May 21, 2009

Il Tartufo: wonderful presentation in this gastro palace

Il Tartufo
64 Sukhumvit Road Soi 51
Bangkok 10110
Tel: 02 269 3569

A couple of months ago I received an email from Flavio the chef patron suggesting I visit his new restaurant, Il Tartufo. I finally managed to get there the other evening and as ever I did not introduce myself, nor did I see Flavio. That is my usual modus operandi; as I always say I pays my way and says what I think. In my opinion that is the only way a restaurant reviewer can operate; I do not write fluff. However I welcome invitations such as the one I received from Flavio.
The building is impressive; I thought the place would be upmarket but not in the manner it is. There is plenty of parking in the garden and drive so first impressions shout class and upscale. I did find a little on the net about Il Tartufo in what looked like an official review (if you get my drift) and it told me that Flavio has been flitting around between restaurants of late, probable trying to get the spondoolics together to create this palace.
There is an outside bar area that looked quite jolly and inside a good space with glass walls and a bar. I had not booked, it being a Tuesday, and was surprised to see how full the downstairs was. However there was more room in another area a few steps up. It is a comfortable room with nice crisp white table cloths, decent chairs and some modern impressionist paintings in the mode of naive is how contemporary menu speak might describe what was hanging on the walls!
The wine list had good range of Italian wines with a section dedicated to premium wines as well as to Magnums. The prices ranged from 1,000 Baht upwards with not many below 2,000 Baht. Sadly the price of wine in Bangkok is one reason I spend less time in the city. The government's vindictive taxation of wines may be the main reason for the prices but the restaurateurs do not help by insisting upon their full pound of flesh. With the plus plus (service and VAT) the wine I chose, a very ordinary Piedmont white, Langhe Bianco, came to the best part of £50 - in London I could get something a bit special for that and in Piedmont for 57 Euros it would be approaching the best.
The food menu seemed to rely heavily on the specials as there were 15 in that section covering appetisers, first courses and mains alone. On the main menu there were eight appetisers and nine second courses (mains). My personal feeling was the menu lacked choice but I am probable being picky because nothing grabbed my attention to the point where I said I must have that! Fish certainly featured strongly in the specials section and in the second courses it had four listings of mainly European fish. The whole French turbot on the specials menu might have attracted more attention if I was not about to get on a plane to France! although at 1,200 Baht it was not an insignificant option. In the event I had rack of lamb with mint pesto at 750 Baht and that was the most expensive in that section. The specials were more expensive. My companion had chicken breast with ham and smoked cheese. For the starters we did choose off the special menu with a plate of Artisan cold cuts.
I am not sure why my cold cuts were special, not that there was anything wrong with them. It was a good selection of salamis, hams and mortadella. All were cut very thin which I know is the right way although I prefer something I can get my teeth into. It was good plateful for two.
Both the mains were beautifully laid out. As can be seen in the pictures precise and carefully thought out garnish and vegetables set off the meat. The rolled chicken breast looked almost like a large scampi but to me the piece de resistance was the potato pillars that the lamb sat on. I will illuminate because it was a clever piece of culinary art. I think, upon checking Larousse Gastronomique, that the potatoes were a la crème in style. They were very thinly sliced potatoes in pillars. I assume they made a large dish of potatoes a la crème but sliced them exceedingly thinly; I suspect the meat slicer that produced those thin wafers of cold platter was used. The thin slices were then finished off in a casserole with cream. They were lightly browned then cut with something like a pastry cutter as the circles were perfect. So upon each circle of potatoes a lamb chop rested. In addition the minimalist garnish included asparagus that had been scraped to make the stalk white while the tip was green. I was less impressed with the lamb that had had all the fat trimmed of it. Flavio has obviously spent too long in the land of bankrupt motor manufacturers. I did try the chicken and found it fairly bland but then I would. And I have to say my dessert of Marsala poached pear with gratinated zabalon looked great but exactly what the strange idea of grantinating zabalon was about I am not sure.
Clearly the food scores very highly on presentation and concept. As to the content, well it did not really kick my butt but there was nothing wrong with it. The service was good except for serving the amuse bouche after the starter had arrived, and I was really hungry and could have done with a nibble whist waiting. I think this was a little hiccup by some keen but inexperienced staff. The surroundings and decor are great if you want to impress the boss, or anybody else for that matter. Il Tartufo is a very serious restaurant. I probably should have tried one of the several dishes with truffles and instead of being mildly disappointed I would doubtless be singing in praise. But as I said, I pays my money and etc. etc. Try it and let me know!

