KYO ROLL EN, the popular chain of Bangkok dessert cafes known for their hand-rolled cakes made from authentic Kyoto recipes, is introducing an all-day-dining concept with additional menus for savoury light and healthy meals.

The “Kyo Cafe and Meal” concept has so far gone into action at two of the chain’s 31 outlets – at J Avenue on Soi Thonglor and at Central Department Store on Rama IX Road. They’ve been renamed as such, though the Kyo Roll En brand remains clear enough.

The typical Kyo Roll En interior design – subdued lighting in a setting that mimics its signature bamboo charcoal roll – is replaced at these eateries with a minimalist Japanese aesthetic, all clean, pale-wood furnishings and seats upholstered in indigo material.

There are two Bangkok eateries called Kyo Cafe and Meal, this one at J Avenue on Soi Thonglor

The J Avenue branch next to Villa Market boasts a glass facade, infusing the restaurant with natural light that freshens up the mood. The glass-topped tables bear display cases containing miniature Zen gardens. About 40 people can comfortably share the 70 square metres.

“In the competitive confectionery business today, sweet treats alone can’t draw in customers all day,” says owner Litti Kewkacha, who also runs the Sfree and Parferio cafes.

“With the new concept, customers can still enjoy the full range of Kyo Roll En desserts and drinks and now also 30 new savoury dishes that are light, quick and healthy.”

The chain’s name includes “Kyo” as a nod to Kyoto, the former capital of Japan that’s home to its cuisine inspiration.

“We go back to the roots of Kyoto cuisine, which typically features the flavour of dashi, the clear soup stock made from kombu [dried kelp] and katsuobushi [dried, smoked bonito],” says Litti. “These dry ingredients are rich in naturally occurring glutamates and provide a natural savoury umami flavour – the ‘fifth taste’ after salty, sweet, sour and bitter.

“Making a good dashi is difficult and complicated. Our dashi spends six hours boiling and is used in every dish in varying amounts.”

Salmon Chazuke

Chazuke is a simple dish traditionally made by pouring green tea and dashi over cooked rice, along with common toppings like pickles, seaweed, mentaiko (cod roe) and salted fish. With Kyo Cafe & Meal, a must-try dish is Salmon Chazuke (Bt159), a bowl of steamed rice topped with a lightly grilled salmon fillet and salmon roe and a small teapot of dashi that’s mild yet distinctive in flavour.

For an extra Bt30 you can get a pot of matcha-flavoured dashi that’s slightly bitter compared to the dashi itself, and refills are available too. It goes well with side dishes like toasted nori (seaweed), arare (rice cracker), fresh wasabi, chopped negi (long onion) and homemade takana (pickled mustard leaves).

In addition to salmon, chazuke can be ordered with braised chicken and konjac (Bt125),unagi (freshwater eel) and shredded Japanese omelette (Bt189), and mentaiko (cod roe) and maitake mushroom (Bt139).

Signature Somen Soup

Two noodles – the very thin, white somen made with wheat flour and not-so-thin, matcha-flavoured cha-soba made from buckwheat flour – can be had hot or cold.

Marked “Lite” in the menu, Signature Somen (Bt135) is noodle soup capped with braised, lean chicken chashu, wakame seaweed, maitake mushroom and fishcake.

“The idea is to sate the appetite but not get too full so that after the light meal, you still have room for dessert,” says Litti.

The cold-noodle choices are somen (Bt125), cha-soba (Bt145) and a combination of the two (Bt145) to dip in dashi-shoyu sauce.

Cold Cha-soba and Somen with dashi-shoyu sauce

Another cold dish is Maze-Somen (Bt145), which has somen noodles, an onsen egg, chicken chashu, mentaiko roe, takata pickles, shredded omelette, zucchini, wakameseaweed and cherry tomato. The dressing is mild dashi-shoyu sauce.

