November 25, 2006

Curries and More

Curries and More
63/3 Soi Rumrudee
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 02 253 5408

Sometimes a place that I know nothing about will catch my eye.
Such was the case with Curries and More, which I'd seen several times as I'd taxied down Soi Rumrudee, but didn't know what sort of place it was. Then I saw a brief write-up that suggested I might just like it. However, the article left me with a nagging concern, as it didn't say if the restaurant sold wine or not. After all, a meal without wine is eating; a meal with wine is dining. I eat breakfast and after that I either lunch or dine, or sometimes both!
Thankfully, it turned out the place did offer wine, so off we went.
Curries and More is an attractive restaurant in a stand alone building with a big forecourt and both inside and outside dining areas. The outside area has a glass roof that has water flowing over it, which helps reduce the temperature. Inside is Spartan, but with some eclectic modern art.
We were greeted and seated quickly enough and a wine menu was produced. I was also encouraged to see a nice full wine rack near to where I was sitting.
Unfortunately, I quickly realised why it was full – the prices! Not many people are prepared to drink wine in a curry house when it costs more than it would at the Conrad just up the road.
I don't often bang on about wine prices, but some restaurants are just plain stupid with their pricing policies. At Curries and More, most bottles were at least Bt2,000 (before the plus plus).
Knowing my way round a few wine merchants' lists, it was clear to me that the prices being charged in the restaurant were about four times the wholesale price. Bearing in mind that the food is competitively priced, I couldn't understand why they were so keen to upset the wine drinkers. Maybe when I had earlier called to ask if they sold wine, they should have replied, 'Sure, if you can afford it.'
The food menu is long with a multiplicity of sections, from starters, soups salads and crepes, to a whole page of pastas, noodles and fried rice. Ironically, the list of curries was quite disappointing in that essentially they were all Thai blends. Thankfully, the menu also boasts a steaks page, a list of mains (mostly Thai) and a vegetarian page. You're not, as they say, strapped for choice. The only snag is that the dish descriptions are printed in a very thin script, which means reading glasses are needed even by those who normally have 20-20 vision.
I selected four starters for the three of us to share and they turned out pretty well. The avocado dip with crudites arrived as a sort of pre-starter, and that worked well, though more by accident than design. The dip was a little under-seasoned for my palate, but otherwise good. Of the other three dishes, the fish cakes were good, the baked mussels were over baked, but there was lots of decent cheese making it more like a well done croquet monsieur than mussels baked with cheese. The chicken steamed in a banana leaf was really moist and there was a good sauce of soy and other ingredients with sesame seeds. All in all a pleasant set of starters and we all enjoyed them.
We had delayed ordering our mains so we could get through the starters and have a small break between courses. Once rested, we ordered two curries and a sweet-and-sour duck for me. With the main dishes we were offered a choice of white or brown rice.
This was the first time I had seen brown rice in Thailand and I was amused to find that while it is considered a healthy option in the West, it is looked down on here as poor man's food because it is unprocessed (unpolished), with the inner husk still on it.
Rice stories aside, we all appreciated our main courses and rounded off the meal with some suitable puds.
We all enjoyed Curries and More because the food was good and the service was spot on. However, I won't be going back because, as I said, I like to dine, not eat, and dining there is simply too expensive. If you're happy just to eat, then check it out – the water is very competitively priced!

Posted by Sam at 6:58 PM | Comments (0)

