Rising to the occasion

EATING Out

At Panorama, it's all about distinctive creativity and imaginative identity. Regardless of the fact that the restaurant, which opened a month ago, has jumped on the bandwagon of sky-high dining, you can barely find a single element here that repeats that of any other establishment in town - whether it be the setting, the menu or even the ingredients.

 

Panorama is a newly-launched dining space set on the 23rd floor of Pan Pacific Hotel. The 1,300-square-metre venue seats 220 diners and features various dining atmospheres to suit different purposes and moods of its guests.

Upon arrival, we were totally impressed by the restaurant's sleek interior design that boasted intricate craftsmanship: clean silhouettes beautifully fused with elaborate lines, sable hues seamlessly blended with blazing shades, and glossy textures side by side with rough finishes.

The restaurant's two open kitchens were staged in the middle of the lofty dining hall which was wrapped by, and could be overlooked from, the hotel's higher-floors corridors. Next to the main dining area and running along the restaurant is the lovely open-air balcony where guests can enjoy food and drinks together with a fresh view of Bangkok. While a library lounge, set at an end corner of the lengthy restaurant and classically-appointed with dark wood furniture and gorgeous leather sofas, was an ideal place to unwind after a long day of work or to enjoy a glass of brandy after dinner.

Exclusively catering to discerning epicureans is the restaurant's private dining room. Seating up to 10 diners, the tastefully decked chamber is equipped with its own show-kitchen and chef - the hotel's executive chef Steve Van Remoortel, to be exact.

Foodwise, chef Steve said that 'global cuisine' (rather than 'fusion') was probably the best term to describe the food here. His menu isn't too extensive or overly elaborate. Though with a dash of creative writing (for example, words like 'cloud' means 'foam', 'flirting with' means 'served with' and 'drifting in' basically refers to 'soaking in'), it presents dishes that are simply but expertly prepared with the best and freshest ingredients from around the globe.

To give you some idea, lamb comes from Colorado's Rocky Mountains, not New Zealand, salmon from Scotland, not Norway, veal from Holland and salt from the Himalayas.

The restaurant also specialises in beef. Cut to your specification right by your table, the beef of different varieties is imported from Australia and USA and priced by its weight.

Our dinner set off charmingly with Foie Gras Declination (740 baht). This appetiser plate featured three styles of goose liver at three different temperatures. Representing the warm version was pan-seared goose liver, which was remarkably firm yet velvety soft. The terrine was how the cool foie gras was translated and proved to be delicious to the smallest detail. But the real enchantment was the Arctic version, Magnum. Inspired by the popular ice cream, the chocolate-coated chilled goose liver on a stick was just brilliant.

Australian Angus beef carpaccio with anchovy glaze (540 baht) was another delightful starter if you're a fan of rare beef. It came in super thin slices and was melt in the mouth tender, while the creamy mustard-like glaze had a slight hint of anchovy but went perfectly with the naturally-flavoured beef.

I also sampled Alaskan king crab sauteed in tarragon butter with remoulade of nashi pear, celery root, endive and lemon cloud (510 baht) and Lombardy gorgonzola spring rolls (410 baht), which were the best-selling appetisers and were pleased.

You might want to call Steve "the Soup Wizard" because all three soups he prepared for us that night brought big 'wow' after another. The first dish, Canadian lobster cappuccino with North Sea shrimp, sliced Hokkaido scallop and Hennessy VSOP cream (420 baht) was oh-my-god fantastic. It was light in consistency but rich and creamy in flavour. Bathed in the foamy bisque were tiny shrimps that looked just like local dried version but had a full and a lot more pleasant taste, while the Hokkaido scallop was sweet and chewy. Two friends gave high scores for soup number two, shrimps of "Champignon de Paris" with toasted almond milk foam (290 baht), which I thought was marvellous but couldn't beat the lobster bisque.

And if you'd like less creamy and meat-free soup, I recommend that you go for truffle and ricotta tortellini in triple consomme of Roma tomato and Italian basil coulis droplets (310 baht).

For main course, we had open-ravioli with Andaman tiger prawn (780 baht). Served with fava beans in Pernod emulsion and a hint of saffron oil, three sizeable prawns blanketed in properly cooked ravioli skin sheet, were sweet and pleasantly chewy.

Equally appetising but a bit more enticing was crispy fried wonton skins layered with masaman curry espuma (510 baht). This vegetarian dish with a bit of sweet tang tasted as beautiful as it looked.

The real highlight of the evening was the Colorado lamb rack with Himalayan salt then paired with semi-cooked ratatouille, parmesan galette and lemon-enhanced jus (2,090 baht). Coming from a stout Rocky Mountains lamb in Cedar Spring, Colorado, the lamb rack presented an ample amount of fat that made the odourless meat so amazingly tender and flavourful that I'd announce it the best lamb dish of the year.

For desserts, chocolate fondant with wasabi perfume served with gummy raspberry candy and vanilla ice cream (310 baht) and warm apple tart baked a la minute with espresso and mascarpone cheese ice cream (340 baht) are highly recommended.

---

---

Relate Search: Panorama