Maze-Somen 

Whether your noodles are hot or cold, pay an extra Bt89 for a refreshing soda infused with yuzu, grape or strawberry hibiscus. For an extra Bt75, you get to choose dessert from among a slice of roll cake or ice cream and pudding, and for Bt150, a soda-dessert combo.

Oden Pot

You might want to also try oden, a traditional Japanese winter comfort food that’s a stew of tofu and fishcake in dashi broth. Other optional ingredients are a seafood ball, boiled egg, mochi tofu, daikon, a konjac chunk or konjac noodles, eringi mushroom and seaweed. A solo diner could get two ingredients for Bt50, while a group can get eight choices for Bt180.

Kyo Spaghetti

Then there are six choices in pastas, each in a dashi sauce. Kyoto is well known for excellent matcha, and that’s what flavours Kyo Spaghetti (Bt165), along with grilled salmon and asparagus in a light, mildly creamy carbonara sauce.

Ebi-Miso Spaghetti

Ebi-Miso Spaghetti (Bt185) has shrimps and mushrooms in a slightly spicy shrimp-roe cream sauce and Triple Roe Spaghetti (Bt195) with dashi cream sauce and eggs of cod, salmon and shrimp.

Melon and Yuzu Granita

Available only here are two palate-cleansing desserts – Melon and Yuzu Granita (each Bt89).

DASHI TO DELIGHT

Kyo Cafe and Meal at J Avenue on Thonglor Soi 15 in Bangkok is open daily from 10 to 10.

Call (092) 265 9100 or visit http://www.KyoRollEn.com.

Not only has chef Riccardo Catarsi created a menu filled with fragrant, roasted coffee flavours, the dinner will also be accompanied by coffee cocktails that highlight Kafa’s distinctive characteristics.

Kafa gets its name from the beans’ origin –a small forest region deep in Ethiopia. The 100-per-cent Arabica coffee’s exceptional quality has a direct relationship with the area’s wonderful soil and climate, the artisan cultivation technique and the way the beans are hand picked one by one. This production method, which stresses the connection with the surrounding landscape, means the beans are only available in small quantities and this makes them all the more precious.

Inspired by Kafa’s unique tasting notes, Catarsi harmoniously marries the coffee with the freshest produce in his menu. After sampling the welcome cocktail Kafa facon sangria, diners will be presented with scampi, roasted smoked leek cream, bell pepper brunoise and Kafa coffee dust. The dish is a work of balance, with just the right amount of the powdered coffee opening up an extra dimension to the delicate flavours of the scampi and vegetables. It’s followed by another drink, Coffeetail No 10 with Bombay Gin, a rounded concoction to enliven the taste buds.

The tasting dinner continues with risotto with castelmagno and mascapone cheese, porcini mushroom and coffee sweet onion cream. The coffee adds a novel element to this otherwise classic pairing, its robust notes an appropriate complement to the porcini. It will be served with the Coffeetail Spritz infused by citrus peel and orange aperitif.

The coffee’s strong fragrance also enriches another dish, lamb loin with cherries, almonds and coffee polenta. The dessert is composed of coffee macarons, chocolate rum mousse, lemon sponge; white coffee ice cream and sugar cane crumble, dazzling diners with its complex layering. Chef Catarsi names it dolce ponce after the iconic drink from his hometown Livorno, made with a part of rum and a part of coffee, sugar and lemon peel.

The tasting dinner will be available at HK$1,080. While not publicly on sale, Kafa coffee is now served exclusively at Nicholini’s and Conrad Hong Kong. Guests who opt for Nicholini’s tasting dinner during the promotion period can also take home a coffee cup and saucer by Lavazza.

Nicholini’s is at Conrad Hong Kong and online reservations can be made at http://www.ConradDining.com.

With limited seats, Sushi Saeki, Osaka is always fully booked a year ahead by sushi lovers eager to experience the premium qualities of seasonal ingredients.

Special accommodation packages are available for gourmets wanting to experience Saeki’s Omakase course.

The meal alone starts at Bt12,000-plus for two while the two-night packages cost from Bt42,000 to Bt58,000 plus special gifts.

