BKK Eats

Sashimitastic:

Foodie

Being in Thailand, the vast exposure to Japanese food and culture is evident. From locals drinking green tea (the Thai sweetened jasmine tea version) with wacky flavors to almost every billboard and add looking like a Japanese cartoon/porno. We KNOW Thailand LOVES the land of the rising sun.

From a food perspective this is brilliant from your budget eats like FUJI to your more expensive choices of TenSui and Honmono, we have it all, AND we have it good.

I was so surprised one day when fellow foodie Mr.X (name cannot be revealed for reasons unknown) told me the best sushi place in town was ata  place called 'In the Mood for Love'.

(Side note, you will soon find out though more postings on this blog that I am an incredible opinionated food snob.)

Although 'In the Mood for Love' is a great place, it is the last place on earth I would expect to eat authentic Japanese sushi, it's more famous for being a trendy Californian roll joint with the who's who's of Instagram posting, sports car driving crowd.

I was thrilled and a little skeptical but Mr.X, like me, is rarely wrong when it comes to food :)

So we arrive and meet an unassuming Thai chef dressed in the typical sushi's chef gear (well he had a military hair cut), which we are told is a mark of a REAL sushi chef.

We told the chef we wanted the BIG set, and sat at the counter. This basically means, BRING IT ON! We wanna see what you can do and money is no object.

We started off this with: An octopus stew. Not the ideal start for what was to be a sushi re-education, but the skill and talent was there. Soft pieces of octopus with spring onions in a sour broth. A perfect synthesis of the sweet and salty octopus with the meaty delicate spring onions. After a quick Instagram pick (a must at these trendy places around town) it was in my belly before you could shout Otoro.

Then he explained to us that he would start us off with some mild white fish, to get our palates ready for the heavier, darker meat fish with more complex flavours. The time and effort he took in prepare one sushi was mind boggling. Compared to the chef on TV champion (a popular Japanese game show), he was USELESS. AND I WAS HUNGRY.

But boy was it worth the wait.

 First, as promised, was a white fish to wet our appetite. This was one day aged flounder. YES aged. Like a good piece of beef! Edomane sushi was an old form of making sushi, the technique where fish is sometimes aged to obtain the perfect texture or drenched in soya sauce to still maintain the fresh flavour but stops the fish from spoling.

(http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi/edomae_sushi.html)
 

Then came something just unbelievable Karuma Ebi. Prawns flown in on damp saw dust. Chef Ran is holding one up in the picture to the left and the legs were actually kicking. We were told to eat the tail before the head (nothing is more humiliating when someone tells you HOW to eat) but the tail was sweet and smoky like a lobster's tail and the head was like eating the most amazing shrimp essence. The purest, sweetest and simplest way to present such an amazing product. 

 Next was squid. Not really exotic (still flown in from japan of course). An ingredient very few chefs like to play with as over cooking means your eating a car tyre and undercooking leaves a slimy fishy texture that usually makes you want to puke.
 

This however, was a perfect medley of sea salt and a few drops of lime (not lemon as the acidity is not quite right-chef ran) and rice. As soft as the perfect octopus stew and a combination of flavours that can only be described as perfection. 

Saiyori with pickle ginger. A medium flavoured fish, just perfect with a spec of ginger.

 Blue fin tuna done in Edomame style, soft like otoro but a stronger tuna flavour. A true expression of this style of sushi. 

 Chutoro, done in Edmame style as well.
To an untrained palate this could easily pass as otoro in so many restaurants in Bangkok.
 

Japanese mackerel. Commonly known as Saba, this oily fish is perfect for grilling. The strong flavour does not make it a fish for sashimi or sushi. However this preparation, with a touch of wasabi, is absolutely fantastic. The oiliness is still there but the actual flavour of Saba really comes out.
 

Intermission: A gratin of fish server with corn chips
 

 Botan Epi. Sweet prawns are usually the size of a women's pinky finger. Small, thin and delicate. This beast however was nothing of the sort. Served with roe (basically brains) flamed with a torch, this was the ocean really showing off its natural flavours. Sweet, soft like a gental lady making blood rush to all regions that need exciting.
 

GIANT cockle. This is just amazing. I wish I took a picture of this in its shell. The taste is not for the faint hearted, a bit strong and robust this is a shell fish for true shell fish aficionados.
 

Octopus. Simple. Soft. Delicious.
 

Now I have eaten sushi in many places, and no way am I an expert more a glutton. Every-time we sit on the chef's table they bring out something extraordinary (whale bacon, fish sperm sack, miniature crabs, creatures from the see that have no names but...) as amazing as this meal was, I was sad not to have eaten something I can brag about.
 

Until this. Kotoro. The neck of the tuna. A beautiful marriage between chutoro and otoro, this.. this is why i would pay 100,000dollars for a tuna. To eat this and die peacefully. A MUST TRY.

Ahhh Uni... If this doesn't put a smile on your face, there is no point in living.
You should just give up.
 

Like a pocket of velvet gold, a pungent flavour of the sea.
Uni is just nature's way of saying 'I love you'.
 

 Spicy scallop and avocado served with a glass of Resling.
This dish was showing off a bit of French flair pairing the spicy and fatty combination of the scallops and avocado with the rich sweetness of Resling.
 

