Adventure #238: Le Du (Bangkok)

Wanted to take the kids to try Gaggan but since it moved up (to No. 3) Asia's Best 50 restaurants lists we were unable to get a table for when we were in Bangkok. Neither could we get Nahm which is No. 1 on the 2014 list. 

Looking through some local guides, we found Le Du and this one appears to be a rising star. Guess we had better try this before it made the list!

Set in a low rise apartment in a residential area away from the main street.

Nice and cozy décor inside.

A separate seating area for drinks or to wait.  The restaurants itself is not big either with maybe 6-8 tables of 4s.

The menu is not extensive.  So we ordered 3 tasting menu which all cover almost all of the dishes on the menu.

These were the 3 starters:

Thai Andaman tuna with lemon oil, tomato confit, lemongrass and basil. Different and refreshing.

"Phu Lae" Pineapple with radish, nuts, shrimp and pork powder, mint and smoked coconut milk. Pineapple is extremely sweet. With the shrimp and pork powder, this dish has a very Asian flavor to it.

Thai style pate with rice paper, Chinese plum, galangal, white ginger and Sriracha.  Beautifully presented. Can't remember what we ate!

The 3+3 mains:

Wild mushroom with free-range egg confit, acacia pennata, pickled oyster mushroom, bottle gourd, chilli, Thai fermented fish and bacon. Anything with egg is always loved by G. Delicious, lots of flavours.

Seabass with celery puree, sunchoke, pickled lemon zest, Siam tulip and extra old fermented soybean.

Blue swimming crab and black truffle wonton with fried garlic, bok choy and scallion. Everyone loved this dish. Pity it is so small!

 

Local Ostrich with tamarind, winged bean, sticky rice, chili paste and roasted rice. Not a big fan of ostrich but it turned out OK.

Dark soy chicken with pandan, roasted sesame, cucumber and smoked goat chili gel. Chicken looked dry but was actually ok.

Local Kurobuta pork 180 days pineapple wine fed with corn custurd, sweet corn salsa, baby corn, cashew nut and blackcurrent jus. Interesting dish.

The 3 desserts:

Coconut charcoal cheesecake with lemon tart gel and spiced coconut ice cream

Roselle sorbet with banana and honey gel, sponge cake, short bread and caramel

Mooncake with custurd ice cream, nut, salted egg gel and flower tea

We think their starters and mains were much better than the desserts.  Nevertheless, very good food for a reasonable price. Good service and nice atmosphere.

Le Du
339/3 Silom Soi 7, Bank Rak
Bangkok 10500
Thailand
Tel: +66 92 919 9969

Adventure #237: Pork Noodle (Bangkok)

Someone told us about this pork noodle place and so we decided to seek it out for lunch. It is just a few doors away from the new Double Tree Hotel by Hilton. Not difficult to find.

Long gan drink (left) and chrysanthemum tea drink (right). The drinks were kept extremely cold by keeping the whole glass in the fridge! Ingenious idea and perfect for the hot weather in Bangkok.

Pork noodles with all the accompaniments. The fish balls were not bouncy but very soft, like the ones we had in Penang.

Delicious! Love the drinks!

Adventure #236: Eat Me (Bangkok)

I have been very busy the last few months and as such I am once again behind (extremely behind!) in my posting.  Back in September, G said he really needed a break and luckily our super travel agent came through for us yet again by getting us tickets to Bangkok over the October National day holiday.

Bangkok only means 3 things for us: Food, Art and Shopping (in that order!).  So, before we even left home, G started to make restaurant bookings.  Unfortunately some of our favourite restaurants were already fully booked but we did managed to book a few.

We went to Eat Me for the first night in Bangkok for an early celebration of the little one's upcoming birthday. It took us a little while to find it as it was a short walk away from the main street.

It's a whole different world inside!

 

We weren't going to order starters, preferring instead to have desserts. But the waiter said we must try this black chicken salad with red papaya, toasted coconut, chilli, lime and betel leaf.  And he was right! It was delicious! A burst of wonderful flavours.

Australian wagyu beef tenderloin with gorgonzola cheese and red wine onion for G. He loved this. Beef cooked to perfection - after G insisted the chef be told that he wanted medium rare European style! Hahaha

Line caught Japanese black cod with spicy coconut cream for me. Cod is sweet and tender.

Australian salt bush lamb rack with roasted sunchoke, chevre cendree and hazelnut for the older one. It was so good, she didn't want to share!

The little one had crispy skin duck confit with yellow beetroot, fennel and banyuls gastrique. Said it reminded her of our summer in France! The duck was literally crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Yum!

The duck together with her favourite side dishes - the little one had her birthday wish come true!

Sticky date pudding -  soooo good!

Creme burlee for the older one. nice but so rich.

And a thick chocolate cake on the house for the little one! Happy birthday again!

And a nice espresso to end a wonderful meal!

Great food and great service. We will be back!

Eat Me

Alley, Silom, Bang Rak

Bangkok 10500

Thailand

Tel: +66 2 238 0931

 

Adventure #235: Le Souk

Felt like having something different tonight and finally decided on middle eastern food. We then picked Le Souk in Soho.

The restaurant was not big but very colourful décor.

Was recommended this Egyptian beer.  A little sweeter than normal once. Quite nice, more of a lady's beer.

Our starters: Hommos with grilled lamb and Lebanese Babaganoush. The hommos very creamy and the lamb soft and succulent. As for the babaganoush, I am a great fan of eggplant, so what can I say. Served with warm pita bread, it was so good, we finished every last bit!

Chicken Tagine - we ordered this so the kids have something to eat. And they loved it.



Cous cous a Le Souk - a signature dish.  The roasted lamb shank was wonderful.  Juicy and soft.  Served with veg and cous cous.  The bowl of sauce (soup?) seemed a bit redundant.

A selection of homemade Baklava pastries.  Not the best we have had.

We really enjoyed this meal. A first for the kids and a change from the usual western cuisine.

Le Souk
4 Staunton Street
SOHO
Central
Tel: 2522 2128

Adventure #234: Ocean

It was a couple of weeks after returning from France before we were ready for some rich western cuisine.  This evening we were invited to have dinner at a private kitchen in Happy Valley called Ocean.

It was on the 1st floor of an old building with very steep stairs. But once inside, the atmosphere is cool and calm.

This private kitchen is what the owners called 福音私房菜. The owners are Christians and the wife and the restaurant's namesake will tell diners all the miracles associated with the opening and running of this restaurant.

Something to wet the appetite - strawberry with foie gras.

Baked US oysters with hollandaise sauce and tomato provencal. We were to eat the hollandaise sauce one first and then the tomato.  Very well made, really enjoyed them.

Cream of mushroom.  Smooth and full of mushroom flavour.  One of the best mushroom soup I have had. Excellent!

Lime granite - to clear the palate and ready for the main course!

Although the restaurant also offered a chicken dish and a seafood dish, all of us chose the beef dish.  We were told that this dish is not always on the menu. They were celebrating their 3rd anniversary and thus this signature dish is back on the menu for a limit period of time.

12-hour slow cook Australian Wagyu beef cheek with lettuce mashed potato and port wine jus.  This is truly a great dish. The beef is so flavourful and just melts in the mouth. Heavenly!

Rasberry panna cotta with lychee jell-o, strawberry ice cream and mixed berries. I ordered this for both G and I because we just loved panna cotta. I later changed to the dish below.  The panna cotta was good but after a heavy dish like the beef cheek, a lighter dessert is perhaps a better choice.

Coconut and pineapple in five texture. I won't normally choose this as I am not a fan of coconut.  But this turned out to be quite enjoyable. It was light and different from the traditional dessert.

Finished with a choice of coffee or pukka tea.  A wonderful end to an excellent meal!

Ocean
1/F, 9 Sing Woo Road
Happy Valley
Tel: 3480 0512