The ELEMENTS of surprise

The ELEMENTS of surprise

And lo, the Michelin Star did verily appear upon the horizon… It’s Christmas dinner at The Okura Prestige Bangkok

SOCIAL & LIFESTYLE
The ELEMENTS of surprise

Elements Restaurant at The Okura Prestige Bangkok hotel is whipping up a Christmas Dinner set menu feast with a “French cuisine with Japanese influences” theme that seamlessly and delectably mingles these disparate and beloved world cuisines.

Elements’ understated, easy going elegance is expressed in leather chairs and table-sofas, high ceilings and subdued yet dramatic décor details that suggest an evening spent at home in a well-appointed parlour, with an open kitchen just off the table line that lets diners in on all the culinary action.

This year’s Christmas menu is a startlingly varied mosaic of textures, alternating temperatures, surprising flavours and vividly alluring hues.

The creative and technical force behind it all is Chef Antony Scholtmeyer, a veteran culinary professional with over two decades of cooking and leadership experience in his native Australia, and later the UK, Japan, Portugal, the US and China, including InterContinental Shenzhen along with the Ritz Carlton Singapore and Hawaii.

And in a very recent development… Under Chef Antony’s able stewardship, Elements restaurant has gained membership to the world’s most exclusive culinary club after being bestowed with a Michelin Star of excellence. And significantly Elements is among the first “class” of seventeen establishments in Thailand to have garnered the prestigious and widely coveted accolade.

Chef Antony’s six-course menu commences with a starter featuring a Tsarskaya Oyster No. 2. The shellfish is served on a half shell in a saltwater gelée with fresh wasabi-nori sauce, making for a refreshing and palate stimulating opener.

The chestnut soup which follows arrives as a work in process, with sautéed tiger prawn, Hokkaido scallop and smoked crème fraiche loitering in the centre of an otherwise empty plate. No sooner had we taken the opportunity to admire the artful plating, when a rich and thick chestnut potage was decanted into our bowl, enveloping the main ingredients in thick, slightly sweet and nutty goodness - right before our eyes.

Making inspired use of seasonings of the season, the seared foie gras in Christmas spices blends cumin, cinnamon, and coriander beneath a caramelised honey crust that perfectly ties the various flavours together like symphony’s flavourful coda, while garnishes of pureed red cabbage, caramelised shiitake and powered carrot give balance to the dish’s sweet-sour dichotomy.

As far as deconstructed seafood is concerned, the Japanese Sea Bass is in a class by itself. The tender fish is poached in olive oil, while the skin - having been removed - reappears flattened and crisp as a cracker - with Khao Yai white asparagus and Yuzu gelée in supporting roles.

As if his spectacular presentations weren’t enough, Chef Antony employs a simple yet impactful technique in his cooking, wherein one featured item of a dish is served warm and the other cold. This thermal juxtaposition succeeds in adding yet another sensory dimension to his already complex, multifaceted creations.

The set menu includes a choice of two main courses, the first of which is suckling pig that includes belly and cutlet portions rendered into a kind of pork stuffing. Having experienced a five-hour sous vide bath before being roasted, the meat is succulent and tender, with hints of Japanese seasoning flitting to and fro across the palate. The dish’s garnish elements (so that’s where they got the name!) are a treat unto themselves, with a pork leg croquette, smoked eggplant, ginger puree and parsnip puree - not to mention the generous slices of fresh black truffle, OR…

Guests may choose the roast turkey ballotine, a rolled and roasted breast with a mushroom farce stuffing, served with petits farcis vegetables, savoury bread pudding, edamame puree and truffle sauce.

In conceiving the menu’s dessert course, Executive Pastry Chef Sebastiaan Hoogewerf has assembled a sweet tooth’s wish list of beloved treats. The name of his masterpiece afters creation - marinated cherries - does not even come close to doing justice to what actually lands at the table.

Using a chocolate Sacher biscuit as a base (derived from the famed Austrian Sacher-Torte cake), this one-man band of a dessert then adds marinated cherries, popped rice coated in milk chocolate, chocolate-sherry custard, caramel fudge with crumbled gingerbread and beetroot meringue drops.

The odd-man out in the kaleidoscopic fantasy of sweets - which we would like to unofficially dub Willy Wonka’s Workshop - is a solitary pickled beetroot medallion, which Chef Sebastian has intended, we think, as a token measure of penance for indulging in such a sinfully satisfying patisserie. Or perhaps it was included simply as a dare to the diner, in which case - well played, Chef Sebastiaan, well played.

A rather impressively sized trolley cart brimming with Petits Fours is thoughtfully provided to keep company with the evening’s final cup of coffee or tea.

For those wanting to take advantage of Bangkok’s “winter” season weather, the 25th floor venue also features a cantilevered deck with an enviable view of the ‘Prestige’s prestigious central shopping district environs, ideal for al fresco dining or clinking cocktail tumblers under the stars.

Six-course Christmas Dinner set menu.

24 & 25 December 2017.

6-10.30pm.

Baht 4,600++ per person (includes glass of Champagne or signature cocktail).

ELEMENTS

The Okura Prestige Bangkok. Park Ventures Ecoplex, 57 Wireless Road. Tel. 02 687 9000. Email: elements@okurabangkok.com. http://www.okurabangkok.com/en/index.html.

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