Travelogue: Spring Break 2009 -- Bangkok

[Peter Green]

Bo.Lan

As Tim said, there’s been a lot of talk about Bo.Lan these last few weeks. People had been emailing me about the new place on a regular basis.

And I’d been looking forward to this for a few months.

I’d met Khun Bo some years back at the Gourmet Fest. We’d shared tables during the events, and I was suitably impressed by this bright young lady who was just finishing up her culinary arts degree from Australia (only the thesis was left to complete) and she was looking forward to doing an internship in Europe.

The next I’d heard from her, she was working with David Thompson at the Nahm in London.

Good internship.

We corresponded intermittently over the next few years (I’m still looking forward to reading her kitchen diaries some day) and then, last year, when I was looking for restaurant recommendations for the London trips, I found out that she’d left London, and was opening up a restaurant back in Bangkok.

“Now there’s going to be an interesting meal”, thought I. A Thai schooled in Australia, who’s been working under the most famous farang chef doing Thai in London, who returns to Bangkok to take a new look at Thai. And, let’s not forget, there’s also her partner (on a very even footing), Dylan, who’s also come from the Nahm. Two talented young chefs doing what they want to be doing.

They started in January, opening in the middle of the month without much fanfare, and have been doing well since.

The restaurant is down soi 26 on Sukhumvit, tucked in behind the Four Wings Hotel. Not too difficult to find, but it’s removed enough from the main soi traffic that you need to know it’s there.

The restaurant is a pretty thing. One fairly flat level, with seating split between inside and outside, all open glass onto the gardens. There’s almost a Japanese aesthetics about the space. Some light from traffic intrudes, but, as I said, the structure is located on a smaller soi, so there’s not too much back and forth out there to distract you (mainly arriving diners).

The restaurant offers both ala carte, and a tasting menu. We decided to go with the set menu – ”Bo.Lan Balance”. As a wine, I ordered the Enate Gewurtztraminer. I’ve always thought the gewurtz to be a good match for Thai food, and this, a Spaniard from 2007, was recommended on their list.

A tidy little trick was placing the menu cards within solid books. I was curious about the books themselves, and they were cookbooks from the palace, which, besides acting as an eruditic décor, were a foundation for the food that Bo and Dylan were working through.

Ya dong Phaya Sue served with sour fruits

With the first course we were off to a good start. This dish is centered about the glass of ya dong, a traditional medicine of the Thai (M said "this is just like Indonesian Jamu, but with alcohol"). But our two young stars had been playing with this, and, along with the herbs, cardamom, honey, and flowers, introduced a bit cassis to perk it up.

You drink the Ya dong first, and then take the green pandan water, bite into the sour little pickles, and finish with the chili flecked salts.

Quite satisfying. Plus, you can say it’s good for you!

Bo.Lan Amuse Bouche

Titled as an amuse, this was much more of a second course of appetizers (I would have titled the Ya dong as “amuse” given how much fun it was).

This came with (moving front to back) local prawn in tamarind; star fruit with tamarind; spicy salad with prawns (in the central glass cup); crispy rice with coconut; and crispy pork skin with chili dip. A good selection with the spices building up from the star fruit, peaking on the salad, and then backing down a bit over the rice cracker and the pork skin. Very proper handling of Thai flavours, with no compromises made. We’d told them we like things spicy, and this was appropriately done.

Next came the mains.

Salad of grilled long green aubergine and river prawn

When I taste (and smell) the smokiness of grilled eggplant, I’m torn. I think both of Luang Prabang and Ratanakosin, two ends of the spectrum for me. A bit of egg to fill the dish out pushes it to the richer side of Ratanakosin, and the coriander brings up the aubergine in my nose.

Tod Mon

Bo.Lan made cured pork simmered in coconut cream served with prawn

Stuffed Dok kea and fish cake

The tod mon is another very rich dish, full of the feel of the court. Deep fried fish cakes. But the side dish of coconut cream is one of the great comforts in life, and stole much of the attention from the headlining tod mon itself.

This dish has me looking forward to a book of recipes from Bo.Lan. They’ve done much of the work of translation already, and this could make a good project…..but they may have their hands full just now.

Southern style marineated deep-fried fresh water fish

The fish was alright, with some of the marinade coming through, but, even with the tang of what (I think) was a mango sauce, the flavours didn’t stand up well in contrast to the other dishes.

Still, if it’s a Thai meal, you have to have fish (at least one), so I can appreciate its place here on the table (and others around me did like this a lot)

I should mention the rice – a combination of jasmine, pink, and black, with a fine smell, and excellent texture. If Yoonhi was here, she might argue, but I like the graininess that comes with some of the varietals of Thailand, and the smell of hom mali is always a treat.

