Rice aka khao in Thai is an essential part of any meals in Asia, more so in Thailand, where the word also refers to food in general.
Khao, which has a new-ish branch on Soi Tonson, embodies this thought to the fullest and aims at delivering a better understanding, appreciation and love for Thai cuisine.
One of the most hands-on restaurant owner has created a couple of tasting menus at Khao, since the menu is rather extensive and can be overwhelming at best. Tasting menus, depending on the number of courses and the dishes on offer, is the way to go. Khao Tasting Menu offers four optional sets with prices at B950, B1,350, B1,700 and B2,300 per person. "Each tasting menu has small versions of the same thing. All the tasting menus have our signature dishes, which have the right balance between sour, salty, sweet, spicy," says Pradinan "Toon" Arkarachinores, owner of the Khao Group.
I tried the nine-course tasting menu and it began with an amuse bouche of a flour dumpling stuff with minced chicken, in the shape of a chicken; a dumpling stuffed with fish; and a butterfly pea dumpling stuffed with minced pork. All very tasty and the minute you see them they will induce the words "so cute".
The Khao Tasting Menu has four sets.
Healthy red rice.
A popular dish by itself is the crispy noodles in sweet and sour sauce aka mee krob, a Thai dish influenced by Chinese cuisine. This is a dish that sometimes can be overpoweringly sweet but the bitesize portion is perfect to whet your appetite for what to follow. One of my favourite Thai salads for the summer is the pomelo salad with prawns. Refreshing on a hot day of which we have many in the Kingdom.
The Deep fried prawn and squid patty, colloquially known as "granite squid" because of the white squid contrasting with the black from the squid ink. It is served alongside spicy grilled Australian beef salad with seedless grapes, to cool down the palate. The reasoning behind this unusual pairing is, as Toon puts it, "People eat beef and drink wine right?"
The soup course is whatever catches your fancy. Choose between the Spicy and sour curry with river prawn (gaeng liang) or the Southern Thai style clear soup with prawn, sweet basil and lemon basil (gaeng som). The gaeng liang is a good herby delight and comes packed with veggies. I enjoyed the gaeng som with the cha-om omelette in it and I must confess it is one of my favourite Thai soups. A soup that has its origins in the royal kitchens of King Narai.
Gaeng som.
Gaeng liang.
Appetisers.
Cockwise from top: sankhaya namtan mai, khao fang piek lamyai and yok manee.
For mains, there is a crab curry with betel leaves, garlic fried squid (delish), Australian lamb shank massaman, wok-fried crispy fluffy catfish with red curry paste, spicy crab roe dip with condiments and a soya steamed cabbage with shiitake. The entire main course is a culmination of everything sweet, sour, salty, spicy and umami. A feast for the eyes, mouth and of course, IG!
Desserts may look like a lot, but they are the best of everything Thai. The caramelised Thai custard with mandarin sorbet is Khao's playful take on the traditional sankhaya namtan mai, the custard baked in a pumpkin. Here it is more like a bread and butter pudding, which is refreshed with the tangy sorbet. The pandan-infused tapioca pearls with fresh strawberry represents yok manee but with huge strawberries for freshness. My favourite dessert was the Steamed soft millet with longan and fresh coconut cream or khao fang piek lamyai, which I would happily eat each morning for breakfast.
"We used to have a dessert cafe and what we learnt from it is that Thai desserts can be overly sweet and people cannot eat much of them. So, at Khao we try to add some freshness to our desserts. Strawberries are our signature but we also use fruits that are in season," says Toon.
Since it's almost khao chae season, look out for Khao's khao chae set, which is one of my favourites in Bangkok!
Khao, Piya Place, Soi Tonson, Chit Lom / Lunch from 11am-2pm, dinner from 6-10pm / Call 093-505-0055, visit fb.com/khaogroup.
