GROUND-BREAKING Spanish chef Ferran Adria said Wednesday he planned to open a food laboratory in what used to be his legendary former restaurant El Bulli which he closed in 2011.

The lab, a centre for new gastronomic inventions dubbed el Bulli 1846, will open its doors between June and October 2019, he announced.

“For seven years we have done many things to prepare this moment, and now it will be born,” added Adria, considered one of the world’s best chefs.

Adria is one of the pioneers of a culinary art form known as “molecular gastronomy” that uses science to invent new techniques that transform traditional dishes into fun culinary adventures.

His El Bulli restaurant, on the shores of Catalonia’s Costa Brava, served novelties such as gazpacho popsicles and melon caviar.

It was booked months in advance and was ranked the world’s best five times by Restaurant magazine.

When Adria served his last meal at the restaurant in July 2011, he announced he would re-open it three years later as a foundation for culinary experimentation.

“El Bulli has become a monster that had to be tamed and transformed,” he told reporters at the time.

But the renovation works were blocked due to environmental concerns since the former restaurant is located in the Cap de Creus nature park.

Adria then scaled down the project and last week he received permission from municipal authorities to continue with the renovation of the building.

The hotel’s pastry chefs will create sweet and savoury treats, referencing the East-meets-West aesthetics and colours of the iconic Qeelin collections. These delights are served on a specially designed stand, in the signature gourd-shape of Qeelin’s Wulu collection, together with TWG tea or coffee.

The pastry items play with three main colours to represent the jewellery brand. Black and red are the brand’s signature colours while gold represents the wealth in Asian culture.

Representing the Bo Bo collection, the black shade is featured in a chocolate panda atop charcoal biscuit, chocolate ginger cremeux and chocolate mousse. The red scheme is a raspberry glazed jewel with gianduja cream to represent the Wulu collection pattern. The gold colour is a nod to the Chinese Year of the Dog and inspired by the Wang Wang collection, with mandarin-flavour cake, lightly laced with coffee, gold covered chocolate and a logo-emblazoned macaron.

The tea set also includes cream tea scones, other sweet delights and a selection of savouries, such as a Boston lobster and tom yum mayo soft roll; a duck liver mousse profiterole with coconut; Norwegian salmon gravlax, honey mustard and red onion, on rye bread; egg mayonnaise, black truffle paste and caviar; and a salami and mustard butter pretzel roll.

At Bt1,800-plus per set for two people, each Qeelin Afternoon Tea set includes a complimentary Qeelin gift certificate, which is redeemable at the Sette Peccati boutique, on the M Floor of Siam Paragon, available while stocks last.

It’s available daily from June 1 to July 31, from 2 to 5pm. Check it out by calling (02) 207 7777, or email fb.bangkok@stregis.com.

Part of The House on Sathorn, The Upstairs has an opulent grandeur with intricate ornaments and details offering a picturesque juxtaposition to bustling Bangkok. The Upstairs even has three different rooms with different identities, namely the Emerald Room, Ruby Room, and Secret Room.

Built in 1889 during the reign of King Rama V, The House’s neo-classical structure originally housed wealthy businessman Luang Sathorn Rajayutka, who created Sathorn Canal. The home was later was passed down to his descendants. In the early 1920s, the site was converted into the majestic Hotel Royal. Later, from 1948 to 1999, the building served as the Russian Embassy.

Recognising the immense historic value of the house, the development team worked closely with Thailand’s Fine Arts Department to carefully restore the home to its former glory, as part of the conversion to The House on Sathorn. Major renovations were conducted on the four buildings and large courtyard, keeping the original main structure intact. Meanwhile, inside, the original colour palette, intricate wooden staircases and even the Sathorn Rajayutka family’s personalised fresco motifs have all been meticulously restored by the Fine Arts Department.

The high tea at the Upstairs begins with a refreshing sorbet of the day, followed by traditional scones with home-made marmalade, jam and Devonshire clotted cream. Pastries include steamed pumpkin custard, candy bale fruit chiffon cake, pandan coconut mango jelly cake and 64-per-cent Valrhona chocolate cake.

Also on the menu are Macau egg tart, mango tartlet with vanilla cream, blueberry cheesecake, Thai orchid tea praline and traditional Thai sweet coconut pudding wrapped in banana leaf.