November 11, 2006

Bed Supper Club

Bed Supper Club
Sukhumvit Soi 11
Bangkok
Tel: 02 651 3537
Website

Anybody who has been down Sukhumvit Soi 11 has seen it. Seen the vast oval capsule that some think looks like an extraterrestrial visitation, others are just confused. To me it's a modern day ark, complete with a walkway up the side for the animals to enter two by two. Easy enough for said animals, too, as there are more than a dozen car jocks to park their wheels, plenty of doormen to direct them and a few bouncers to make certain they stay peaceful. And if further evidence were required that they are indeed going on a journey, their passport will be demanded before they can get on board. Of course I had forgotten mine but embarrassment was avoided. I just said the magic words: "Noah is expecting me!" And with that I was whisked into the heart of the beast.
The name of this visionary business is the Bed Supperclub; not exactly words I would expect to find grouped! Strange images are created — I can't say the idea of eating on a bed enthrals me either.
It was only after meeting Noah, who assured me they actually had places for grown-up humans, as well as animals, that I took the plunge and went in to the ark.
Inside is very white, and on either side of the dining room, at two levels, are vast beds. On the beds are small, low Perspex tables and those eating are invited to remove their shoes and climb on to a bed. Most people seemed to sit with their backs to the wall with their feet outstretched. Eating is a bit like being in an airline with the same open invitation for food to drop on the only clean shirt you have!
All I can say is everybody looked very happy. Hey, it's different!
In any event I was content to be on one of the few proper tables. If they had got me on one of the beds I'm not sure they would have ever got me off again. Unlike saving a beached whale they could hardly wait for the tide to come in.
Bed has a new centrepiece, called "The Fossil", an ageing petrol shack from near Hua Hin, which represents art in this ultra-modern setting. A video is screened on one wall, which the artist says helps viewers recall the importance of such places as communal centres, selling essentials and fuel. They are disappearing as Thailand modernises, he says — more Tesco bashing.
The menu I was given was the daily one, which is in fact a weekly menu, with a fixed priced three-course dinner for Bt1,250. I was told that at weekends it goes to four courses and Bt1,650.
There were three starter options, five mains and three puds. Needless to say in such a trendy spot veggies took up one of the options in both the early courses. Then for mains there were two fish, one beef and one chicken dish.
For starters I opted, at Noah's suggestion, for the wok-seared tuna sashimi on avocado with yellow tomato-mango vinaigrette. For the main I ordered the Australian beef sirloin with tomato, olive and caper sauce on soft polenta. As those descriptions suggest this is modern fusion-esque cuisine. Obviously each new menu is carefully thought through and dishes experimented with until they work. It is certainly not heavy fusion, it is sensible fusion in that they use what is good, available and fresh.
The food was first class: the combinations worked, the tastes were different and interesting, and the presentation right. Bear in mind, most people are lying on beds, so food that rolls or falls off your plate is not recommended.
I had two niggles, which I pointed out to Noah. The tuna may have been wok seared but that was done at the prep stage and thus the fish was cold from the fridge. This is a busy restaurant — it was full the night I was there " but there is still no real excuse for serving food at fridge temperature. The second niggle was minor, in that I discovered that there was also an a la carte menu. It is clearly hidden away and only those who know, and ask, get to see it. I would almost certainly have stayed with the set menu but I see no point in having another menu if it is hidden under Noah's bushel.
During dinner there was a strange performance involving torn up newspaper and a living statue. Something happens every night to amaze, amuse or just confuse. It is all part of being different, original and trendy, I assume.
Many think of Bed as a dance club and it does have some very serious DJs. Jointly with Q Bar, just around the corner, its is running the Bangkok DJ Festival from November 26 to December 4 2006. (For full details see the Clubbing section of the Bangkokgigguide.com.)
The largest area is the restaurant but the other end is very much a club and after 11pm when star DJs are on the whole area is treated as one musically. Otherwise there are two different musical offerings.
I had a drink with Noah in the club end where there are two bars, with the one upstairs offering a slight refuge from the main bar and dance floor. Entrance to the club is Bt600, which includes two drinks. But go early as queues are not unknown, and take your passport as it will be required, however old an animal you are.
Noah also assured me this is not a place that la belle de la nuit are welcome. So as they say BYO.
Make no mistakes, this is a slick operation where the staff are well trained and fairly fizz about. There is also a restaurant and bar manager who is on the case, and rather than simply chatting with or ignoring customers is constantly checking all is well. On a busy night this place has 800 people through the doors and I can imagine they would all get served and looked after properly.
Quite simply, I was impressed, as was On, who watched the whole spectacle fascinated. With the exception of the fossil it ain't like that in Nakon Nowhere! The food was interesting and good, and because the place was full the ambience was great. And, of course, this is a not bad place to be seen. So next time somebody slinks of and says conspiratorially "I am off to Bed", they probably are!

Posted by Sam at 1:20 PM | Comments (1)