Known for his passion and attentiveness, chef ‘Por’ Petchwao will create a dining sensations at its finest.

Well-regarded for not compromising on the quality of his native cuisine, chef Por has over 20 years of expertise and experience in the culinary trade. Many of his dishes reflect recipes dating back to the Ayutthaya period, some 100 years ago.

Set in the evening of Saturday, February 29, the exclusive full-course dinner features nine dining sensations that highlight top-of-the-line ingredients, while honouring age-old cooking techniques and recipes that promote the Art of Thai cuisine.

Some of Chef Por’s featured creations for the meal include Goong Sa Rong, fried shrimps wrapped in Phuket noodles, drizzled with mango sauce; Sang Wah Ped, Thai old-fashioned roasted duck salad with traditional herbs; and Goong Tod Sauce Makam, deep-fried river prawns with sweet & sour tamarind sauce. Another highlight sees diners enjoying Ngob Pla Krapong, grilled sea bass curry wrapped with banana leaves.

For the sweet course, Suan Bua presents Chef Por’s rendering of Som Chun. This Thai traditional dessert showcases pulpy morsels of lychee, long kong and salacca in a light syrup, seethed with bitter orange and kaffir lime zest for a harmonious contrast. To make for an even more enjoyable moment, each culinary course will be paired with an outstanding, well-balanced wine list from Hua Hin’s acclaimed Monsoon Valley.

Visit Suan Bua Restaurant at Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas Hua Hin and enjoy this sensational culinary experience by Chef Santiphap ‘Por’ Petchwao and his never-ending passion.

Anantara Siam’s authentic Thai eatery, Spice Market, will showcase a range of new sharing platters under the concept of Sumrub Thai, from February 10 to March 20.

Spice Market’s head chef Warinthorn Sumrithphon has carefully curated texture, flavour and aroma, with ancient recipes based on seasonal produce, highlighting Thailand’s well-known regional delicacies. They include rarer treats that diners might not find elsewhere.

Each platter of soups, curries, salads, and fried and steamed dishes is designed to be enjoyed with steamed rice and shared.

From February 10 to 29, Spice Market presents the Sumrub Thai Northern Set, featuring pork sausage with spicy dip and grilled eggs in a banana cup, and the Central Set, which stars green curry crab, stir-fried sea bass and wok-fried lotus flower.

From March 1 to 20, the Northeast Set will showcase a spicy pork soup and a young jackfruit dip, while the Southern Set will include scallop marinated in red curry, stir-fried melinjo leaves with egg and spicy shrimp paste with honey.

Sumrub Thai Set will be served for lunch from 11.30am to 2.30pm (Monday to Saturday), and dinner from 6pm to 10.30pm. Prices start from Bt1,250++ per set. (Prices are subject to 10 per cent service charge and 7 per cent government tax.)

Spice Market is located on the first floor of Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel (BTS Ratchadamri).

The ascension of Parker House rolls isn’t just surprising because so many diners continue to forgo bread as part of low-carb, high-protein diets-and when they do indulge, it’s with rustic, seeded, more “artisanal” styles perceived to be more nutritious. Parker House rolls are as white as you can get in the baking world (with the possible exception of Japanese milk bread), its pearly, puffy interior encased in a golden-brown top that’s invariably drenched in butter. At a time when dark, dense, fermented loaves are the cool kids in the bread basket, Parker House rolls could be their grandmother.

Notable chefs such as Joshua Skenes don’t care. He’s been making the rolls for around eight years, starting at his three-Michelin-starred Saison in San Francisco. Now at Angler, his cult seafood spots in Los Angeles and San Francisco, a lard-glazed version-cooked first in the oven in a copper pan, then finished beside an open hearth-arrives tableside, piping hot, with high-fat butter made from Petaluma cow milk.

“We picked the rolls up from back in history because we saw a way to make them taste better with fresh milled flour-with fire,” he says. At $12, they’re a bargain; Skenes says they lose money on the butter.

There are two origin stories for the widespread adoption of the Parker House roll. The first comes from the Parker House Hotel that opened in Boston in 1854. Allegedly, a rankled baker tossed a batch of unfinished rolls into the oven. They came out with a distinct shape, a light interior, and a buttery exterior.