Savoury treats are Prosciutto-Cheese Mini Bun, Scottish Smoked Salmon Croissants, Spinach-Ricotta Quiche Lorraine and Crab-Cucumber Finger Sandwiches.

The afternoon repast is complemented by fine TWG teas. A tea master from TWG will also on hand to share his tea experience.

The high tea will be served every last Saturday of the month (May 26 and June 30), from 2.30pm to 5.30pm. Each set is priced at Bt1,499-plus including a selection of TWG teas.

Find out more at (02) 344 4025 or email thehouseonsathorn@whotels.com

The first Gozen platter begins with a signature dish of simmered conger eel and shrimp with mushroom and sesame cream sauce and follows with a sardine soup and selected sashimi. The second platter is a dish of grilled sea bass garnished with sweet potato and pickled turnip.

Other highlights include simmered rice with crabmeat served with miso soup and a dessert of oba leaf blanc-manger with egg yolk sauce.

The multi-course Early Summer Kaiseki dinner has a seafood theme and serves grilled eggplant and sake-steamed scallops with shrimp, mushrooms, and consomme jelly, grilled Spanish mackerel with tomato miso sauce, and vermicelli noodles with conger eel.

There is also a selection of sashimi with tuna, yellowtail, sweet shrimp, and sardine and delicious tempura made with snow crab, shrimp, pike eel, and vegetables. The Gozen lunch costs Bt1,300 and Kaisen dinner are Bt4,500.

Book a table at (02) 687 9000 or email yamazato@okurabangkok.com.

FOOD SHARING has always been a part of Thai culture and for an extended family, asamrub or a set of shared dishes is the perfect way to enjoy different flavours that complement each other.

The new Thai fine-dining restaurant R.Haan – the name means food in Thai – celebrates the essence of delicate Thai cuisine and culture and stirs in contemporary flair and creative presentation in degustation menu style.

Co-owned by celebrated chef Chumpol Jangprai and gourmet Piti Bhirombhakdi, an heir to the Singha Cooperation, R.Haan in Bangkok’s Thonglor Soi 9 offers a choice of threesamrub, each made up of 18 different items.

R.Haan has a contemporary Thai vibe.

With the arrival of the inaugural Michelin Guide Bangkok last year, many restaurants have been working to improve their service and consistency to internationally recognised standards. Chumpol, though, says his decision to serve Thai food course by course has nothing to do with a possible visit of Michelin’s inspectors.

“We want our diners to be happy far more than we want a Michelin star,” he says. “We want people to sample a variety of dishes with different tastes made from carefully selected seasonal ingredients and enjoy a new dining experience. Pairing different items in one samrub is local wisdom. The different flavours don’t only complement each other, but also cater to family members of different ages.”

Chef Chumpol Jangprai

Each set offers an amuse-bouche, appetisers, entrees, desserts and petit fours.

“Each set will have five main dishes served at the same time with steamed rice. Krueng jim (dip with assorted vegetable) and gaeng (curry) are vital components of any samruband the traditional combination of spicy and non-spicy dishes as well as soups and dried delicacies must be followed,” Chumpol says.

The three choices include samrub aek (first rank), samrub tho (second rank) andsamrub tri (third rank) for Bt2,612, Bt2,412 and Bt2,212 respectively. The dishes will change every four months on the same seasonal schedule as the ceremony in which attire of the Emerald Buddha is changed.

“The general flavours of samrub aek are not too strong and the set has fewer coconut-based dishes to suit seniors while samrub tri is more energetic with dishes like spicy chicken’s feet consomme and stir-fried spicy wagyu beef with basil that can attract the young generation,” he adds.

Samrub tri’s main dishes

Chumpol says the restaurant uses 100-per-cent local ingredients and makes everything from scratch.

“We make our own coconut cream and curry pastes and the ingredients are prepared fresh every day. Each ingredient is sourced from the best resources. Our garlic comes from Si Sa Ket, the sea bass from Chaochoengsao, the wagyu beef from Nakhon Pathom, and the concentrated fish sauce from Rayong,” he explains.

I opted for the samrub aek, starting with an amuse-bouche of kanom krok, coconut cream rice pancake topped with caviar from the Doi Inthanon Royal Project in Chiang Mai. The pancake is exquisitely infused with espuma of tom kha (galangal cream soup), turning it into a savoury bite rather than the familiar sweet treat.

Samrub aek features an amuse-bouche of kanom krok and three appetisers  kanom cheen nam prik, mee krob and thod mun.