Make a booking by emailing chill@sripanwa.com or call (076) 371000.

Operated by the franchisee R&R Restaurant Group, the new Carl’s Jr restaurant introduces the taste of California to a young energetic population of consumers. Now, more Thais will have the chance to experience a classic American menu of 100-per-cent pure beef char-grilled burgers, a Western Bacon Cheeseburger as well as Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders, crispy Hand-Breaded Chicken Drumsticks and Wings and Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes.

“We are thrilled to expand Carl’s Jr into the Sukhumvit district,” said Brad Sommer, general manager –Asia, CKE Restaurants.

“Thailand’s large, youthful population and aspirational middle class are increasingly seeking western brands that offer superior taste, quality and convenience,” added Ivor Pratap, group director of R&R Restaurants Group. “With its freshly prepared, flavourful menu items, Carl’s Jr. is well positioned to meet the needs of today’s discerning Thai consumers.”

In addition to the Soi Sukhumvit 22 opening, Carl’s Jr. Thailand will open two more restaurants in Bangkok this year.

Keep updated at Facebook.com/CarlsJr.Thailand

The original concept the taqueria, a casual Mexican bar/restaurant, but here it diverges. CaliMex serves up a cool Californian vibe combining American-style Mexican food in an easygoing laidback atmosphere. The founders came up with the idea on a roadtrip from North America to Mexico.

“We loved the staple Mexican dishes – tacos, nachos, quesadillas and burritos but were totally sold on the Californian fresh, light and healthy take on Mexican cuisine,” says CaliMex founder Jeffrey Moss. “The Californian food vibe added a tasty simplicity with an emphasis on quality farm produce. On the road, we decided to create the ultimate fastfood luxury experience and the CaliMex Bar & Grill idea was born.”

CaliMex’s secrets to success are the carefully handpicked ingredients which are flown in daily; fresh from global destinations, the constantly updated mouthwatering specials from the state of the art CaliMex Food Lab, the trademark CaliMex decor of quality wooden and copper fittings, and the large shared booth-seating with custom-made tables from Canada incorporating the CaliMex signature feature of built in beer taps serving ice cold beer.

The brand already has 20 locations in Hong Kong and in Bangkok, the founders saw a potentially lucrative market.

“Bangkok is the ideal place for strategically placed CaliMex Bar & Grill venues. Considering the ever increasing tourist clientele plus local and expat residents who are always on the lookout for innovative, fresh new dining and bar hotspots, we tick all the boxes,” adds Mike Warde, country manager of CaliMex Thailand.

The restaurant will be serving all the CaliMex favourites: choose your filling Burritos, Saladas, Quesadillas, Enchiladas, Nachos and Homemade Guacomole plus vegetarian options like the Venice Beach Vegan. A mouthwatering selection of Burgers, Off the Grill Specialities: Ribeye steaks, Fish & Chips, Grilled Atlantic Salmon and Chicken Parmigiana make choices difficult. All dishes have spice levels: super hot, hot, medium and mild. It can accommodate about 100 customers.

Three more locations are expected to open later on Silom, Sukhumvit Soi 11, and Soi Thonglor.

“We anticipate at least 20 CaliMex outlets in Thailand within three years, the same growth pattern as Hong Kong”, says Warde.

 This seasonal tasting menu, comprising of six courses, blends authentic, home-cooked style dishes with some innovative Mediterranean twists that showcase the chef’s creative flair.

The six-course menu includes risotto-style creamy bomba rice with Pyrenees wild mushrooms, pan-fried wild turbot served with seasonal porcini and Joselito broth, as well as Rubia Gallega rib-eye steak imported straight from Spain, served with potato mille-feuille, piquillo pepper, black garlic and garlic puree.

Dessert takes the form of Basque country traditional cheesecake with Canary Islands fig jam.

Uno Mas’s seasonal tasting menu is priced at Bt1,950-plus with an additional wine pairing to go with each course costing Bt1,290-plus on top.

