377
.Deconstruction cuisineIn Thailand, there is never a problem to enjoy a meal of good Thai cuisine (of course); they are just around any corner, at a decade-old pochana (small local restaurant), or in a Thai household. But when the cuisine comes to luxurious banquet versions it is rather sad; most five-star hotel's versions of Thai cuisine are quite disappointing; the food is pale and bland without bright ambition or effort. I feel they are just repacking mediocre food, serving them on porcelain tableware in the comfort of exquisite ambiance and impeccable service. So boring!
Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin, the Bangkok branch of the Copenhagen based Kiin Kiin Thai Restaurant, wearing one-star Michelin recognition, opened almost two years ago in the Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok and has added spice to the local gastronomy scene. Sra Bua offers molecular gastronomy Thai dishes, the first in the Kingdom; so grandma's recipe gaeng bark (firey hot jungle curry), a backpacker's love phad Thai (stir-fried sen-chan noodle) and a tourist's favorite chicken pieces wrapped in pandan leaf may not appear on the menu; even if they do, they may appear in another costume, like the very common red curry there is presented in a form of iced cream, served with frozen fog.
My friend took me to Sra Bua for lunch, to see if our taste-buds appreciated the first Thai molecular gastronomy cuisine. There are likes and dis-likes for Sra Bua's modern Thai cuisine, using cutting-edge culinary technique and molecular gastronomy, and I enjoyed the meal so much, as long as I opened my mind, and treated that as haute cuisine with a Thai twist.
Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin ***
Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok
991/9 Rama I Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.162.9000
Sra Bua
Open daily : lunch 12 am - 3 pm, dinner 6 - 11 pm
Pay : lunch set THB 1,500++, dinner set THB 2,400++
375
.Fail to danceWhen I was a little child, sometimes I would sneak into the kitchen to cook my favorite dish - deep-fried chicken pieces. They were actually leftovers (steamed chicken) prepared from the previous meal; I took them out from the fridge, rubbed and marinated the chicken pieces with soy sauce, deep-fried them in the sea of running oil; seasoned them (yes again, so you know how awful they tasted!) with additional soy sauce and salt; when done, I poured some seasoning agent on them, so my master piece was a dish of salty meats; the only taste my taste buds could detect was - salt. I ate them while watching my favorite TV program, Sesame Street. Later when my taste buds gained strength, I realized that it was a little crime in culinary means.
Shun No Mai, a Japanese show kitchen style buffet restaurant, bravely opened in Thonglor few months ago, reminds me of that mischief I did in my early childhood.
At THB 680++ per person (all-you-can-eat) it is not difficult to please diners even if Shun No Mai just serves mediocre food; the inexpensive price tag helps her to gain back some credit; however, its raw fish, or sashimi, quality is worse than those you can get for fifteen baht at Klongsan, and cooked food used low grade ingredients; meats are pale and tasteless. The only taste was from the heavy-weight seasoning sauce.
My friend, who was also in the table, proved that the sashimi was lacking freshness with a result that he suffered a food-poisoning kind of diarrhea that night. I was okay since I didn't touch those raw stuff.
Shun No Mai, literally dance of the season, did not have the food dance, but had our colon dance!
Shun No Mai Japanese Buffet Restaurant **1/4
Floor G Opus Tower
139 Thonglor Soi 10
Soi 55 Sukhumvit Road
Wattana, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: 02.714.7589
Open daily : lunch 11 am - 2 pm (set lunch),
dinner 5 - 10 pm (buffet and a la carte)
Pay (food only for two): around THB 1,350
374
.Buffet from five Continents
My friends were upset by the (low quality) breakfast offer at Oasis, Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort Pattaya, while they stayed there, in a result that the morning had been spoiled. Centara hotels have a hand in consistency of food and beverage (low) quality, the buffet dinner at the World, Bangkok's Centara Grand at Central World, does not rescue its poor reputation.
The variety of buffet line up is large, but all of them, mediocre. When I avoid its tired sashimi, stale oysters, and Wednesday's chewy wagyu roast (from where? probably China!), the meal concluded happier.
dinner buffet **3/4
The World
Centara Grand at Central World
999/99 Rama I Road
Pathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel.: 02.100.1234
The World
Open daily : 24 hours (dinner buffet 6 - 10 pm)
Pay (food only for two): around THB 3,300