My journey continued with a plate of three bite-sized appetisers – kanom cheen nam prik (fermented rice noodle in golden bean gravy), mee krob chao wang (sweet and sour crispy noodles), and thod mun (deep-fried fish cake).

Based on a century-old recipe passed down from the chef’s great grandmother Sa-guan Sri, the kanom cheen is served in a tiny bowl and topped with a partridge’s egg that’s been pickled in rice bran oil then slowly cooked for 28 minutes at 62 degrees Celsius.

“The new technique of molecular gastronomy adds to the fun experience. For the mee krob, we infuse the crispy noodles in som-sa (bitter orange) and serve them on a tuilemade from Chinese chives. The ah-jad (cucumber vinegar relish) is encased in a jellied sphere and placed on top,” says the chef.

A cluster of five main dishes cooked with different methods are served next along with steamed rice that can be endlessly replenished. The white jasmine rice comes from high-quality growers in Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani, while the brown rice is a mix of five grains – riceberry, gaba, sangyod from the South, mountainous rice grown in the North and jasmine.

Tom yum goong is served in a glass siphon.

The tom yum goong (hot and sour river prawn soup) has a theatrical presentation, coming in a glass siphon and prepared at the table. The herbs and coconut cream are placed in the top chamber then after vapour pressing, the intensely filtered soup drops back into the lower chamber. The aromatic soup is then poured over a bowl of river prawn and mushroom and awakes the taste buds in style.

Mok khai mod daeng

Another dish is mok khai mod daeng – ant’s eggs mixed with wild star gooseberry leaves and wrapped in banana leaves and cooked in charcoal ash – a traditional slow-cooking technique.

Lhon pu

The dip lhon pu is made with blue crabmeat sourced from Bang Taboon estuary in Phetchaburi. The flesh, which is naturally sweet and has a firm texture, is stirred into creamy coconut milk, shallots and fermented soybean and served with salted egg topped with crab’s roe and assorted vegetables.

Phad phrik khing pla kaphong

The stir-fried classic phad phrik khing pla kaphong is prepared to a family recipe and sees the sea bass pan-seared with wok-fried caramelised red curry paste and tossed with ground crispy pork crackling.

Gaeng kiew waan nuea with steamed jasmine and brown rice 

For his curry dish, the chef opts for gaeng kiew waan nuea – a green curry with locally bred wagyu beef and bird’s eye chilli from Piti’s own farm in Ratchaburi.

Chilled kaffir lime in syrup is served as a palate cleanser before the mango sticky rice. Chumpol’s version sees mango mousse alongside spheres of fresh mango, a small portion of sticky rice, and home-made coconut ice cream on a bed of ground coconut.

 Mango sticky rice with coconut ice cream

The culinary voyage ends with Thai-style petit fours served with a four-tiered stand. They are dara thong (flower-shaped stirred pound lotus seed with sugar and coconut milk),look chup (chilli-shaped stirred pound golden bean), kleep lamduan (flower-shaped baked rice flour) and foi thong (egg yolk net).

Thai-style petit fours

R.Haan can seat 50 diners and there’s also a private room with a long table suited to a maximum of 22 guests. Advanced reservation is recommended.

BANGKOK BITES

R.Haan on Thonglor Soi 9 off Sukhumvit Soi 55 is open daily for dinner from 6 to 11pm.

Call (02) 059 0433-4 or visit http://www.R-Haan.com.

The Centara Grand Beach Resort & Villas, Hilton Hua Hin Resort & Spa, Hua Hin Marriott Resort & Spa, Hyatt Regency Hua Hin and Intercontinental Hua Hin Resort will have their chefs out in force preparing amazing five-course banquets on the soft sands of Hua Hin Beach.

The culinary journey begins at 5pm at the Hyatt with a starter of local Burrata cheese and smoked eggplant. Then it’s a short stroll to the InterContinental for a second starter of seared octopus with risotto, salmon roe and pea flowers.

Next, the Marriott has the first main course ready – fillet of sea bass with garlic, Parmesan and pesto. The Centara takes up the baton with Chicken Ballotine with Madeira sauce.

And dessert awaits at the Hilton – coconut pannacotta, purple sweet potato ice cream and passion-fruit sauce.

The whole affair lasts until about 9pm, affording ample time to stroll in the sand and paddle in the surf. If you’re not up for the walk, transportation is available on request.