Food historian Ken Albala credits efficiency as one reason the roll took off: “The Parker House was simply a more efficient delivery system for white bread. It’s more compact, fits in a basket, and is easier to butter.”

An additional story comes via another baker, L.B. Willoughby, who had the idea to sell fresh biscuit dough to consumers. In 1932, he patented his method for processing and packaging the unbaked dough in a pressurized can. Willoughby’s patent was eventually acquired by Pillsbury, which introduced the seminal canned crescent rolls to the world in 1965; they continue to be its best seller.

“When I grew up in Hingham, Mass., it was the only bread we had,” says chef Chris Bleidorn, owner of Birdsong in San Francisco.

Although Bleidorn points to the Pillsbury version as his inspiration, he didn’t embrace Parker House rolls for nostalgia. “We do it because it’s efficient,” he says-and as an unconventional showcase for the restaurant’s open flame cooking.

His straightforward yeast-leavened recipe is hard to bungle. After being pre-baked, the rolls are finished over an open fire and then brushed with boar fat, honey butter, or seaweed butter. “The fire gives it rustic qualities where you might get burnt ends, or smoke hangs on to the fat that you brush on. You get a really special experience,” says Bleidorn.

In New York, Crown Shy pastry chef Renata Ameni also began baking Parker House rolls for the experiential aspect. “We wanted something that was communal. I like the idea of breaking bread,” says chef-owner James Kent, so they settled on the special bread with a singular shape. The Crown Shy version arrives warm, stuffed with a three-olive blend-green, cured, and Kalamata-plus capers, roasted garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. Instead of a butter accompaniment, guests are given labneh yogurt spread.

Unlike most of the current crop of premium Parker House rolls, Crown Shy’s are complimentary. “When restaurants sell the bread, maybe only 10% of customers will buy it. It’s not usually worth it for a restaurant,” says Kent. The good will of a free snack, though, is invaluable.

Mitchell Davis, cookbook author and executive vice president of the James Beard Foundation, sees the rolls as Exhibit A in the casualization of fine dining and chefs’ desires to upgrade homey foods. It’s “a huge switch,” he said, from the dense, dark bread that’s been popular. He notes that it also makes retro sense: In the ’70s, one of the hallmarks of a fancy place was the hot bread.

“I want to take a humble food, and make it discussed as seriously as a black truffle,” says San Diego chef William Bradley, who serves a Parker House roll “course” midway through his 10-course, $270 tasting menu at Michelin-starred Addison. The rolls come with three types of butter churned in-house: clover, fleur de sel, and fines herbes.

For Bradley, who doesn’t have the space to devote to an entire bread program, the rolls make sense. “It’s a simple technique, it isn’t labor intensive, and the results are great.”

A post shared by Le Jardinier (@lejardiniernyc) on Nov 12, 2019 at 11:14am PST

The Parker House movement is wide enough to embrace special diets as well.

At Le Jardinier in New York, baker Tetsuya Yamaguchi spent five months perfecting a gluten-free version. Yamaguchi uses a blend of Japanese rice flour and sorghum flour, plus a special mold that allows the roll’s outside to get caramelized. Yamaguchi initially described the rolls to staff as “mini pain de mie.” But, he says, “the team started describing them as Parker House rolls once we opened, because more people recognize the name, and they like them.”

If it is possible for anyone to be both icon and iconoclast, Grahm accomplished that. He launched Bonny Doon in 1981 hoping to make pinot noir in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. But he quickly turned to Rhone varieties such as grenache and syrah. He named his flagship red blend Le Cigare Volant, after a 1954 ordinance passed by the famous wine town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape in southern France that banned “flying cigars” – UFOs – from landing in the vineyards. Wine Spectator featured him in Lone Ranger regalia on its cover in 1989 as “The Rhone Ranger,” helping launch a movement that still thrives today. He was one of the first U.S. winemakers to champion screw caps, even staging a lavish, if premature, news conference “funeral” for the cork. His literary newsletters delighted his fans with humorous jabs at “big wine” and the critics who rewarded higher alcohol with higher point scores, including a lengthy riff on Dante’s “Divine Comedy” called, “The Vinferno.” His collected writings were published in book form in 2009 as “Been Doon So Long” and won Grahm a James Beard Award.

