Showing posts with label fine dining. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fine dining. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

Sühring @ Yen Akat, Bangkok - ซูห์ริง @ ซอยเย็นอากาศ กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Modern German
Charged Price: THB4,500 per person
Visited: 30 May 2016
Food: 7/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Value for money: 5/10
Services: 6/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Suhring, a modern German cuisine run by Suhring brothers, launched epically during early 2016. I believe Suhring is under the same group of sponsors as the famous Gaggan. That explains implicitly the logic behind its style of food. Without doubt, food here come in those small portions and presented using modern technique.

Personally, this is my first chance to visit this place and it was during Albert Bichot wine dinner. The overall impression with this place was good but not great. Some dishes were delicious but some missed elements here and there. But the wine were definitely gorgeous. Apart from food, I have to admit that the ambient of this place is really lovely. It is a house-converted restaurant. It is spacious and with beautiful garden. The downside about this place is its location. It is nowhere near public transport access point. Hence, driving or taxi remain your only choices. For those who drive, beware of limited parking space. Otherwise, you will have to park along the Soi.

Sühring @ Yen Akat, Bangkok

a beautiful house of the restaurant

spectacular seats within the glass house area

the dining hall

As for wine, the line up for the night were:

Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis 1er Cru les Vaucoupins 2013 (92/100): Lovely Chablis with early access. Fresh with white fruits elements.

Domaine Long-Depaquit Chablis Grand Cru Moutonne Monopole 2007 (93/100): Richer and deeper than the former one. Notes of mineral and floral. Wine for food it is.

Chateau Gris Nuits-Saint-Georges 1er Cru 2011 (93/100): Sweet black fruits and oak harmony. Perfect for meat dishes. Expect more in a few years time.

Domaine du Pavillon Aloxe-Corton 1er Cru Clos des Marechaudes 2013 (93/100): Opulent with earth and fruit forward. Give it time to reveal its class.

Domaine du Clos Frantin Echezeaux Grand Cru 2012 (94/100): Definitely harmony in the glass. But it is a long way for this guy before full enjoyment.

Albert Bichot line up for the night

The dinner started with those small bites / snacks / amuse bouche (or whatever you may call). Spiced Tomato Cracker with Fermented Garlic (7/10) did show nice taste of tomato along with spices but Avocado, Smoked Eel and Horseradish (7/10) was somewhat confusing. It was delicious but could not really detect the distinct character of avocado and eel. On the other hand, Frankfurter Grüne Soße (6/10) was presented gorgeously but the taste did live up with its look in my humble view. Taste of herb, yes. Unbalance, yes also. As for, Duck Liver, Chicken Skin, and Sea Buckthorn (6/10), the sea buckthorn was the weak link in this case. It didn't seem to pair well with pate though the overall texture was lovely.

Spiced Tomato Cracker with Fermented Garlic | Avocado, Smoked Eel and Horseradish


Frankfurter Grüne Soße

Duck Liver, Chicken Skin, and Sea Buckthorn

The last nibble came with a more fruitful size: Pork Knuckle Sandwich, Sauerkraut, and Marjoram (7/10). Rather nice actually. A bit of sauerkraut would be even better. Tender texture with flavourful taste. Moving on to a more proper size dish. Simmentaler Roast Beef, Pickled Mackerel, Capers, Beetroot, and Apple (7/10) would be a lovely one if it had come without mackerel. The combination of beef and mackerel in the same plate seemed confusing though the beetroot and apple cut well through fattiness of beef. The strange thing is this dish was paired with Chablis. Not a perfect pair but interesting. Then we had a plate to share: Cold Cuts & Pickles: German Rustic Sour Dough + Cultured Butter + Griebenschmalz | Soft-Pretzel + Obatzda (8/10). Wonderful indeed. The sour dough was outstanding. I would not pay much attention on sauces here: cultured butter, griebenschmalz, and obatzda. I think when the bread is nice, just plain butter could already bring you to heaven so as cold cuts.

Pork Knuckle Sandwich, Sauerkraut, and Marjoram

Simmentaler Roast Beef, Pickled Mackerel, Capers, Beetroot, and Apple

Cold Cuts & Pickles

building up

Moving on to heavier dishes. Celeriac Tortellini with Summer Truffle (9/10) would be the highlight of the meal in my view. Beautiful aroma of truffle. The tortellini was as well perfectly executed. Love this one. It seems the Italian dish performed much better than the German ones tonight. Next was Hungarian Duck Roasted on the Bone, Pumpkin and Lavender Jus (9/10) which was almost equally great as the tortellini. Flavourful and tender. Sweetness of pumpkin also cut through the flavour of jus well. Execution and ingredients are the keys here, I think. For lamb dish, it was Salt Meadow Lamb from Piet Van Den Berg, Beans, Saffron, and Herbs (7/10). Not extraordinary but enjoyable here. Honestly, saffron is too elegant and it looked as though unique aroma of lamb overwhelmed the great saffron here.