 Flamed Chutoro and a slice of cod roe.
The creamy, salty roe gives the smoky fatty tuna a totally different dimension.
 

Flounder Fin. Lighting seared with a blow torch. A perfect end to the meal. 

*Note: not all the dishes we ate are on this blog. Just the most memorable or exotic. The rest were amazing in their own right but 24 pieces of sushi, I'm sure you will be bored of reading. Remember this is a place best to prebook and request what you like. Not everyday will be the same set.
 

Price warning. IT IS expensive. Compared to other places in Bangkok this places is up there with the priciest. So if your not that in too sushi I would suggest not to go as the bill may give you a real coma not a food one.

Enoteca - Wine shop with a difference 

Foodie

Thailand's Italian food influence is just gargantuan. We have all kinds of Italian food; from fake cheese and 10 year old horse meat joints like pizza company and pizza hut, to some of the best fine dinning institutions. Chefs and Restaurants managed by the true people of the Adriatic.

One such place is Enoteca in Soi 29 or Soi 27. Deep at the back of the soi, next to an after hours powerhouse Narcissus (Narz for those aged 16 and wearing mini skirts), sits a small house with some of the best Italian food.  

Upon arriving, we were sat down and given what seemd like an encyclopaedia and a menu. Enoteca it seems; is a name given to a wine shop. So keeping in theme the encyclopaedia was actually the wine menu. Where every region is represented well and some gems can be found if your pockets are deep enough. Their collections of Barolos are pretty impressive and if you are not a social media tycoon or a Thai politician you can sample some by glass (always a great sign of a passionate owner or chef, when they let you sample some good wine by glass. This is an education of sorts and lets us humble peons have a peak in to the life of the rich and shameless). 

After gazing at the menu, I decided to order the 'Grand Degustation'. Yes I had a date with me, yes I said degustation with a terrible attempt at a french accent and yes I did brag and tell her that this was a show case of the chefs specialities ( because after all i went to the GREAT Le Cordon Blue) and we were in for a treat. As they say 'dont hate the playa, hate the game'. Now not many places in Bangkok offer such a menu option so I was skeptical, excited and also a little proud that some one would take the risk. 

We informed the charming waitresses that we don't eat beef (because, well, it could be horse!). Then the feasting began. 

 

Venison carpaccio with strips of aged parmesan and rocket leaves. A good way to start, a good showcase of their ingredients locker. The parmesan was of very high quality and blanaced the richness of the vension. 

 

 Squid ink Cappuccino. Now this was cool. The fresh squid ink was at the bottom of this jug, along with a marshmallow soft squid. All brought together with an amazing potato soup. We were told to eat from the bottom up, getting some ink then some squid and finishing off with some soup. Fantastic. Looking at this picture I can feel the flavours coming back. MUST TRY!
 

 

 Salted backed onion with quail stuffing. Now I dont mean to be a pretentious prick (but I am) but the presentation would have done a bit of work considering the price and atmosphere. A hardy tasting meal, like a good old stew/family roast in every bite. Onions roasted in salt were sweet and succulent the quail was well cooked, a little under-season.
 

 

 Sicilian red prawns with fresh pasta. The prawns were fresh and char grilled. The pasta I was told is made fresh, not that day but when you choose this menu. Boy did you taste it, I haven't eaten pasta like this since I was back in cooking school and we made pasta rested it for about 30mins then cooked it. Beautiful texture and bounce. Pasta SHOULD ALWAYS be made like this.
 

 

 Ravioli stuffed with tomato sauce, seafood and cheese sauce. Pretentious prick coming out again, raviolis in a grande degustation stuffed with tomato sauce is like Alain Ducasse giving you KFC mash potatoes, just ridiculous. Where is the truffle, the foie gras I could have even dealt with, some pumpkin in sage butter. The seafood sauce was VERY similar to the dish prior. As a stand alone dish it was nice. The rich cheese was just enough to cut the acidity of the tomatos, pasta was cooked perfectly. But no place in a Grand degustation.
 

 

 Dover sole with fish egg sauce and baby italian potatoes. Something always bugs me about potatoes in Asia, they are just not quite right. To puree or roast, they always seem to retain too much water and just have no flavour. These were beautiful bundles of joy. Perfectly seasoned and crispy and soft on the inside. The fish was over cooked, had a nice balance with the sauce but nothing to really shout about.
 

Lamb Chops stuffed with parsley and garlic with spicy Mediterranean vegetables. Good way to end a meal, I mean lamb is just a beautiful piece of meat. The piece seemed a little small but the over all flavour was very nice. A comforting end to a meal. 

Now I may seem overly critical but I am in all honestly a snob. However this place is fantastic. Each dish on its own would have been amazing. The prices seem right and not extravagant. The staff was friendly and very knowledgeable.
 

*Note: The Grand degustation was not grand in any sense of the word. Trying to do something like this is brilliant and more chefs should be encouraged to do so, but it needs more thought. Not tomato ravioli.  Their ingredient locker seems stacked with the best the world can offer and not all is shown in this sampler menu.
 

All that said. This is my fav BKK Italian restaurant as of 27/02/2013.