He created the Big House line of wines, which offered high quality at prices almost impossibly modest for California, but sold it in 2006 because he didn’t want to become the type of “big wine” corporation he loathed. He also created Pacific Rim Riesling, with innovative labeling you read through the wine in the bottle, and built that into a successful brand before selling it in 2011. Bonny Doon’s Vin Gris de Cigare was a hit rosé before rosé became a craze. He was also among the first – and still very few – to advocate ingredient labeling on wines.

Grahm’s creativity and restlessness didn’t always work in his favor. He acknowledges impatience with “the business side of the business,” adding, “spreadsheets give me a headache.” In a conversation I had with him late last year, he tended to begin his answers with “Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time . . . ” He grew Bonny Doon to 40,000 cases, not large by California standards, but he had so many different wines it was often hard to keep up. The market couldn’t keep up, either, and ultimately it moved on.

Bonny Doon’s new owner is WarRoom Ventures, the parent company of Lapis Luna Wines in Santa Margarita, Calif. The price was not disclosed. Grahm will remain with the company as a partner and “guarantor of gravitas.” Bonny Doon’s production manager, Nicole Walsh, will continue to oversee wine production. Grahm remains owner of Popelouchum, a vineyard in San Juan Bautista, where he is attempting to breed new grape varieties suited to California’s soils and climate.

While Grahm tried to succeed with Bonny Doon in both traditional distribution and direct-to-consumer sales, he said those two paths are increasingly difficult to navigate, because they value opposite attributes.

“There has been a greater consolidation of the wholesale channel, with mid-sized fine wine distributors – those ideally suited to sell Bonny Doon wines – becoming an endangered species vulnerable to either acquisition or non-viability,” Grahm explained to me in an email after the sale was announced. His “eclectic experimentation” was “anathema” to wholesalers, who favor “ubiquity, simplicity, availability,” he said.

WarRoom Ventures was founded in 2018 to “focus on great value wines with branding that evokes emotion,” company president Andrew Nelson said in the statement announcing the partnership with Bonny Doon. The company’s website features three brands: Lapis Luna and Wildlife Wine, both with vibrantly colored labels, and a rosé wine seltzer called Bubble Butt.

WarRoom “has taken the wise course of focusing on wholesale” to grow the Bonny Doon brand, Grahm said. That will come at a price. The new focus will have only four wines: Le Cigare Volant and Le Cigare Blanc, a vermentino-based white, the popular Vin Gris de Cigare, and another white from the picpoul grape. Familiar labels like Old Telegram, Clos de Gilroy and Cardinal Zin will no longer be produced.

That sounds a bit like the strategy that made Big House wines a success before Grahm turned away from it, as well as a line from the opening of “The Vinferno,” as his narrator begins the descent into the nine circles of vinous hell.

“The vast portfolio of labels, brands, had once seemed all to the good . . . ”

– – –

The world of wine lost two French giants in January. Georges Duboeuf, the “king of Beaujolais,” died Jan. 4 at age 86. Duboeuf was a marketing genius who turned Beaujolais Nouveau, the barely fermented wine of the recent harvest, into a global party each November.

While Duboeuf popularized Beaujolais, Michel Lafarge created sublime burgundies that entranced many connoisseurs. Lafarge died Jan. 15 at age 91. He was a fifth-generation vigneron, based in Volnay, with small vineyards in other villages of the Cote de Beaune.

I get it. There’s a lot of paranoia and misinformation, including whether dish soap will ruin it (nope) and what type of fat to use to create the protective layer. Here are some tips to help you figure it all out:

– What it is. Seasoning is what happens when fats are heated to a certain point that causes them to reorganize into something resembling a plastic coating and bond to the metal. That coating is smooth and slick, allowing for foods to easily release from the pan. Cast iron is “the original nonstick cookware,” says Mark Kelly, the public relations manager at Lodge, the brand synonymous with cast-iron cookware.

