With its reverence for cutting-edge culinary artistry and the wonders of nature in equal measure, Cuisine De Garden is among the elite of modern restaurants innovating a whole new genre. Rooted in Thailand but not tied to any particular tradition, it is mainly driven by inspiration tempered with hard-honed skill.
Toting evolving tasting menus (10-dishes, 1950 baht/person, wine pairing 1490 baht) the Bangkok iteration serves food that even the finickiest French chef can get behind and to which M. Michelin has already bestowed his Plate blessing.
It's the upshot of a chance encounter between entrepreneur Wongnicha "Peach" Wongserbchart and Leelawat "Nan" Mankoongtiphan who started Cuisine De Garden in Chiang Mai. Spurning formal training, Leelawat perfected techniques from cook books and practice. Thus free from the shackles of conventionality, each refreshingly non-referential dish is literally an original work of culinary art.
Says Peach, "I ran into Nan in Chiang Mai and we decided to co-create something similar for Bangkok with lots of premium ingredients and wines."
The design by Integrated Field sees shiny teak flooring, bare concrete, glistening black quartz, and actual tree trunks strung with origami birds. With the spots sparkling, there's a forest glade feeling that's enchanting.
The culinary homage to nature begins with "Fallen Leaf", hot-from-the-oven house-made brioche imprinted with tong-kwao leaves, poetically served as if just fallen beneath barren boughs. Spread with exquisite fermented freshwater Petchaboon fish rillettes, it's gourmet.
The procession of edible artworks proceeds with "Rice Field", a miniature shovel of beef tartare buried in earth-evoking riceberry crumble pierced by minty ka-yang leaves. A ball of grilled ricefield snakehead fish with tamarind sauce wrapped in tamarind leaf accompanies with a sour-sweet, faintly fishy explosion of goodness.
"Snail Prawn" mates organically-farmed Surat Thani prawns marinated in passionfruit, grilled, and served with a piquant passionfruit and shrimp paste sauce. Delightfully tangy.
"Kra-Dong", wicker artefacts for chafing rice, offers blue crab, avocado and chaplu leaf buried in coconut foam, served in the shell with a side of garlic-basted chakram, a plant only found in southern mangroves.
"Highland Caviar" offers sousvide and pan-seared Hokkaido scallop in saffron hue miso and lemon sabayon. Pearls of salmon roe pop sweetly in contrast to the "caviar", tiny super-sour filaments of finger lime from the highlands of Thailand.
"Origami" appears as an inedible all-white paper chrysanthemum in a glass bowl. It's a papillote containing goby fish in a herby high-protein dashi watermeal soup revealed when you untie a cord, releasing a waft of pure nature.
With "NEST", a whole organic onsen egg sits atop crispy rice vermicelli as if just laid. Beneath lurks savoury sautéed chicken with shitake, porcini and truffle oil. Crack open the sous-vide-cooked egg and place the shell in a basket of straw. Visceral.
For the mains you may surf or turf.
"Rainforest" is either pan-seared smoked halibut with cacao spice blend, rice germ, mushroom, bell pepper purée & teriyaki sauce. Or for an additional 400 baht, grilled cacao spice-rubbed Iwate Wagyu, rice germ mash, foraged mushroom, beef jus. A ladybird-like dot of bell pepper puree, black garlic and honey interplays hot sauce style.
For dessert "Dew" is an early-morning mist swirling sweet and sour jellies, mango and mango ice cream "snowballs", fermented rice whipped cream, crunchy buckwheat praline.
Conclude with "Terrain" a petit four ensemble reprising sea, forest and mountain, comprising passionfruit jam-filled madeleine, chocolate truffle mousse-filled choux, and salted pineapple- and chilli-filled chocolate virtually indistinguishable from the smooth black pebbles they nestle.
Signature cocktails are equally innovative such as The Mist (390), a deft mix of Scotch, bale fruit and smoked applewood.
- Cuisine De Garden
- 12/6, Ekkamai Soi 2
- Open: Tue-Sun, 6pm-11pm
- Tel: 02 053 3059
- www.cuisinedegarden.com
