Thailand is known for its vibrant avenue meals—colourful, filled with taste, and infrequently lower than THB 100 (about €2.75) per serving. However throughout our keep in Bangkok, we determined to discover the opposite finish of the culinary spectrum. Along with our neighbors, who occurred to be on the town on the similar time, we tried Michelin-starred tremendous eating at R-Haan.
R-Haan holds two Michelin stars and affords a tasting menu that reinterprets basic Thai dishes in a refined, modern fashion. The menu contains 4 amuse-bouches, 4 starters, a essential course composed of three dishes, dessert, and petit fours. The worth is THB 5,512 (round €175, together with service and tax). A wine pairing of six wines provides THB 3,812 (about €125). Whereas these costs are astronomical by Thai requirements, they’re fairly affordable in comparison with two-star Michelin eating places elsewhere on this planet.
The amuse-bouches have been introduced in a gold-lacquered field, organized on a map of Thailand to point their regional origins. From the north got here a deep-fried noodle roll stuffed with minced pork and yellow curry spices. Central Thailand was represented by blue fish satay. From the northeast, an beautiful grilled Surin Wagyu beef with bitter and spicy sauce. The east contributed a fragile lobster dumpling, and from the south, a Phuket crab curry croquette.
The primary wine within the pairing was a really dry Riesling from Germany’s Rheingau area, with vibrant acidity and aromas of inexperienced apple.
It paired nicely with the primary starter: a sustainably cultivated Andaman prawn served with avocado and nam pla sauce (galangal, lemongrass, chook’s eye chili, and lime).
We continued with a medium-dry Gewürztraminer from Alsace, providing aromas of rose and lychee.
This was a wonderful pairing for the Gaeng Som, a bitter fish soup served with cauliflower purée, mashed jackfruit seeds, crunchy water chestnuts, and caviar. The soup had a superbly balanced taste, which is the essence of Thai delicacies and significantly difficult to realize on this water-based curry moderately than the extra frequent coconut milk-based curries.
The wine for the third starter was additionally from Alsace, a Riesling with a pleasant creamy texture and aromas of petrol and inexperienced apple.
This was an excellent pairing for the grilled frog leg served with wild betel leaf, fern salad, thinly sliced banana blossom, and a Thai dressing. The wine complemented the spiciness of the dish superbly.
The following wine was a shocking selection: a crimson Bordeaux, a Cabernet Franc produced by the identical household behind Château Lafleur as a definite cru, utilizing cuttings from Lafleur’s distinctive Bouchet (Cabernet Franc) vines grown on limestone terroir in Fronsac. The wine featured velvety tannins and aromas of crimson fruit and vanilla.
It was not an excellent pairing for the sous-vide duck egg yolk with candy brown sauce, pumpkin, and rice berry sponge cake. This was a contemporary interpretation of Khai Phalo, a basic dish of eggs simmered in a soy sauce and five-spice broth with palm sugar. The sweetness of the sauce accentuated the bitter notes within the wine. For Thai diners this dish could have nostalgic worth—it was listed on the menu as “egg of reminiscence”—nevertheless it was our least favourite dish.
A Khao Mak sorbet was served to cleanse our palate earlier than the primary course. This sorbet is a contemporary, artistic twist on the normal Thai fermented sticky rice dessert.
The wine for the primary course was a 2020 Aloxe-Corton Premier Cru La Toppe au Vert by Thibault Liger-Belair. Though I had by no means thought of pairing Thai meals with crimson Burgundy, this elegant wine labored surprisingly nicely with two of the three essential course dishes.
One of many dishes was a Tom Yum soup, with the broth infused on the desk utilizing contemporary Thai herbs in a transparent glass percolator, permitting company to observe the method because it occurred.
The primary course was served in conventional Thai style: plain rice to be mixed spoonful by spoonful with an array of dishes. These included King River prawns accompanied by Tom Yum soup, rooster in a candy bamboo shoot curry, and a spicy Rayong crab dip with fermented freshwater fish and Thai herbs. The rooster was very dry, however the prawns had phenomenal texture and the flavour steadiness of the soup was as soon as once more impeccable. The “plain” rice was truly Ubon Ratchathani Hommali rice, a high-quality, region-specific premium jasmine rice from northeastern Thailand with GI certification. The wine paired greatest with the rooster and crab, however was additionally acceptable with the prawn.
Wine may be very costly in Thailand due to the taxes, and up so far the sommelier had been serving small pours. With the primary course, nonetheless, he generously stored topping up our glasses with the wonderful Aloxe-Corton.
The dessert wine was a 2021 Carmes de Rieussec, the second wine of Château Rieussec in Sauternes, with its sweetness properly balanced by acidity and aromas of ripe mango.
This was a wonderful pairing for the fashionable interpretation of mango with sticky rice, which featured mango ice cream and sticky rice ice cream. The pastry chef personally introduced the dessert at our desk, and we complimented her extremely on this beautiful creation. There was additionally another possibility: a black coconut candy pudding with Thai tea ice cream, which was equally glorious based on Kees and Thomas, who selected that.
The petit fours have been served alongside the dessert: younger rice milk canelé, flower rice cake, Thai fruit chocolate bonbon, and pink guava with salted plum sweet.
This was a wonderful meal and a beautiful night. The large worth distinction in comparison with an everyday meal in Thailand makes tremendous eating a more durable promote than in different nations, even in comparison with Italy the place the standard of on a regular basis meals will also be very excessive. In Italy, the worth hole is nowhere close to as massive as it’s right here. If, like me, you care largely about taste and fewer about presentation and repair, it turns into a fair more durable selection. So we’ll in all probability restrict tremendous eating in Thailand to at most one dinner per journey and stick with the incredible, cheap avenue meals in any other case. R-Haan was a fantastic selection, and I’m trying ahead to making an attempt one other Michelin-starred restaurant on our subsequent go to to Thailand.