Book your table at (02) 100 6255 or email: diningcgcw@chr.co.th.

The promotion runs until July 31 for selected restaurants, including Bonchon Chicken, The Terrace Restaurant, The Coffee Club and many more.

If the idea of eating gravy noodles from the renowned Chakki, hot and spicy Somtum from Zabb One or Pad Thai from Pad Thai Fai Talu on your own couch attracts you, you can order street food menus with a minimum value of Bt200 to get free delivery.

On top of the free delivery, customers of foodpanda app and website are entitled to various deals including free items and discounts.

“Foodpanda is now stepping towards its sixth year as one of the top food delivery companies in Thailand. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all customer and business partners who have supported us along the way. We would particularly like to thank our customers for the loyalty they have to our service by delivering food to their doorstep without any delivery fee”, says foodpanda Thailand’s Managing Director, Alexander Felde.

“Our goal is to keep improving and expanding our service across Thailand,” he adds. The offers are valid across Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket.

Participating restaurants will be labelled with a “Free Delivery” pink tag in the app and on the foodpanda website at http://www.foodpanda.co.th/.

THE RICH heritage and exquisite silk styling of Jim Thompson are now reflected in the delicate Thai cuisine of its new fine-dining restaurant, Spirit.

Located on quiet and shady Soi Som Khit in downtown Bangkok, the restaurant exudes harmony with its lush green garden, covered patio and glass-wrapped indoor dining areas. There are welcome echoes of the splendid architecture at Jim Thompson House, similarly set in a tropical garden.

Spirit, a new restaurant by Jim Thompson, boasts a warm ambience, with glass panels overlooking a lush green garden.

Boiffils Studio – which conceived the revamped Emporium and Siam Paragon – has fashioned the restaurant from two connected mid-century houses, retaining existing big trees. The place is further warmed by wooden floors, custom-made furnishings, wall coverings and pivoting fabric panels in the nostalgic sepia tones of Jim Thompson prints that evoke New York’s Central Park.

The outdoor bar and covered terrace up front area are perfect for an aperitif or digestif with their views of the surrounding vegetation. Adjacent is a large windowed kitchen where the chefs can be observed at their labours. The restaurant can accommodate 72 guests inside and 37 outdoors.

The menu created by Montri Virojnvechapant is billed as contemporary Thai cuisine and about 25 per cent of the dishes are complemented by flourishes of Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Peranakan Chinese, reflecting the cultural adventurism of the original Jim Thompson, the American silk magnate who began all of this.

Montri learned how to make classic Thai dishes from Mom Pattama Chakrapan Na Ayutthaya, who prepared meals at Sukhothai Palace for Queen Rambai Barni, Queen Consort to King Rama VII.

“Though we maintain the authenticity with complex layers of taste, we’ve deconstructed the dishes to give them modern flair,” says Montri.

The curry pastes are pounded in-house with a mortar and pestle and the coconut cream is made fresh every day.

Many chemical-free ingredients come straight from the Jim Thompson Farm in Pak Thong Chai, Nakhon Ratchasima, including the rice grown and milled there.

“The farm can now supply jasmine and sticky rice, free-range duck eggs, snakehead fish and catfish, coconuts and tamarind paste,” says Montri, who credits his skills in modern Thai cuisine to his master, ML Tor Kridakorn. “We’re planting sugarcane, coconuts and water lilies there and digging more fish ponds. A 1,000-rai area is being developed as an organic farm.”

The dishes at Spirit can be ordered a-la-carte and in a tasting menu – five courses for dinner for Bt1,500 or Bt2,000, and four for lunch for Bt800.

Amuse bouche

Montri offers me samples from the three tasting menus, starting with an amuse bouche of four morsels inspired by classic dishes from the four regions of Thailand.

Perched in a spoon is a boiled quail egg atop pounded, grilled eggplant with garlic, shallot and chilli. Corn som tum is given a contemporary twist with a dollop of spicy jelly stuffed with corn. A bite-sized, deep-fried coconut prawn, a droplet-shaped chicken cream eclair, and a southern-style, deep-fried fishcake with herbs, turmeric and shaved coconut round out the first offering of appetisers.

