Thursday, March 14, 2013

Le Beaulieu @ Athenee Tower, Bangkok

Cuisine: French
Visited: 2 March 2013
Price: THB1,650 per person without alcohol (lunch set)
Food: 7/10
Atmosphere: 6/10
Value for money: 7/10 (based on lunch set)
Services: 6/10

Bonjour!!!! Today we, deadly and chubby, would like to bring you to a fine French cuisine restaurant in Witthayu-Chidlom area.  Le Beaulieu offers some of the best classic French menu in town surely.  Of course, fine cuisine/haute cuisine does come at its own price tag.  One thing you may need to be aware is that menu here does get changed from time to time, so what I tell you may not be in the menu when you decide to give it a visit.  Menu is designed just like other fine European restaurant which contains only minimum but great choices.  Wine list is ok but not great, marked up price is high comparing to other places in town.

Le Beaulieu @ Athenee Tower, Bangkok

the entrance

seats overlooking into the kitchen

a look from first floor

The long table

Le Beaulieu is situated right on the ground floor of Athenee Tower: basically it is just the building next to the hotel building of Plaza Athenee Bangkok on Witthayu Road.  The size of this place is not large but there are two floors with outdoor area (for a cool day or night time) too.  There is also a small patisserie shop that offers delicious pastry too (open 9.00am to 6.30pm).  The decoration is kept in modern style with red/black tone that gives such power and elegant feeling.  In fact, I feel that this place is somewhat half restaurant half bar of its own with the cocktail bar placed right in the middle of the hall.  I actually do like the outdoor area for the night time, rather a good and comfortable place to hang out with friends.

the bar

kitchen is busy

Le Beaulieu Patisserie

limited seats for patisserie

example of delicacy

As mentioned the price you will have to prepare to pay here can be high, we would actually like to recommend anyone to try the lunch set which comprises of more or less the same menu as a la carte.  3 courses lunch on Saturday costs THB1,250++, not a bad deal at all for what you get.

a la carte menu

We were served with Chocolate Croissant (8/10) and Baguette (5/10) to start with.  I promise chocolate croissant was one of the best in BKK: very nice taste with layers and layers of crisp pastry, fluffy and smooth in the mouth.  Whilst croissant stands out, baguette was just ordinary that was enjoyable with good butter.

Ok!!! it is the best chocolate croissant for me

simply baguette

the contact via namecard

Starters of the set lunch were Burrata D.O.C, Heirloom Tomatoes (7/10), Plancha of Scallop, Organic Salad (7/10), and Sautéed Frogs Legs with Garlic Puree (4/10).  All of which were nice but Burrata and Hokkaido Scallops did stand out.  Burrata is a kind of cheese with a mix of mozzarella and cream.  It was creamily soft but had some firm texture.  Savoury taste and aroma of mozzarella was preserved. This is a fantastic and fresh starter.  Scallop was as well delightful. Refreshing salad with tanginess touch of summer coupling with big and flavourful Brittany scallops can easily be diners' favourite choice. Last of starter was frog legs. This dish was not like the first two. It lacked of flavour though frog legs were tender. I don't think this dish would match personality of local that prefer stronger taste of dishes.


Burrata D.O.C. , Heirloom Tomatoes....loving it

Plancha of Scallop......tasty flavour

a little more close up onto scallop

Sauteed Frog Legs with Garlic Puree

close up frog leg

Next were fish dishes: Plancha of Baby Monkfish with Provencale Ratatouille (6/10) and Dover Sole, Ratte Potatoes, Lemon Capers Sauce (7/10). Monkfish gave a more firm texture when bitten. It went really well with ratatouille which was lighter than many ratatouille I had tried in the past: sweet taste of tomato in fact. Like this dish but still does not hit my point just yet. Dover Sole gave more delicate touch. Elegant and classic pan-seared with butter and a final touch of herbal lemon capers sauce. Fabulous. A dish to try indeed.

Plancha of Monkfish with Provencale Ratatouille

Lemon being squeezed onto Dover Sole

For meat lover or carnivore, here is your kind of dish: Slow-roasted Lamb Racks with French Needle Bean and His Jus (7/10). Le Beaulieu does sure make one of the best lamb dish in town. It was really tender and juicy. Jus was kind of light but savoury. This could be a better dish if the quality of lambs was more premium. I still find that lamb from Rossini's is a step better.

Slow-roasted Lamb Rack


The highlight of this meal was in fact the dessert. Millefeuille, Tahitian Vanilla Ice Cream was fabulous (9/10). This dish was a near perfect 1,000 layers pastry: light, fluffly and crisp. Not overly sweet too. I could actually cut the millefeuille easily without destroying the nice decoration. The coupling vanilla ice-cream also came with crunchy nut which was fun and enjoyable. Love this millefeuille to the max. Strawberry Flambeed, Vanilla Ice Cream was a sweeter choice (7/10). Thick strawberry sauce with again vanilla ice-cream. Really chill and suitable for summer.


One of the best millefeuille in town

Strawberry Flambeed for sweet lovers

Overall, this is a fantastic classic French restaurant that must try.  Just the price is probably a big matter T___T".  Services are friendly and polite too but perhaps staffs still lack of explanatory skill.  We sure will give Le Beaulieu a return to see how it can keep its standard of delicacy.    By the way, most of ingredients seem to be imported.  From our opinion, if they can manage to make some fantastic dishes with local ingredients that would be even better.  Bon Appetit!!!

Le Beaulieu @ Athenee Tower, Bangkok
Floor G Athenee Tower
63 Witthayu Road
Pathumwan
Bangkok 10330

Open Hours: Mon - Sat 11:30 - 15:00 for lunch and 18:30 - 23:00 for dinner
Tel: +66 (0) 2168 8220

No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Blogging tips