|
Blue Elephant restaurant
233 Sathon Tai Road
Tel: 02-673-9353
Open daily 11:30am to 2:30pm
and 6:30pm to 10:30pm
I didn't expect much when I first visited the famous Blue
Elephant restaurant, regardless of its well established
reputation. It was probably because of the unimpressive
experience I've had with Thai restaurants that have their
roots overseas and also my own perception. Bland, milk and
overly sweet were my expectations - food wise. But
surprisingly it turned out at that sometimes you can not tar
all such restaurants with the same brush.
|
The very Blue Elephant restaurant was established in 1980 in
Brussels, Belgium, by a small group of Thai friends. This was
the start of a highly successful venture - over the next 22
years, 12 more Blue Elephant restaurants have been opened all
over Europe and Asia (London, Paris, Copenhagen and Dubai to
name a few), serving as one of the top Thai restaurants in
each location and also as an unofficial culinary ambassador
for Thailand.
The Bangkok branch of the
restaurant, which opened a month ago, occupies the
100-year-old Thai-Chinese Chamber building - an officially -
designated historic building - on Sathorn Tai road; With
renovations totaling more than 30 million baht, the place has
been turned into a restaurant and cooking school. According to
Rungsan Mulijan or Chef Chang, Blue Elephant's corporate chef,
the Bangkok branch also serves as the chef training centre
where new dishes are created. The menu here is different from
those served at other Blue Elephant restaurants. While 30
percent of the extensive list consists of ever-popular dishes,
70 percent are fusion creations of old favorites with a new
twist as well as some totally new items. Little red elephant
symbols on the menu indicate the level of spiciness of each
dish.
|
|
As one of the
restaurant's most popular choices, we couldn't miss
foie gras with tamarind sauce
(480 baht). Blue Elephant's proud innovation was served with
fantastic mashed sweet potatoes. The dish was a marriage of
European goose liver from Landes and authentic Thai tamarind
sauce. Topped with deep-fried, thinly sliced garlic, which
gave a heavenly texture, the liver intermingled greatly with
the sweet and tangy sauce. The talented Chef Chang also did an
exceptional job making the delicious mashed potatoes without
milk and butter, yet with local holy basil leaves and loofah
broth.
For the main course, we tried black chicken
in green curry served with roti pancake (350 baht).
Green curry with chicken is Blue Elephant's most ordered dish
at every one of its outlets the world over. In order to make
the dish more interesting and creative when they are back
home, Chef Chang uses black chicken instead of regular
chicken. Meaty pieces of black chicken swam in thick green
curry with Thai eggplants. The dish has three red elephants
marked on the menu, so it meant that the very tasty soup was
also brashly hot. However, it went well with the crispy
roti or you can eat it with jasmine rice, too.
Then we had spaghetti khee maow (320
baht). This was black squid ink spaghetti stir-fried with
shrimps, squid, garlic, tomato sauce, basil leaves and
chillies. The dish was intensely packed with flavours and
fresh seafood. It's highly recommended as quick lunch dish for
those who dare the spiciness. |
For dessert, we were
fortunate to sample many things. First we had durian
cheesecake (150 baht). Served with marvelous durian icecream,
this unusual cheesecake was pleasant. Another delight was the
warm chocolate tart (150 baht). Made from fine Belgium
chocolate and topped with chopped candied ginger, the dessert
was rich and smoothly silky, and also went well with mulberry
leaf icecream served on the side.
Then we had tamarind icecream (110 baht).
Like other icecreams served here, this was homemade. Its rich
and refreshing flavour and gooey texture made it difficult to
put the spoon down.
Everything under the Blue Elephant name is
maintained to a strict standard, from the quality of the
ingredients, the serving portions and the food decoration to
the table settings and the menu listings. Furniture used at
every branch is of the same style. The interior of the 60-seat
dining room at the Sathon branch was sophisticatedly decorated
with a classy oriental touch. Before or after the meal,
customers can hang out at the modern-looking cocktail bar on
the second floor.
Blue Elephant's
hands-on cooking class, priced at 2,800 baht, is held on a
daily basis. In the morning students are taken to the fresh
market where the chef shows how to select good quality
products. After the shopping trip, the students are back at
the class, each has his/her own cooking station fully equipped
with kitchen utensils. Then the hands-on practice begins. Four
entrees are taught each day and the class ends in the
afternoon. Though
the menu was quite pricey, the food proved to be of the
highest quality and most satisfactory. Personally, I will go
back there and I highly recommend you give the place a try.
|