Appetisers

Four more titbits arrive. There’s miang kham, the traditional herbal snack here refined with a miang sauce of sugarcane and tamarind sharing a mesh ball with roasted cashew nuts, roasted julienne coconut, ginger, onion, chilli and a cube of lemon. All of this sits on a chaplu leaf.

Ray rai nah poo is bites of steamed rice-flour angel hair pasta topped with coconut crab mousse and infused with kaffir-lime juice. Goong chak pia is a toffee-shaped, deep-fried shrimp with plum sauce. And gaeng kra dang tom yum pla ga pong is a spicy terrine of snapper.

Luang Prabang Salad 

The refreshing Luang Prabang Salad (Bt240 on its own) is an adaptation of a famed dish of that Lao town. In the original version, lettuce, cucumber, tomato, watercress, mint, coriander and spring onion are topped with chopped peanuts, boiled egg, crispy shallots and creamy dressing. Thinly sliced cucumber plays a lead role at Spirit, as do cherry tomatoes, tomato wedges, Chinese celery, sliced spring onions, roasted cashew nuts, dried shrimp, steamed chicken and boiled quail eggs.

Gaeng liang fuk thong kati sod 

For soup, I opt for gaeng liang fuk thong kati sod (Bt250). Gaeng liang is traditionally a spicy mixed-vegetable soup with shrimp paste and peppercorns, but here we find pumpkin cream soup with coconut cream foam. Fragrant lemon basil still delights the nose. Alongside are thin, crisp pumpkin crackers.

Gaeng om nuea 

Another appealing soup is northeastern-style gaeng om nuea, which is normally made with chicken or pork and bears the distinctive scent of dill. At Spirit, Montri double-boils beef for a consomme and adds diced oxtail and dill, covering the dish with crispy puff pastry (Bt320).

Yum tua pu goong yang 

My main course is yum tua pu goong yang, spicy wing-bean salad with grilled prawn (Bt580). Here the beans aren’t chopped into small pieces as usual but cut into oblongs like French fries and steamed. Large, grilled tiger prawns are placed on top and the mix is dressed with slightly spicy nam yum and another boiled quail egg. Crunchy with roasted coconut, peanuts, shallots and garlic, the salad arrives with steamed rice, half dyed yellow with saffron and the rest green with pandan leaf.

“We don’t cook the rice from the farm in an electric cooker but a steamer,” says Montri. “Steaming is a slow process and produces fluffier, more tender rice.”

Pa naeng si klong nuea 

Another Thai classic, pa naeng nuea – beef in a curry of ground peanuts and coconut cream – is made here with Australian short ribs, creamy peanut red curry sauce and steamed pandan rice (Bt430).

Gaeng keaw wan si klong gae

Gaeng kaew wan (green curry, Bt470) is reinterpreted with a New Zealand lamb chop in curry dressing with mashed coconut. On the side are the meat of a young coconut and pickled green papaya carved into floral shapes.

Surprise of Lotus for dessert

For dessert, Surprise of Lotus is remarkable. Sharing the plate are a cake of steamed lotus stems atop julienne coconut meat, lotus-stem meringue tart, and coconut ice cream made with lotus root and stem.

Petit fours

The culinary adventure ends with petit fours, but the serving is five morsels. You get the baked cake kanom farang kudee jeen, Thai-Muslim butter cake kanom badin, Thai-style shortbread keep lum duan, the crown-like thong ek, and kanom hun tra (steamed mung beans wrapped with egg nut).

The food is unwaveringly pleasing to both palate and eye. Food stylist Ekarin Yusuksomboon came up with the lovely plating design.

The “Shadows” pattern on the dinnerware by Patra Porcelain depicts shadows of plants growing at Jim Thompson House, based on the design by designer Paul Heredia.