Often, the fats come from oils, although depending on what you use, anything from bacon fat to shortening can contribute to seasoning. I like this explanation from cookbook author Anne Byrn, from her recently released “Skillet Love”: “Oil is the best friend to the skillet. It keeps it protected, impervious to any moisture that might cause it to rust. Think of oil on a skillet like moisturizer on your skin. . . . Heat plus oil builds the patina and makes your skillet naturally nonstick.”

Most of the cast iron you buy comes preseasoned. That means you can start cooking in it right away.

To see whether your pan is well-seasoned, Cook’s Illustrated recommends this test: Heat 1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat in a skillet for 3 minutes and then fry an egg. If there’s no major sticking, your seasoning is good.

– It improves with age. If you’re afraid of cooking in cast iron because you don’t want to mess up the seasoning, that’s the exact wrong approach. The more you cook in cast iron, the more seasoning will build up. It takes time, though. “It’s a natural process,” Kelly says. “You need to be patient.”

If you’re wondering whether vintage or newer-produced cast iron is better in terms of seasoning, it depends. Older pieces that have been used a lot and well cared for will have a superb established seasoning. But those heirloom skillets (and also some newer boutique brands) tend to be smoother than Lodge’s current more pebbly-surfaced cast iron. According to Byrn, “Lodge attests that the seasoning on the pan has a better chance to get into the crevices and form its own barrier against water if the surface isn’t smooth as glass.” That’s not to say you can’t season a smoother skillet, but you should be aware of the potential differences if it takes longer.

– Maintain it. To maintain the seasoning, oil the pan after each use, returning it to the burner over medium-low heat after cleaning (see below) and then rubbing it down with oil and paper towels until it’s smooth and shiny with no visible residue. Kelly says you can do your coat of maintenance oil in a 200-degree oven for 15 to 20 minutes, too. As for what type of oil to use, Byrn recommends the least saturated options, including canola, corn, soybean, sunflower and flaxseed. Cook’s Illustrated’s top pick is flaxseed, because it is faster at creating a more durable seasoning. Sunflower and soybean oil (Lodge uses soybean on its cookware) are good, affordable options. If you prefer to use lard, Burn cautions to wipe off any excess on the surface so it doesn’t go rancid in your cabinet.

Even if you’re short on time and can’t reheat the pan, at the very least wipe on a thin layer of oil before you put the pan away, buffing it until no greasy spots remain.

– Don’t be scared of ruining it. “A happy skillet is sitting at the back of the stove right now, cared for, talked about, needed,” Byrn writes. “But don’t get so obsessive about this process that you are fearful of using your skillet. There is a reason that iron skillets have survived the centuries. They withstand a little abuse but really appreciate being coddled, too.”

Some mild dish soap will not remove seasoning when cleaning. It’s also unlikely to be scratched or chipped off by metal utensils, since, as we’ve established, it’s chemically bonded to the cast iron. Moreover, contrary to what you may have been told, a well-seasoned pan can stand up to acidic foods such as tomato sauce, to a certain extent. To protect the seasoning and prevent metallic flavors in your food, Cook’s Illustrated recommends limiting the cook time for acidic foods to 30 minutes and then removing the food immediately. Serious Eats chief culinary adviser J. Kenji López-Alt also suggests staying away from cooking liquid-based dishes in cast iron until the seasoning is well-established.

– But if you do damage it, all is not lost. As Kelly likes to say, “Leave no cast iron behind.” If your pieces have been damaged or neglected, or you salvage some that have been roughed up, “you can always resurrect them.” There are a variety of strategies for stripping and reseasoning cast iron. Choose what works best for you. When it comes to addressing small patches of rust, Kelly recommends using steel wool to rub it down before proceeding with reseasoning. Lodge’s preferred method is to rub the seasoning oil or melted vegetable shortening all over the pan and let it bake on the middle rack of the oven at 350 degrees for an hour, with a sheet of aluminum foil underneath to catch any drips. Repeat as necessary until the seasoning is where you want it to be. For her part, Byrn cranks the oven to 500 degrees, coats the skillet with a tablespoon of oil, wipes off the excess and bakes it upside down for an hour over foil.