“Sap nok curry” with local chicken

I hope I don’t get into trouble for this, but the curry was the highlight of the meal (“trouble” as credit for this goes to Dylan, who handles the curries in the kitchen). This Central style curry has an excellent flavour. Traditionally, this would be done with game birds, but Bo.Lan have done this with the more sustainable chicken. I could see the traditional as a treat, with the crunch of the small bones, but the chicken makes this more substantial. But it ‘s the sauce we love. Dylan starts with a red curry, and then works in ginger on a continual basis as it cooks.

This is really good.

We had choices of soup. Myself, I went for something with a coconut base and a great backdrop of roasted vegetables. I quite enjoyed this, while others, who had the clear broth of seafood ranted and raved in equal amounts.

This may look like a lot of food, and it was. I’d like to say that we cleaned everything up, but there was so much that we finally had to push back and say enough.

Local orange plum, logan, rambutan steeped in perfumed syrup

We then turned to clean our palates, with a well balanced cool thing of citrus and longan/rambutan. I’ve always liked the lychee family, and these flavours all work well to calm the mouth. Behind this was the smell of jasmine buds at the base of the glass.

Bo.Lan dessert du jour

Our dessert was a collection of tapioca in coconut cream (and you have a good idea of the esteem I hold for coconut cream).

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This also came with a palm heart, tapioca chips, and a sweet little golden bean (and I wish this picture was better).

Petits fours to accompany your cup of local tea

Again, the picture doesn’t do justice, but I need it hear to give a concept of the scope of the finish. Especially when you place this scope in the context that I have to catch a flight at Souvarnabhumi in just a few hours.

I was getting nervous about my timing, but this looked to good to run out on.

Khmer style deserts wrapped in leaves; little treats of sugar and rice flour; toasted rice; a fantastic tamarind – a slightly different variety – just taken raw to tarten up your tongue; toffees of coconut and palm sugar; and more things with banana and bean.

Flying Rat, M, and E had the tea, an Ang kang tea from Chiang Mai under the Royal King Project. , but I just fretted about my timing.

I shouldn’t worry. M & E gave me a lift to the airport, and I made the flight with time to spare. My stomach happy from a day’s eating in Krungthep, I closed my eyes and prayed for sleep.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A very good meal. The concept of “balance” does hold through the meal, and I was happy with having done the tasting. I’d mentioned in passing earlier that Khun Bo had a solid background in culinary studies, and I can see a good continuation of her earlier interests in the heritage of Thai cuisine coming through with what she’s doing here.

Dining solo, or only as a couple, the advantage here is also that you can draw on a wide variety of flavours from the tasting menu. Too often I feel sad that all I can manage are two or three courses on my own, when I haven’t arranged a crowd.

I’d also mentioned that I’d look forward to their writings, when the time comes. I think that we’ll find in Bo and Dylan not only good chefs, but a couple capable of some very serious work on Thai culinary history.

Darn, now I’m hungry again.

[tb86]

peter check out bolan restaurant hearing some good stuff about it here in bkk

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We did get to bo.lan and it was quite interesting (I mean that only in a good way). I'll let Peter blog it in sequence, since this is his thread.

(Hijack: Tim, could you tell us more about your latest projects? I for one would love to check them out!)

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well we have a bakery that just opened about a month and a half ago, were gonna be in paragon starting tomorrow for a event , runnning for the next week, maybe longer if all goes well,

[FlyingRat]

Ya dong Phaya Sue served with sour fruits

With the first course we were off to a good start.  This dish is centered about the glass of ya dong, a traditional medicine of the Thai (M said "this is just like Indonesian Jamu, but with alcohol").  But our two young stars had been playing with this, and, along with the herbs, cardamom, honey, and flowers, introduced a bit cassis to perk it up. 

You drink the Ya dong first, and then take the green pandan water, bite into the sour little pickles, and finish with the chili flecked salts.

Quite satisfying.  Plus, you can say it’s good for you!

I just picked up the latest (May 1st) issue of BK Magazine, and they have an article on yaa dong-- including a recipe for Bo.lan's version! You can find it online as well.

[Peter Green]

I just picked up the latest (May 1st) issue of BK Magazine, and they have an article on yaa dong-- including a recipe for Bo.lan's version!  You can find it online as well.

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Cool! Now we need to get down to Seua Sibed Dua for the ingredients, and then we can start up a thread on making your own yaa dong!