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!