The five-course feast costs Bt2,499-net with Monsoon Valley wine and Evian and Badoit mineral water. Only 50 people can be accommodated each evening, so book in advance at (032) 512 021.

The dinner features five live food and wine pairing stations epitomising elegant French cuisine. The focus is on Ropiteau Freres wines from Burgundy, where respect for an ideal vine growing climate and fertile soil produces complex wines that are renowned the world over.

Ropiteau Freres wines are hand crafted and oak aged to produce wellstructured red wines and refined whites, with harmonious distinctions.

Diners can indulge panoramic rooftop views from the central light bar, plush dining areas and hidden lower sofas. With an ambient soundtrack to the mix and mingle French soiree, DJ Jerome spins chic beats while guests sip and savour in limitless free flow style.

La Chablisienne Petit Chablis will be served with the Escargots de Beignet while the Ropiteau Les Plants Nobles Pinot Noir is paired with Rillettes de canard et condiments. Ropiteau Bourgogne Pinot Noir AOP is the perfect accompaniment to Cote de boeuf sauce vin rouge.

Antonin Rodet Coteaux Bourguignons Gamay complements the meaty flavours of Lamb alla Navarin and Ropiteau Bourgogne Chardonnay AOP perfectly pairs with an exotic dessert of MilleFeuille of Lychees.

Dinner is priced at priced at Bt999plus per person and starts from 7.30pm. Make a reservation at by calling (02) 210 9000 extension 4304.

Fujio’s impressive signature dish called “Across the Sea” wowed the esteemed grand jury during the announcement in Milan.

In winning the prestigious title, the young Japanese chef goes down in history alongside previous champions Mark Moriarty (2015) and Mitch Lienhard (2016) and also stands as a beacon of opportunity as he embarks on an exciting journey to help shape the future of gastronomy.

“I’m a little bit scared because I’m going to have to work even harder. Holding the title of S Pellegrino Young Chef is a big responsibility. What I’m going to do from now on is turn that fear into courage,” he said.

Chosen by the grand jury made up of giants of global gastronomy, Virgilio Martinez, Margarita Fores, Brett Graham, Annie Feolde, Dominique Crenn, Ana Ros and Paul Pairet, Fujio captivated the panel who were also enthralled with the overall standard of competition. The young chef was able to tell his own story in an original way through his signature dish.

“And now that we have closed our third edition of S Pellegrino Young Chef, we can say that it is really achieving purpose – supporting and developing young talent. The best we can do for gastronomy is to nurture talent and passion,” said Federico Sarzi Braga, president and chief executive officer of Sanpellegrino Group.

For the first time this year, 21 chef Mentors assigned the special recognition “Taste of Authenticity by Acqua Panna Award” that was also awarded to Fujio in recognition of his ability to value the local ingredients of Japan and highlight the richness of his own cultural background. Finally 30,000 voters, making up the online community of Fine Dining Lovers (www.finedininglovers.com) supported the progression of women in gastronomy by crowning Elizabeth Puquio Landeo (representing South America) with its People’s Choice Award.

Nahm opened its doors in 2010 and quickly became one of Bangkok’s most celebrated eateries, consistently rated in The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and in Asia’s 10 Best Restaurants. It also received one star at the inaugural Michelin Guide Bangkok last year.

Chef Pim intends to uphold Nahm’s original roots in traditional Thai cuisine while also injecting her personal style and flavours to the menu.

A Bangkok native, Pim gave up her Silicon Valley career to pursue her passion for cooking. Her blog Chez Pim was an instant success when it launched in 2003 and was voted as one of the most influential food blogs in the world by British newspaper The Guardian.

Pim realised her dream of becoming a chef in 2014 with the launch of her first restaurant Kin Khao in San Francisco, which won international acclaim. Kin Khao received its first Michelin star the following year.

Pim attributes her cuisine to Thai culture and Thai women, who have a deep-rooted tradition in passing on their skills and recipes to the next generation. She is looking forward to developing closer relationships with farmers and artisan food producers across Thailand to ensure only the most exceptional produce makes it onto Nahm’s menus.

“I want diners who visit Nahm to feel as though they’ve been invited to the home of their Thai friends and to experience an authentic cuisine that’s rich in flavours and cooked from the heart,” she says.

FOR ONE OF THE best-known Thai dishes in the world, phad thai had a surprisingly humble start in life.

