October 30, 2007

Floyd's Brasserie at Burasari Resort

Floyd's Brasserie at Burasari Resort,
Patong Beach,
Phuket
Reservations: 076 370000
Website

I was on a flying visit to Patong when I suddenly found myself confronting a cut out image of Keith Floyd. Floyd was one of the first British celebrity chefs, although I notice he does not like that word. He came after the Craddocks and before the current hoard of chefs who hog the TV screens in the UK. He had lots of style and always had a glass of wine to hand. Of course he is much older now but the image of him in a white jacket saluting passers by with a wine glass is the image I remember. Seeing this cut out I recalled that I had read about his new restaurant at the Burasari Resort and suddenly all my dining plans were changed; I had to try Floyds.
The restaurant is called Floyd's Brasserie, which suggests something other than a top class restaurant. Not that I am knocking brasseries, far from it. But a brasserie suggests an emphasis on speed and to an extent cramming them in. I would have thought that that was not Floyd's style, I do not think that anybody intended to make this anything other than a top restaurant, and therefore I wonder why it is called a brasserie.
The restaurant itself is divided into an aircon section, an outside, but covered, eating area as well as a large public kitchen area that is also outside. The outside is attractive enough with trees mingled into the setting. The problem with the aircon bit is that the doors are usually open and I did not find it very efficient.
When we arrived we were greeted by a pretty looking girl with a deep voice, an interesting choice of employee to meet and greet! The next problem was getting wine on the table. The wine list was very interesting as it included some genuinely different, for Thailand, wines and thus I selected an Austrian white. In the white section there were also unusually wines from Portugal and Germany, and in the red section Uruguay was an unusual call as well a single Thai wine from Chateau des Brumes. I must admit that since Floyd has put his name and image all over the restaurant, I was surprised how difficult it was to get wine. Floyd's trade mark was that he would not do anything without an open bottle nearby. He would have got very frustrated if he had been a customer here! I had a feeling that the problem was that the single wine waiter was doing all the showing and opening and quite frankly did not have a hope in hell of keeping up! However once we got into the system it all worked well and we had a Barbera d'Asti as a very drinkable red. This I thought was well priced at 1,000 Baht.
Now to the food. I must admit the menu did not immediately light my fire. Since the dishes were all numbered I can tell you there were 18 mains and starters, and one of the mains loin of pork with apple and calvados sauce was off. I find it hard to believe that Phuket island was out of pig that day! Again I get back to my brasserie comment: this was neither that kind of menu nor a top end restaurant menu. I had Poached eggs Burgundy style, which disappointed me. It was not as described liquid ham and eggs, but it was something different and I am glad I tried it. I suppose it was a brasserie dish in the end! One of my companions had prawn cocktail that looked good but tasted very ordinary and another had lobster and fish soup, which he enjoyed.
I found the main course selection uninspiring so I opted for tournedos Rossini, and both my companions had lamb. It would be hard to criticise either dishes as the standard was high as was the presentation. I suppose I was expecting something let's say more flamboyant! The one thing that really did grate was the service. Our waiter was perfectly polite but he really did not know when to shut up. We ordered the meal then he went into a great spiel about how it would be priced as there were various set options which depended upon the menu choice and having bored us with that then checked our orders again!
Finally we got to desserts and I was interested by a savoury offering; an unusual section although in effect it had two items, namely cheese and the interesting sounding glazed pear Welsh rarebit, which I opted for. Only to be told it was off! So since I had my mind set on Welsh rarebit I ordered one. Not exactly the best I have ever had and the problem finding some Worcestershire sauce was massive, mainly because the waiter did not understand what I wanted and did the usual Thai trick of guessing. His first offering was honey! Finally somebody understood and went to the bar (my suggestion) and found some L&P!
To summarise the meal is a little tricky in that I was disappointed by various aspects, mainly of the service. In addition two items out of 28 on the farang menu were off, although there was to be fair an extensive Thai menu as well. There was nothing wrong with the food and the problems with the service were almost because they were trying too hard, or else it was organisational. An example was we planned to be three and one person was late. I think every staff member in turn tried to clear the extra place off the table (that was about 5 or 6), and I got fed up with saying go away.
I was also disappointed because I was hoping for something different. There are some good restaurants in Patong already offering this standard of food, with good service and a spectacular sea view! This is a courtyard in the middle of town. I suppose I should not have believed the hype. Floyd's is after all just another hotel restaurant: difficult to fault but nothing to write home about!

Posted by Sam at 12:51 PM | Comments (0)

October 28, 2007

Sonie's - Japanese European fusion done well

Sonie's
Sukhumvit Soi 31 (by Silom Village)
Bangkok
Tel: 02 260 8386

Japanese cuisine is a style I have really not got into. I have the occasional sushi dish and I certainly like some fish tartares. But my experience of that gastronomy is strictly limited. So when a friend said, try Sonie's, it is a sort of farang Japanese fusion style and I am sure you will like it, I was immediately inclined to do so. I like different food and different styles and Sonie sounded a guy with an interesting attitude to it.
In fact Sonie describes his food as Italian Japanese fusion and it has proved immensely popular over the years with a highly successful restaurant in Soi 39 that has morphed into a Thonglor restaurant as well as this small place adjacent to Silom Village, Sukhumvit soi 31. The downstairs looks more like a cafe than a restaurant and even upstairs (mezzanine level) has only seven or eight tables. The downstairs clue to restaurant status is the wine fridge, more than the sushi counter, as well as a few subtle decorations; I liked the elephants!
After getting a sensibly priced bottle of wine on the table I sat down and studied the menu. At first sight I was thinking mostly Japanese but once I had studied the offering, the more diverse I realised the dishes were. I think my friend's description of farang Japanese was more accurate that Italian Japanese.
There was a wealth of appetisers augmented by a big section of Sonie's special rolls. The appetizers included tar tar tuna, yaki gaki and shrimp cocktail. But the Sonie roll section included oh my god roll (tuna, chilli, green onions and avocado), caterpillar roll (eel, avocado topped with teriyaki sauce) and Sonie sushi pizza (shrimp, tempura batter, with avocado and baked); a wealth of choice and some suitably weird names as well as ideas. In the end I had a couple of rolls, one off the special menu that included rock lobster, avocado, gobo, ebiko and green seaweed and Queen roll (fresh salmon, avocado and salmon roe). Both rolls were good and fresh in addition to being well presented, but I suppose my main impression was the size of the portions. There were two of us so I presumed two rolls would be a reasonable starter, and I nearly ordered more. In fact these two rolls would have almost passed as a main course.
We did however wait until after the arrival of the starters before we ordered mains. There was a section clearly marked mains which seemed to owe more to New Orleans influences than Italian with three Cajun styled dishes and the ubiquitous Hamburg steak with melted cheese and Japanese sauce.
However there was also a pasta section that included a wafu pasta sub section. In the main part I was interested to note an anchovy and garlic olive oil sauce among the more normal cabonaras etc.
On wanted beef so she had Argentine rib eye and I had pork fillet from the specials menu. Again good sized portions and nicely cooked and presented.
The rather sparse decor and entrance to Sonie's belittles the interesting and varied food that is served inside. The clientele seemed to be mainly Japanese, however the food range is suitable for all tastes and for the adventurous this is a positive playground.

Posted by Sam at 1:53 PM | Comments (0)