Isn’t the real point about Christmas and New Year to have fun and feel great? But that doesn’t just happen. You need a runway, momentum and lift-off.
It’s a formula that The Rain Tree Café has down to a tee. You enter the dining arena expectant and are immediately lifted by a flurry of culinary activity, a candy shop of gastronomic excess, and a sense of high-style redolent of the private rooms of a turn-of-the-century palace.
The next couple-three hours are a clock-stopping immersion in gastronomic hedonism that unfolds to a mellow soundtrack of bluesy jazz from the in-house trio of diva singer, double bassist and ivory tinkler. Your subliminal yearnings seem to be automatically out-pictured like virtual reality while another layer of delights arrives out of left-field courtesy of creative chefs marshalled by the inspired team of French Executive Chef Gael Lardiere and Thai Executive Pastry Chef Anupong Nualchawee. Every morsel placed on your tongue is edible festive fuel driving you on to that sweet spot when there is no “other”, only an intense sensation of complete happiness and fulfilment.
That’s how special The Rain Tree Café’s gourmet buffets have always been but are even more so since it was completely redesigned and rebirthed two years ago now, though it seems only yesterday.
The epicurean adventure begin moments after being seated at a timelessly elegant table in any of the three interwoven dining rooms - The Bronze Kitchen, The Valaya Room and Secret Garden - like satellites around the gastronomic grail.
The amuse bouche arrives under a glass hood, shrouded in wood-smoke which parts to reveal smoked seared salmon teriyaki, salmon roe, soba + ginger, that goes down real easy and makes you crave more.
It’s only the first of many impromptu intrusions at the table that will include a whole grilled lobster per diner and selections from the “prepared live to order” menu that adds another level of indulgence. Plus, later on, molecular cocktails and mocktails prepared tableside in another cloud of smoke that make you exhale smoke yourself when you bite into their frozen piquancy.
Exploring the spectacularly fresh and prime seafood uncovers lobster claws, king prawns, crayfish, king crab legs, mussels, oysters and various sauces. Sushi and sashimi feature great slabs of yellowtail, tuna, octopus, salmon, hokinai surf clam, plus intricate sushis. Also on a briny theme a rainbow of caviars, plus gravlax salmon with orange or dill, buttery tongues of smoked salmon, and stir-fried snakehead fish salad.
And why not turf as you surf when there’s pan-fried foie gras, foie gras terrine and foie crème brûlée arrayed with raspberry, strawberry and orange jams? Continue with Parma ham carvings and cantaloupe balls, copa ham, chorizo, salami, and rosette. Plus pork skewers with peanut sauce beside the comprehensive Caesar salad station.
Did someone say “soup”? There’s Black chicken Chinese herbs soup and lobster soup with “croutons” of poached prawn and herbed toasted brioche.
FESTIVE SPECIAL
The core of the Christmas buffets will be roasted chestnut and mushroom-stuffed turkey with giblet source, coupled with sous-vide turkey in cream sauce. Both for Christmas and New Year the seafood will be more extravagant and there’ll be various seafood salads as well as rich terrines and pâté.
The carvery may also include whole baked salmon, roasted ribeye beef with Yorkshire pudding, and out-of-this-world herb- and chilli-crusted lamb chops with mint jelly. Also a Peking Duck station and an Indian station stuffing minced lamb into nan to complement earthenware pots of chicken dahiwala yoghurt curry, tandoori malai broccoli and more.
Separately sirloin, lobster, mussels, salmon, pork, squid and sausages are BBQd live while tempuras are deep-fried, pastas, Asian noodles and Thai crepes prepared.
A string of hot dishes proposes the likes of: Taiwan abalone with shitake mushroom; stir-fried prawns Szechuan sauce; dim sums; chicken roulade with wild mushrooms, truffle and foie gras in bacon cream sauce; stir-fries of pork with chilli and herbs, shrimp with garlic, Hong Kong vegetables with mushroom; Thai red curry with pork, seared scallop/lemon butter caper sauce; pan-fried monkfish/saffron sauce.
Pushing the extravaganza to yet greater extremes, the menu of dishes prepared live to order ranges: pan-seared foie gras/pineapple chutney; Hokkaido scallops/orange pumpkin purée; wagyu beef burger; tom yum chicken burger; 65°C poached egg carbonara espuma and crispy bacon, Asian beef tartare; scrambled egg with truffles, braised Taiwanese abalone with brown sauce and more.
ROOM FOR DESSERT?
You’ll want to leave space for pudding. Chef Anupong’s creations don’t only taste like Christmas, they look like it, with Christmas tree ornament mousses and Santa sleigh English fruit cake. There’s marzipan and cherry stollen with candied orange, chestnut and spice crème brûlée, Raspberry chocolate cake, and various logs ranging classic chocolate to mandarin orange/chocolate spice, and pistachio and raspberry/ginger crumble. Plus Basler Leckerli Swiss gingerbread cookies, vanilla truffles, coconut macarons, cinnamon stars, gingerbread cookie, and gingerbread Thai men. The authentic Christmas pudding includes slathering with cognac butter sauce and flaming.
The festive deserts will start appearing from 5 December, three days after the hotel’s traditional walk-in gingerbread house is commissioned for charity.
The big buffets go furthest. There’s a fondue-style chocolate fountain; white peach shooters; mango and sticky rice station; riceberry kiwi panna cotta; pina colada, chocolate tartlets, macha red bean cake, peanut butter crunchy, chocolate trufiad, mixed fruit cheesecake, apple jalousie, Thai sweets, coffee crème brûlée, vanilla crème brûlée, soft fruit tartlets, macaron, pralines and bonbons, and six ice cream flavours with eclectic trimmings.
And what a selection of cheeses! – most of which unless you’re a cheese-ophile you’ve probably never heard of. But boy aren’t they delicious with dried fruit and nuts, and orange and raspberry chutneys.
The Rain Tree Café setting also ensures a sense of occasion. The design reflects the passion points and personal interests of Princess Valaya Alongkorn, an aunt of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The princess’s Kandhavas Palace once stood on the spot occupied now by The Athenee, so it is fitting that the hotel’s largest and most prominent dining outlet should honour its royal heritage.
All bound to make you and yours feel really Christmassy and right in the zone for New Year.
SUNDAY BRUNCH (12:00 p.m. - 03:30 p.m)
B2,400++/ person incl drinking water
B1,200++/ person incl drinking water for children aged 4 - 12 years old, free for under 4 years.
**Beverage Packages:
B1,000++ / person incl free flow of selected beverages + soft drinks+ fruit juices+ mocktails + illy coffee + tea
B2,100++ / person incl free flow of premium beverages+ soft drinks+ fruit juices + mocktails + illy coffee + tea
**No discount applicable
Savings for Le Club Members apply. Savings for SPG® Members apply.
THE ATHENEE HOTEL, A LUXURY COLLECTION HOTEL, BANGKOK, 61 Wireless Road (Witthayu). T 02 650 8800 or visit www.theathenee.comand www.theluxurycollection.com/theatheneehotel
