The seasonal charm of Ciao

The re-opening night of of Ciao last Wednesday saw diners in the comfortably-spaced 48-seat garden restaurant have the glorious advantage of a star-filled sky with close-up views of the Chao Phraya River and its gentle, criss-crossing traffic of lit-up hotel shuttles on one side, and the majestic old Oriental building glowing comfortingly through the trees in the garden on the other.

Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, led by Maximilian Von Reden (3rd right), executive assistant manager - Food & Beverage, recently held an exclusive Castello Banfi wine dinner to mark the re-opening of Ciao al fresco Italian restaurant. From left are Guillaume Blanchard, regional manager of Banfi; Jeerisuda Jawjit; Wittapon Jawjit, managing director of Mercer (Thailand) Ltd; Rodolfo Maralli, sales and marketing director of Banfi; executive chef Norbert Kostner of the Mandarin Oriental; S.T. Ian Gan, managing director of Independent Wine & Spirit (Thai) Co; and Michel Conrad, commercial wine director, Independent Wine & Spirit (Thai) Co.

Ciao, which has now passed its 21st birthday, is in a quiet corner of the hotel grounds below the terrace, and so always offers a genuine feeling of intimacy. The white, curved, wrought iron chairs add a touch of lightness, and to provide a celebratory note, celebrity chef Norbert Kostner had prepared a special menu for the re-opening night, to be matched with some appropriately classy Italian wines.

They were from Castello Banfi in Montalcino, Tuscany. With three generations of ownership by the Italian-American Mariani family, intensive clonal selection and soil development have produced terroir-based Banfi wines of high quality, and four of these were sensitively paired with items on chef Norbert's opening night menu.

The lone white wine was the ripe, refreshing 2008 San Angelo pinot grigio with floral and mineral notes and a pleasantly creamy texture that harmonised nicely with the appetisers. The first of these was a delicate salad of tiny, slim needle beans with flakes of smoked tuna roe and petals of fresh almonds.

This was followed by 'candles' of spider crab  -  tubes of crabmeat enfolded in aspic  -  with tasty little herb sprouts in lemon and olive oil; and salterelli, small potato gnocchi with butter. All three dishes were attractively enhanced by the pinot grigio, but now it was time for red, 2005 Belnero, the 'beautiful dark one.'

A deep, dark ruby red it held out the promise of intense black fruit, cherry and almond flavours, but was still young and quite tannic. The tortelli of guinea fowl with sauteed porcini mushrooms served with it was an absolute joy, both rich and soothing.

The meaty content of the menu was ramped up in the next dish, crisp belly of pork with colonnata, turnips and chickpea puree. Pork belly is very popular now as it's a less expensive but very tasty cut. Colonnata is a delicious pork fat, which was used sparingly to impart flavour, while the other ingredients had the effect of modifying all that richness.

The wine was 2004 Brunello di Montalcino, full and rich yet clean tasting with black and red fruit, chocolate and chewy tannins. Aged for four years in oak and two in bottle, this was a stunning example of Brunello di Montalcino (with 93 points from Wine Advocate), ready to drink now but with years ahead of it.

Castello Banfi wines served at the dinner.

The beef cheeks that followed were described as 'farmhouse style' on the menu, but sensuously slow-cooked and tender and accompanied by scented polenta and celeriac, they suggested a very elegant kind of farmhouse.

The wine was one of the jewels in the Castello Banfi crown made from 100 percent cabernet sauvignon and named for the historic fortress on the crown of the hill where the vines were planted, Poggio Alle Mura. It is an example of the precision with which Banfi selects the right terroir for the right grapes. Invitingly juicy on the nose its complex aromas and flavours of blackcurrant, plums, chocolate, cedar and liquorice with gamey notes were balanced with clean acidity and smooth tannins.

We had a second glass of Poggio Alle Mura with a completely different style of dish showing its fondness for strong cheese and more bitter flavours: mille feuille of gorgonzola with endive leaves and grape mustard.

A chocolate dome, pumpkin tart and raspberry jelly was the delicious dessert, with a perfumed rose wine Castello Banfi Rosa Regale to end this first dinner of the season at Ciao.

Ciao al fresco Italian restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok is now open daily for dinner from 5-11pm, tel 02-659-9000 ext 7640. Castello Banfi wines are distributed here by Independent Wine & Spirit (Thailand).

Farmhouse-style braised cheek of beef savoury, scented polenta and celeriac.

Crisp belly of porchetta pork with colonnata flavours, salted turnips, chickpea puree and reduced broth.

Tortelli of guinea fowl, sauteed Porcini mushrooms and light pan-jus.

Relate Search: Norbert Kostner, Castello Banfi, Brunello di Montalcino