a lot that was anything other than good. The restaurant was full and that in itself says a lot as it is clearly not the cheapest in Chaweng. It is a quality place to eat. To me it lacked that ‘je ne sais quoi’. Somehow it did not hit the spot. My conclusion was that there were too many staff. Early on I had different staff at my table all doing different things at the same time: serving bread, serving wine: taking an order. As it got busier it got better. Maybe just a touch soulless: but that is something virtually impossible to fix in a hotel dining room.

Posted by Sam at 12:18 PM | Comments (0)

February 9, 2005

Gianni Restaurant in Soi Tonson, Bangkok

Gianni Ristorante
34/1 Soi Tonson
Ploenchit Road
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 252 1619

I had heard that this was a good restaurant but somehow had never actually found it. I had driven past a few times and it was not until I finally got a cab to go slow enough before I spotted the sign and the rest is here.
Gianni is a grand restaurant in a big space with some almost out-of-place large modern art paintings standing out in an otherwise classic decor of white table clothes and wood.
I had barely glanced at the menu when my eye caught the Degustation menu. I hardly looked at the rest before I was ordering that. I did later glance through the whole menu, which is typically Italian. There seemed to plenty for everybody including a page full of specials some of which also appeared individually in the menu I had ordered.
The menu started with breaded Calfs sweetbreads. These came with a cauliflower croquet strangely called a flan, and with a parmesan sauce. It was pleasant starter and, as I so often say, a good change in this city where so much is similar. I am sure it is the first time I have had sweetbreads here.
The next course was artichoke soup with smoked salmon. A creamy soup of Jerusalem artichokes, but I wondered about the smoked salmon dumplings as they were called. I thought they may have had slightly too strong a taste for the soup.
The next course was cannelloni filled with eggplant and mozzarella with a tomato sauce. The tomato sauce was wonderfully fresh, but I was not so convinced about the cannelloni, or more particularly the filling, which I thought under seasoned and not really hitting the spot.
As a main course, the options were “large pork sausage on a bed of balsamic lentils and mashed potato,” or “Pan fried fillet of grouper clothed in potato and on a delicate mushroom sauce.” I had the sausage and it was wonderful home-made sausage beautifully moist, and the lentils, with a hint of balsamic, set it off very well. I had a piece of grouper and it was also nice and moist with plenty of taste.
The final course was lemon meringue tart, which is the only item I found truly disappointing. I could have had coffee or tea to finish.
I was sort of writing this in my mind as we ate the meal and as I finished, I realised I was being inequitable in some of my comments, if they were taken the wrong way. But I am treating Gianni with the due respect I believe he deserves. Basically the price for the meal was 900 Baht. That is under 15 quid, or less than 20 Euros. In Europe you would pay that for a main course in a decent pub. In fact it was very interesting and inventive menu cooked to the highest standard to a market budget. I felt a few items did not work out quite as well as they were intended to! I suppose the word degustation is what got me going. Degustation peasan would have been a better description. And in fairness to that budget price, if it had been 2,000 Baht I doubt if I would have had it.
The wine list was long and entirely of Italian wines with a good selection of both younger and older wines. I had a bottle of Pinot Grigio to start and followed it up with the house Merlot, which was excellent for a house wine.
Clearly this is a very good restaurant and I had a very interesting meal. I look forward to going back. There is no point in being a food critic if you can not be picky with the best!

Posted by Sam at 1:28 PM | Comments (1)