APPEALING, SURPRISING

Spirit is on Bangkok’s Soi Som Khit, right next door to Central Chidlom.

It’s open daily for lunch (noon to 3) and dinner (6 to 11).

Make reservations at (02) 017 7268-9 or http://www.SpiritJimThompson.com.

Its Hanuman Bar has unveiled the Lady Kempinski Afternoon Tea inspired by the renowned English tradition. It offers a fantastic selection of sweet and savoury delicacies.

Highlights include Thai mango chocolate tart, forest honey lavender eclair, soft lemon chiffon cake and the quintessential freshly baked scones (plain and with raisins) served with Devonshire clotted cream, passionfruit curd and raspberry jam.

The afternoon tea set also features salmon tartar on pumpernickel bread with sour cream and salmon roe, and a flaked spinach turnover. There is an extensive choice of Ronnefeldt tea blends and freshly brewed Lavazza coffee.

The Lady Kempinski Afternoon Tea costing Bt7500-plus is presented daily from 2 to 5pm. Book your table at (02) 162 9000 or hanuman.siambangkok@kempinski.com.

The Michelin one-star Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin has the “Mini-Summer Journey”, borrowing from the Journey set dinner menu that has proved to be exceedingly popular at the restaurant.

“We want our lunch guests to enjoy a similar experience, but we also realise they may have limited time to enjoy our tempting eight-course menu. That’s why I have prepared a shortened version,” says head chef Chayawee Sutcharitchan.

The Mini-Summer Journey includes fascinating interpretations of Thai street food (Chiang Mai sausage and chicken satay with peanut ice cream), followed by four courses and concluding with petits four.

The four-course set menu includes roasted foie gras with mushroom ravioli, five-spices pork ravioli and mushroom bouillon; Maine lobster salad and frozen red curry, slow-cooked beef rib with oyster sauce, and the all-time favourite mango with sticky rice.

New summer a-la-carte menu choices include spicy salad with pomelo, cucumber, lemongrass, spring onion with raw Hokkaido scallop; butter-poached king crab with celery, apple and ginger; and pistachio souffle served with pandan ice cream and pandan noodles.

It costs Bt1,850-plus. Call (02) 162 9000 or email srabua.siambangkok@kempinski.com.

The restaurant serves comfort food that Goldstein has sampled in his 38 years of travels around the world as a chef. The menu encompasses Spanish, Italian, Mexican and Japanese favourites, and even one or two Thaiinspired dishes.

“The idea is to make you feel relaxed and welcome,” he says.

Pledging high quality and standards, he insists on perfection and is involved with every aspect of the business, from the conception of the idea to the menu design and staff selection and training.

Goldstein has also selfpublished two cookbooks, “Harlan’s Undressed Dinner Collection” and “The Gold Collection by Harlan Goldstein”.

After successfully opening three restaurants on Hong Kong’s Lyndhurst Terrace – EeDaLe, Mamasita’s Cantina and My Thai Thai – Goldstein decided last year to open his first in Thailand.

His story began in the kitchen of his uncle’s New York City restaurant. At age 14, his career kicked off with a training placement in a Florida kitchen, and soon after he shipped off for a formal apprenticeship at the prestigious Montreaux Palace Hotel in Switzerland.

There, he worked alongside 80 Frenchspeaking chefs and returned to several prestigious roles back in the United States.

At 28 he was appointed executive chef at ShangriLa’s China World Hotel in Beijing, beginning his culinary foray into Asia, which also included a fruitful two years in Bangkok to study Thai cuisine.

After bringing fine dining to Hong Kong’s Aberdeen Marina Club, he established the club’s reputation among tycoons and prominent entrepreneurs. The club renamed its main restaurant Harlan’s.

Goldstein’s dream of opening his own restaurant was realised when, in 2004, he opened Harlan’s at IFC. The restaurant gained rapid renown and quickly paved the way for the opening of three more offvenue concepts at IFC: H One, The Box and G Bar.

Find out more at http://www.ComfortByHarlan.com.