Its story can be traced back to World War II when the country was suffering shortages of basic foodstuffs and the prime minister at that time, Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram, known familiarly as Chomphon Por, encouraged Thais to eat noodles due to the high cost of rice production. That instruction gave birth to Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee, an eatery credited with the original phad thai recipe.

Chefs work at their outdoor cooking stations.

Located at the capital’s Pratoopee intersection, close to Wat Saket and the Giant Swing (Sao Ching Cha), Thipsamai Padthai started life as a nameless street stall and prepared food for its customers every night on a small charcoal stove. Plaek ate there and declared the noodles the best he had ever tasted and in 1966, Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee was formally created.

This year the restaurant was awarded a Bib Gourmand (inspectors’ favourite for good value street food) by Michelin Guide.

Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee’s signature dish is the stirfried, long and tender chan noodle cooked in shrimp oil, and thinly wrapped with egg.

The dish that won this accolade from the food bible is simply called “Superb”. Priced at Bt90, it combines stir-fried, long and tender chan noodles with shrimp oil, herbs and fresh deep-sea prawns, all wrapped in egg.

Another favourite, phad thai song krueng (Bt300) combines various quality ingredients, including shrimp oil, fresh extra-large deep-sea prawns, and sliced squid. Customers can choose between chan noodles and glass noodles and the dish is garnished with crabmeat and sliced raw mango instead of lime juice.

Phad thai song krueng

Traditional phad thai, known here as “Basic” and costing Bt60 for a generous portion, gives off the sweet scent of palm sugar, which combines well with tofu, radish pickles, dried shrimp, and egg.

The flavour is slightly sweet and the tastiest part is the thin egg wrap drizzled with shrimp oil sauce.

Phad thai “Basic”

The eatery is today in the hands of Dr Thanyanan Reungwetwattana MD and her husband, Dr Sikarachat Baisamut, the son of the founders.

“Sikarachat’s mother, Samai, taught us everything about the restaurant from cleaning to serving to cooking and my husband helped at the stall as a youngster. Today our challenge is to maintain the quality and taste of this famous dish,” she says.

 Long queues form every night outside Thipsamai Padthai Pratoopee but the turn-around is quick.

And in this, the couple have been successful with Thipsamai’s phad thai so popular that a long queue forms well before the restaurant opens at 5pm. Bookings are not accepted but patrons are content to wait, breathing in the sweet fragrance of the wok-fried noodles as they are cooked.

Thanyanan Reungwetwattana

“Kuay taew phad or fried noodles is a favourite dish everywhere. The Chinese have many famed noodle dishes so our Thai-style fried noodles – phad thai – are distinguished from the rest not only by the cooking techniques but also the main ingredients. We use sen chan, long thin rice noodles which are a little sticky yet tender, shrimp oil, prawns and fish sauce rather than black sweet soy sauce and pork, which are more Chinese style,” she explains.

The dish is still cooked on a charcoal stove, with the charcoal coming from local producers in Samut Songkhram.

Phad thai in its signature egg wrap

“It is very important to find the right type of charcoal that has a consistently high temperature yet produces less smoke. We use only good-quality mangrove charcoal on our three stoves,” Thanyanan says.

The noodles are best washed down with either fresh orange juice, the price of which is determined by the market, or fresh coconut water.

The restaurant is decorated in the style of a traditional Thai style house.

The restaurant itself has the ambience of a traditional Thai house with plenty of old cooking utensils on display. The cooking is done in front of the customers and industrial-sized fans keep the air circulating.

Thanyanan credits the charm of Thai culture for drawing tourists to the country.

“Food, culture, beautiful landscapes, and easy-going hospitality are our assets and we must put every effort into preserving these. Although as a medical doctor, I would like to see better hygiene in the preparation of street food, we should always keep our cuisine tasty and authentic.”

OODLES OF NOODLES

The restaurant is open daily from 5pm to 2am. Though the queues are long, it rarely takes more than 15 minutes to fill an order.

There are three branches:

313-315 Mahachai Road, Samranrat, Pranakorn, Bangkok, call (02) 226 6666

Buddha Mondhol Sai 4, 99/11 Moo 6 Hwy 3310, Salaya, Nakhon Pathom, call (086) 429 9999

King Power Complex, Phaya Thai Road, Ratchathewi, Bangkok

For more information, email: info@thipsamai.com