Celeriac Tortellini with Summer Truffle

Hungarian Duck Roasted on the Bone, Pumpkin and Lavender Jus

Salt Meadow Lamb from Piet Van Den Berg

Here comes the dessert. I have to say that dessert were superb here. Both Buttermilk, Cucumber, Gin, and Tonic (8/10) and Waldorf Salad (9/10) were just delicious. The cucumber one cleansed the palate pretty well. So simple, classic, and refreshing. For waldorf salad, this was a great transformation from salad to dessert. Freshness is the key, again. The crumb added 3rd dimension to creaminess of dessert. The meal then ended with a small bite of doughnut (if I recall correctly).

All in all, this is a restaurant for experience but not for often visit in my view. Nice and enjoyable but it lacks here and there and the meal can be very long.

Buttermilk, Cucumber, Gin, and Tonic

Waldorf Salad

petit fours (doughnut?)

Sühring @ Yen Akat, Bangkok - ซูห์ริง @ ซอยเย็นอากาศ กรุงเทพฯ
10 Soi Yen Akat 3
Chong Nonsi, Yan Nawa
Bangkok 10120
Thailand

Open Hours: daily from 06:00pm - 11:00pm for dinner
Tel: +66 (0) 2287 1799
FBhttps://www.facebook.com/SuhringsHome/

Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Saneh Jaan @ Glasshouse at Sindhorn, Bangkok - เสน่ห์จันทน์ @ กลาสเฮ้าส์ แอท สินธร กรุงเทพฯ

Cuisine: Thai
Charged Price: THB1,000 per person
Visited: 1 June 2016
Food: 7/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Value for money: 6/10
Services: 7/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Recently launched, Saneh Jaan, at the new culinary destination of Sindhorn Tower on Thanon Witthayu: The Glasshouse. It hit the town much later than its neighbours which had been around since last year. What I can say about this Thai restaurant is definitely rather positive. It is fabulously charming as its name: Saneh means charm in Thai.

The atmosphere would have already stunned you upon walking in. Well decorated and rather elegant. Thanks god, it is not in modern style but contemporary. For some, the atmosphere can be a little too heavy to their liking. Just for a tip for both local and tourists, though the place does not state dress code, as I am aware of, it is still best to dress in a smart way rather than casual, especially shorts.

As for food, I personally like it. It is not those kind of royal cuisine nor modern nor Thai food for foreigners nor those harsh and spicy. What I like about food here is its moderation. I mean each dish is rich to the taste but not those highly hot and spicy such that foreigners can consume while the local can still enjoy.

Saneh Jaan @ Glasshouse at Sindhorn, Bangkok

the entrance

rather cosy and elegant atmosphere

We began our meal with a bit of cocktail and mocktails to follow during the course. For cocktail, it had to be Margarita definitely. My all time favourite classic cocktail. I did try Classic Margarita and Blue Margarita (THB220 each). The difference between the two is the use of spirit: Classic one uses Triple Sec while the Blue one uses Blue Curacao. Not bad but not good. I would prefer the one without sugar syrup. To me a good Margarita needs no syrup but a decent quality of Tequila. There was also a small portion of amuse bouche being served before the actual meal. For this visit, it was ปลาแห้งแตงโม (pla haeng tang mo) - Watermelon with Sweet Dried-fish and Crispy Shallot. I like its freshness and sweetness that boosted up the appetite.

Pineapple Freeze and Frosty Orange (THB180 each)


ปลาแห้งแตงโม - Watermelon with Sweet Dried-fish and Crispy Shallot

For the meal, we had กากหมูผัดพริกขิง - Stir-fried Pork Rind with Chili, Salty Egg and Kiffir Lime (8/10), แกงรัญจวน - Gaeng Run Juan (8/10), and กุ้งแม่น้ำทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย - Deep-fried Fresh Water Prawns Marinated in Garlic, Pepper, and Coriander Root (6/10). All of which were nice but stir-fried pork rind with chili, salty egg and kiffir lime seems to stand out. To me, the best way of stir-frying cow-pea is by using pork fat or lard. It would bring out the flavour nicely. In this case, pork rind did its job pretty well. Gaeng Run Juan was pretty delicious too. Love the spices and hot touch of the soup which was not overwhelming. However, deep-fried prawns did not meet my expectation. I would love to see better execution for prawn. Prawn is a delicate ingredient and needs attention at cooking in my view. The texture should be crisp but yet tender. For this one, it was the texture that could be improved. In term of taste, it was enjoyable. Rather local taste.

