A very casual dinner at Aksorn last week was one of the most meaningful meals in my career as a food critic.
Gastronomically, it presented me with an opportunity to savour some of the most antiquated Thai recipes carefully crafted by a world-celebrated Michelin-starred chef.
Intellectually, it's an astounding revelation of bygone kitchen creativity and finesse. And, romantically, it's a heartfelt realisation of how precious it is to be able to connect with our past.
The newest brainchild of Australian-born Thai cuisine master David Thompson, Aksorn is truly a one-of-a-kind restaurant.
The 40-seater opened a month ago on the top floor of an old shophouse, once a home of the first store founded in 1950 by the Central Retail Group family. The store's main trade at that time was books and magazines. Thus its bookish legacy plays a big role in today's revival of the store.
To go with the concept, Thompson named his new venture Aksorn, which is Thai for "written character", to signify that the cuisine here is based upon books.
The old-fashioned ma hor on orange cup.
The menu takes cues, more specifically, from some of Bangkok's most famous culinary texts penned by prominent cooks of the late 1940s to early 1970s. The food in that period, according to Thompson, reflected how Western civilisation and modernity emerged and blended with richly-cultured Siam.
As an intimate restaurant with dining tables set a few feet away from the open kitchen (remarkably, the ventilation system was flawless), Aksorn offers each night one set of family-styled five-course dinners, priced at 2,800 baht per person.
Basically it is comprised of three hor d'oeuvre plates, a starter, a selection of five sharing main dishes to be had with rice, and two desserts.
Thompson every two months would pull recipes from his vast collection of antique Thai cookbooks.
He is also known for his fluency in reading, writing and understanding even the most obsolete Thai culinary lexicons.
The coconut cupcake with pork and peanuts.
The current menu, which runs until the end of the year, pays tribute to Thanphuying Kleeb Mahidhorn (1876-1961), the wife of Chao Phraya Mahidhorn, a high-ranking courtier in the reigns of King Rama V, VI and VII.
The noble lady grew up in a palace during the time overseas cooks were popularly imported into the Siamese court. Thus some of her recipes have a vivid Chinese and Western influence to them.
The first volume of Thanphuying Kleeb's recipes was published in 1949 to mark her 72nd birthday.
One of the old-fashioned nibbles the chef selected to represent is ma hor, of which caramelised pork balls were substituted with garlic-pepper pork fritters and pineapple with orange, according to the author.
There's also moo jahg, described on the menu as spiced pork galantine, a common victual in Thai-Chinese households.
Stuffed duck with shiitake mushroom, prawn, Chinese sausage and foie gras.
The jelly-like, dark-brown terrine is prepared with the meat from pork head and ears, simmered and wok-tossed with Chinese spices before being pressed into a block and wrapped with tofu skin. It is served on fresh tang-o leaf to be spiced up with pickled garlic and chilli vinegar that comes on the side.
That evening was the first time I heard of khanom khrok nah moo, or coconut cupcake with pork filling. I was told, however, that it was a very typical local snack in the 40s.
Expecting a plumpish soft delicacy, I was surprised to find it come with a thin and crispy surface which showcased a very delicious unification of minced pork, roasted peanuts, spring onions and warm coconut cream.
Another heavenly surprise came in a form of goong naem, an upper-class rendition of the street-food classic pla naem.
The 40-seat restaurant is on the top floor of Central: The Original Store, the refurbished site of the retail giant's first outlet.
A mixture of chopped river prawn, instead of conventional minced fish, toasted rice, peanuts, shallots and pickled garlic is seasoned with the leaf, juice and zest of kaffir lime and som saa (Asian citron) to create one of the zestiest and most aromatic Thai starters.
To give a perfect, slightly nutty complement to the dish is fresh bai thong lang (leaves of the Indian coral tree), which are rarely found in the market nowadays.
The selection of the main entrees to eat with rice might look and sound mundane. But, let me tell you, they are real stunners.
One of the dishes, which Thanphuying Kleeb simply titled gaeng nuea aroi or "delicious beef curry", proved to me a holy grail for beef curry connoisseurs.
The dish, exhibiting tender beef chunks in a thick rich curry seethed with peanuts, Asian citron and yee-rah (tree basil), tasted like a multi-layered crossbreed of red curry and massaman -- truly distinctive.
Seasoned river prawn with pickled garlic, kaffir lime and peanuts.
The taste profile of the next dish, lhon taohu yee, or fermented bean curd relish with minced pork and prawn, revoked my childhood nostalgia blessed with Grandma's subtle cooking.
Thompson admitted he was very doubtful coming across the recipe of stuffed duck in Thanphuying Kleeb's cookbook.
"I've read every line, every step. The dish is very French. It wasn't something I would serve in my restaurant," the Thai-cuisine virtuoso said.
But since the whole idea is to honour the bygone cookbook authors, he decided to reawaken the dish and follow their style.
"We wasted so many ducks to perfect the dish," one of Thompson's kitchen crew said.
A typical Thai meal featuring red curry of beef; fermented bean curd relish; braised marble goby; grilled tomato salad and stir-fried chicken with spring onions.
The duck proved more than perfect, alright. It's something keen epicures are to hold dear.
Served was a neat slice of stuffed duck meat tightly encased with a glossy brown skin.
Enfolded in the meat were specks of prawn, Chinese sausage, shiitake mushroom, lotus seeds, asparagus and foie gras, the latter is Thompson's adaption to make the dish even more juicy and "opulent".
An accompaniment of Thai-Chinese style condiments, namely soy sauce, pickled ginger, fresh cucumber and coriander, lent to the sumptuous poultry dish a brilliantly bracing balance.
I was told that the stuffed duck will be included in the menu until mid December. But better call the restaurant to make sure.
Also to be featured over the next two weeks are the sour and spicy salad of rose apple pollens, pomelo and prawn; and hard-to-find hor mok moo, or steamed pork curry with jackfruit seeds.
Desserts on the evening we visited were represented by a very distinctive glacéd pineapple with coconut cream; steamed coconut candies; sweet and spiced Thai pretzels; and ancestor biscuits.
Reservations are highly recommended.
- Aksorn by David Thompson
- Central: The Original Store, 5th floor
- 1266 Charoen Krung Road
- Call 02-116-8662
- Open Tuesday-Sunday for dinner, 6-11pm
- Park at nearby O.P. Place
- Most credit cards accepted
The sour and spicy salad of Malay apple pollens, pomelo and prawns.
The steamed pork curry with jackfruit seeds.
