Every six months or so I find myself falling for her charms. Lured into her inviting embrace by a delicious promise that she faithfully keeps. Her rhythmic energy pulsates and reverberates through my body, leaving me gasping for breath. She’s a temptress and she knows it only too well, wowing me with her bi-annual treats, that expertly satiates my ravenous appetite. Well, if you haven’t figured out already, I’m waxing eloquent about the mesmerizing abilities of one of my most favourite gastronomic super hubs in the whole world--Bangkok!
While Bangkok’s prowess as a heaven for street food has been well chronicled and expounded upon by many a gourmand, it is the innovative dining options one can partake in here that gets me all excited. So, on my last trip in July this year to the city perched on the banks of the rather placid Chao Phraya river, I decided to head off the beaten track and indulge my taste buds like never before. And Boy, was I in for a treat or what?
This time, I found myself staying at the stunningly beautiful Amari Watergate Hotel that is housed slap bang in the heart of Bangkok in the bustling and swanky commercial district of Pratunam. A five star hotel with a big difference as I was soon to find out. Now, while this 34-floors high edifice with a glass façade has all the usual accouterments of a hotel its size would dare to have, like a whopping 569 rooms, a relaxing spa, state-of-the-art gym, nine restaurants and so on and so forth, it also has a surprise of the edible kind that I’ve never encountered anywhere else on my many travels.
Simply called ‘Dine Around’, the Amari Watergate has invented an interesting dining concept wherein die-hard foodies like myself can indulge in the best dishes of the hotel’s nine restaurants all in one single evening, moving from one restaurant to the other, course by course. You could call it the culinary version of the good old pub crawl, but all in the same hotel of course. For 800 Thai Baht, I got to choose which restaurant I would like to first have my starters, my main course thereafter and finally dessert.
Well prepared for my culinary odyssey--that would involve a fair bit of moving around--to begin, I ditched my formal patent leather Oxfords in favour of my comfy calf-skin loafers and set off to my first stop du nuit namely, Heichinrou for my starter course as my handy little personalized menu card for the evening let me know. A member of the renowned Heichinrou Chinese restaurant chain, the Amari Watergate’s Cantonese specialty restaurant serves an eclectic selection of new favourites and traditional delicacies. With my starter course pre determined my the chef, I had left my dining fate in his trustworthy hands. But disappoint me he did not. Feasting on a degustation menu of a trio of BBQ duck, crystal prawns and seafood soup, I was in heaven with the subtlety of flavours and impeccable presentation. Cleansing my palate with refreshing oolong Chinese tea, I was ready for more. But for that I would have to make my way to the fourth level for my tryst with Thai on 4.
With a menu that was developed by the legendary doyenne of Thai cuisine, Khun Srisamon who has in the past worked as the head chef to the Thai royal family, I braced myself for some edible poetry at Thai on 4. The attentive server began by offering me a choice of four (what else!) types of rice--white jasmine, wild brown, saffron rice and the green pandanus rice. I opted for a bit of all four that was soon to be ladled over with the most velvety Thai green vegetable curry called Gaeng Kiewwan Phak and served alongside a portion of steamed chili-garlic-lime infused snow fish and a portion of stir-fried sea scallops with mushroom and green asparagus in soy sauce. I had almost died and gone to gastronomic heaven after the meal was through with me as I could never (and not till this very day) be through with it! But I had to peel myself off the chair and literally wobble down to the hotel’s basement for my final indulgence of the evening--dessert.
Decked out like an old British pub, Henry J Bean’s Bar and Grill was the perfect end with its almost-smoky, dim interiors that were inviting in a non-fussy kind of way. Crème brulee, red grit with brownie and vanilla ice cream it was to be and I wasn’t complaining, although my tummy was beginning a minor protestation of its own. Paying no heed to it, I wolfed down dessert and let out a little laugh.
I mean, where else in the world could I have just had a Cantonese starter, a Thai main and a French dessert in a Brit-themed pub of all places? Only in Bangkok!!
(First published in the September issue of Shout)