กากหมูผัดพริกขิง - Stir-fried Pork Rind with Chili, Salty Egg and Kiffir Lime (THB450)

แกงรัญจวน - Gaeng Run Juan (THB380)

กุ้งแม่น้ำทอดกระเทียมพริกไทย - Deep-fried Fresh Water Prawns Marinated in Garlic, Pepper, and Coriander Root (THB780)

Saneh Jaan @ Glasshouse at Sindhorn, Bangkok - เสน่ห์จันทน์ @ กลาสเฮ้าส์ แอท สินธร กรุงเทพฯ
Glasshouse @ Sindhorn
Floor G, Sindhorn Building
130-132 Thanon Witthayu
Lumphini, Pathum Wan
Bangkok 10330
Thailand

Open Hours: daily from 09:00am - 03:00pm

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Sushi Tokami (鮨とかみ) @ Ginza, Tokyo

Cuisine: Sushi
Charged Price: JPY10,800 per person without alcohol
Visited: 13 November 2015
Food: 9/10
Atmosphere: 8/10
Value for money: 7/10
Services: 9/10
Scale: [1=poor ---- 5=average/standard ---- 10=outstanding/exceptional]

Hiroyuki Sato of Sushi Tokami is, in my humble opinion, a non-ordinary sushi master at his age. Not so much fancy for his almost flawless execution but things could be just so ozzzzz. Yeah.....it's umami in Japanese, I guess. This tiny sushi bar, of 8 seats, on basement floor of Seiwa Silver Building in Ginza is defitely an extraordinary one with future.

Sushi Tokami (鮨とかみ) @ Ginza, Tokyo

Seiwa Silver Buidling

where great sushi are prepared!!!

the energetic Hiroyuki Sato at his work

look like a delicious roll

The very first to arrive was Oyster Boiled with Daikon (7/10). It might not be standing out for this cold appetiser but surely enjoyable. Then the very first nigiri was Hirame (平目) - Flounder (8/10) which was fresh and possessed the right chewiness texture. Just only the overwhelmed fragrance of wasabi that was irritating. Sumi Ika (墨いか) - Cuttlefish (9/10) on the other hand was tender but with texture. Nice explosion of flavour without fishy saltiness.

Oyster Boiled with Daikon

Hirame (平目) - Flounder

Sumi Ika (墨いか) - Cuttlefish

After that, Baby Snapper (8/10) was brought on. Not sure whether I got the name right. What I heard was Katsuo (鰹) which usually means bonito but it was baby snapper for this incidence. Not a big deal though. Nevertheless, rather on the side of sourness piece of Akami Zuke (赤身漬け) - Marinated Red Tuna (9/10) came in rich taste and melted-in-mouth texture. Afther that, the perfect piece of Chu Toro (中とろ) - Medium Fatty Tuna (10/10) arrived in style. It just melted right away leaving so much of flavour behind.

Baby Snapper???

Akami Zuke (赤身漬け) - Marinated Red Tuna

Chu Toro (中とろ) - Medium Fatty Tuna

Moving on to kind of marinated sushi, Kohada (小鰭) - Gizzard Shad (9/10) at this instance was well made with excellent quality. Kuruma Ebi (車海老) - Tiger Prawn (10/10) was surely one of the very best alongside Sushi Saito and Sushi Mizutani. Nonetheless, Kisu (鱚) - Silver Whiting (8/10) which was just an oridnary fish, somehow presented itself rather ok. Sawara (鰆) - Spanish Mackerel (9/10) showed lime aroma with almost perfect mind-blowing texture.

Kohada (小鰭) - Gizzard Shad

Kuruma Ebi (車海老) - Tiger Prawn

Kisu (鱚) - Silver Whiting

Sawara (鰆) - Spanish Mackerel

The very last range began with Saba (鯖) - Mackerel (9/10) which was so sweet, so smooth and so without sea breeze aroma. A kind of shell, Hamaguri (蛤) - Clam (10/10), was the next one. It came with a kind of rather sweet sauce. Crisp, fresh, bouncy, and balance. Ikura (いくら) - Salmon Roe (10/10) which is one of my all time favourite had come just before the smoothy Anago (穴子) - Sea Eel (10/10) arrived. 

Saba (鯖) - Mackerel

Hamaguri (蛤) - Clam

Ikura (いくら) - Salmon Roe

Anago (穴子) - Sea Eel

As in other sushi restaurant, the Hand-rolled Tuna (10/10) and Sweet Omelette (9/10) came to be the finish items. The maki was at the very level of satisfaction. On the other hand, the sweet omelette was excellent too. It was just the texture that still cannot beat Sushi Mizutani. But the burnt caramel on top layer was definitely gorgeous. Surely look forward to the next visit at Sushi Tokami. Cheers guys!!!!!!!!!

hand rolled tuna

sweet omelette

miso soup with egg

Sushi Tokami (鮨とかみ) @ Ginza, Tokyo
Floor B1, Ginza Seiwa Silver Building (銀座誠和シルバービル)
8-2-10 Ginza
Chuo-ku
Tokyo 〒104-0061
Japan

Open Hours: Mon-Sat from 12:00pm - 02:30pm for lunch and 05:30pm - 10:00pm for dinner
Tel: +81 (0) 3 3571 6005
Webhttp://sushitokami.3zoku.com/
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