If you have a truly abused skillet, you’ll need to start from scratch by stripping the seasoning and going through multiple rounds of restoring it. Again, strategies vary on how to strip seasoning, including using the self-cleaning feature of your oven. Cook’s Illustrated, though, prefers using a spray-on oven cleaner. For less intense situations, check out Lodge’s troubleshooting guide.

Led and conducted by Adrie Braat, Biggles Big Band consists of four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, guitar, piano, acoustic bass, drums and vocalist Marcel Fokker.

An extra string quartet consisting of two violins, viola and cello adds a sensational musical experience. Featured tunes from the orchestra’s amazing musical repertoire include some popular classics of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and jazz singers like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin – all recreated with their well-known contemporary styles.

The romantic evening will be accompanied by an international buffet spread featuring some of the world’s favourite dishes and delicious specialties.

Look forward to an array of seafood items; either on ice and on the grill, such as imported oyster, New Zealand mussel, rock lobster, as well as tiger prawn and many more, or enjoy a carving station, where a full rack of perfectly baked prime beef is served with some of your favourite sauces and condiments.

Butter-grilled scallops on the shell, scrumptious seafood linguine, and classic Steak Diane are among the highlights prepared à la minute by the culinary team while delicious Asian and Western specialties and other international dishes are also available to round off your meal.

Sweet treats include an assortment of special Valentine’s Day desserts like strawberry cheesecake, mini-raspberry financiers, white chocolate and berry cake and chocolate éclair.

It is located in a leafy residential enclave a few minutes’ walk from the historical Watt Gate Temple, Ping River and boutique shopping area. The hotel is a member of the prestigious Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH).

Enjoy a romantic gastronomic journey to celebrate Valentine’s Day as you wine and dine your significant other. The hotel promises an “exquisite newly launched Michelin Guide six-course tasting plate menu” created by the hotel’s executive chef Mam.

Couples can dine at either of the hotel’s two restaurants, or have an intimate table for two set up beside the pool, on the lawn in the tropically landscaped grounds, in the Old Teak House, or on the balcony in the privacy of their suite. Two glasses of special Valentine’s Day cocktail are included with the meal and guests can select additional wine or champagne to accompany their meal at an additional cost. For an added sense of dramatic flair and romance, you can have your champagne sabered by the sword at your table.

Your romantic evening begins with the chef’s innovative appetizer “’Blowtorched Tiger Prawns and Salmon’ Heart” of baby cos lettuce, semi-dried tomatoes with spicy Thai chilli vinaigrette. This is followed by “Broccoli and Green Curry Veloute” in coconut milk topped with deep-fried basil and crispy shallots, or “Mushroom Soup with Truffle Oil” with local shitake and button mushrooms.

Next is a “Rocket Salad”, lightly tossed with olive oil, apple, cucumber ribbon and orange segments. Continue with a delicious pasta of “Truffle Capellini” — capellini in truffle cream sauce and crispy Parma ham.

For mains there are three choices: roasted chicken breast with assorted vegetables, sweet pont neuf potatoes and jus; roasted veal angus, pan-roasted with baby vegetables, whipped potatoes and port wine beef jus; or pan seared tuna loin with lemon-whipped potatoes and baby carrots served with warm tomato-caper-basil vinaigrette.

Finally, melt your loved one’s heart with K Mam’s “Heavenly Peach Pie”, served with vanilla ice-cream. Throughout the evening, for those dining in the Old Teak House and grounds, the resident pianist and guest violinist will serenade you with romantic melodies.

The Valentine’s Day package from February 14-16 for two includes private round-trip limousine airport transfers; two nights in a luxurious Rajah Brook Suite; welcome fruit basket; daily breakfast; six-course Michelin Guide tasting menu plus two glasses of special cocktail.

The package is priced at Bt31,574++. Additional nights are available at best available rates.

For visiting diners and local residents, Valentine’s Day dinner is available on February 14, 15 and 16 and is priced as follows.

➤ Bt3,900++ per couple including two glasses of Valentine’s Day Cocktail

➤ Bt6,900++ net per couple including a bottle of champagne

➤ Bt12,000++ net per couple including special private set up, a bottle of champagne and transfers from the city.