Posted by Sam at 3:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Queen Victoria pub: Great pate (Terrine) at the up and coming pub

The Queen Victoria Pub
Sukhumvit Soi 23 (near Soi Cowboy)
Bangkok
Website

Peter Street is a well know pub manager having run such landmark institutions as Bobby's Arms in Patpong, in the 80's & early 90's it is now a dump but back then it was the talk of the town. After that he moved to Chequers in Sukhumvit Soi 4, also once a pivotal Bangkok pub.
His tenure here has seen some real improvements and they are still coming, and required. However his pate, terrine to the French, is just about as good as any in town. It is more Ardennes than 'de compagne' as it is smooth. Also he is trying the classic dish of ham with parsley sauce: the sauce is a bit thin but is being worked on!
Peter is an old friend so I am breaking a rule in recommending something that still has a little way to go: but it is worth a try and I am qualifying my usual position.

Posted by Sam at 8:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

May 18, 2009

Cy'an: Contemporary food with some strange twists

Cy'an
Metropolitan Hotel
South Sathorn Road
Bangkok 10120
Tel: 02 625 3300
Website.

Cy'an is a place I have missed on my travels and therefore I was eager to be there when the Bangkok B & B (Beefsteak and Burgundy) announced their next lunch was there. I had a heard talk of Cy'an and fellow members assured that this lunch is one of the year's highlights.
The Metropolitan Hotel sets itself out to be oh so trendy. My 30 something cousin stayed here with a group of London's hippest last year and that is the crowd that is aimed at. As a result everything is understated. Uniforms look like they are jeans and certainly need a press!
The Cy'an restaurant may be upmarket but it has a definitive canteen feel about it, but it is light and airy looking out onto the swimming pool. But after two hours in one of their designer chairs I needed to go for a walk to get some feeling back into my legs: deep vein thrombosis from a decent lunch would have been a careless option.
We had some interesting canapés before the meal as well as a couple of excellent glasses of Prosecco. Of the canapés the little mushroom tarts were, for me, the highlight: delicate pastry and an excellent mix of baby mushrooms and subtle sauce.
However it was once we sat down and I got my hands on the menu I was able to fully appreciate the lunch we were in for: it was a seven course menu degustation. Maybe this is the wrong menu with which to review the restaurant because it was set for us, but it does show the capabilities and direction of the cooking which is described as 'Mediterranean cuisine enriched with Moorish accents.' And you might well say what the hell does that mean: to me it says fashionable or whatever is cool today!
The first four courses were seafood in some form or the other. The first was 'Raw flavours of the sea' and was described as black king fish in the style of crudo. In other words raw fish fillet which I found pretty tasteless despite all the elaborate garnish including foam. The next course featured an oyster and was titled 'Pearly Shells' (sea scented salad of chilled oyster, tapioca and seaweed). The smeared green garnish stole the presentation show and, of course, the oyster was the taste supreme. We moved on to 'Oceans and Gardens' (warm salad of artichokes and sea scallops with Arbequina olives). To me this was the first really balanced dish with strong taste coming from several parts of the dish, the sauce, made with those olives, being particularly tasty. But upon reflection putting these first three dishes together would have made a really exciting starter.
The fourth offering was entitled 'Land and Sea' (monkfish accompanied by a rich saffron stew of mussels, chickpeas and tomato) and for me was the course of the meal. I am always partial to monk fish whilst mussels and chickpeas really set the whole concept off. A decent portion of this would have been a great restaurant dish.
The reason I rated the fourth so highly was that I was disappointed in the meat dish described as 'Wagyu beef "Tongue to tail"' (Wagyu beef grilled, braised and seared with sweet onions and aniseed flavour). The problem was not the meat which means not the great oxtail that fell apart, nor the carefully cooked tongue nor the nice cooked rare beef sirloin, nor, for that matter, the carefully thought out garnish, but the sauce. It was for me too sweet and tasted like a Chinese style sauce: I suppose it was the aniseed. I would have preferred a sauce a little less expansive, or a sauce 'on the side' allowing me to decide how much and where.
We then had a pleasant portion of four cheeses with some excellent homemade biscuits and jam followed by 'Sweet Treats.' The first sweet was lychee jelly with old fashion shaved ice which I thought was little insipid but the lemon tart with red wine macerated strawberries was excellent and a suitable end to an interesting meal.
Being the B&B we had some excellent wines (supplied by the club) with the meal including some rare Borasso shiraz and some interestingly named, as well as special, Nine Popes: an Aussie version of that well known Rhone wine. The other not insignificant wines included an Italian Chardonnay and two wines from Torbeck (Australia), a Semillion and delightful dessert wine called The Bothie.
The chef, Daniel Moran, came out and joined the party after he had finished. The meal, in particular the presentation, undoubtedly involved a considerable effort on his part so I do not want to be churlish with my comments. I could argue it was pretentious mucked about food. But having said that, it was an interesting meal, it was different and of course it was a fixed menu so I got what I was given and I ate it without complaint. I have no doubt those of less traditional and more adventurous taste would have thoroughly enjoyed the whole meal. So it proved once again there is an awful lot you can do with food; it may not please all the people all the time but that does not mean it was bad food or bad cooking.

Posted by Sam at 5:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack