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