J
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In another concept, perhaps this would have been a great meal. Tldr, Great ideas and personality in the menu, but held back in flavors.
2 of my favorites.. the chicken wing stuffed with quail egg and the icy raw fish salad thing. The chicken wing was cooked perfectly and had a very pleasant strong wine marinate which punched through. The raw fish salad, to me, was a very interesting take on the classic lo hei or yu sheng served during CNY in Msia and Sg. Even after finishing the dish, the familiar after taste of lime, pickled fruits and sesame seed remained.
The prawn and duck were cooked perfectly but lacked in flavor. The sweetness of the prawns were not brought out by the other components, which were bland themselves. I had to taste each layer separately to know what they were. The duck was okay, but they said they wanted a salty duck with a sweet banana and pink guava combination. The duck needed much more seasoning. Doneness perfectly pink though, best part was the duck tongue. Great flavours.
Other dishes such as the pasta made from green papaya came across as bland and too oily. The main ingredients green papaya and stink bean needed lots of flavor to accompany them. The final chilli dish which is actually chocolate mousse tasted flat too. Menu described it as a small bite to summarized my dinner… it sure did.
Other desserts such as a rice waffle and ice cream made from all rice components was decent. I wished there was more fermented rice for the kick. The 2nd dessert made from sweet potato and coconut potato was also great. 3rd dessert of coriander granita with a sugar marinated quail egg yolk was ok when cold. But the smell from the quail egg yolk was overpowering in my mouth when I finished the dish and the temperature rose.
As for service, great attentive sincere service. Until the billing. I was charged my home currency instead of the local currency Thai baht before being asked. Frequent travelers would know that the exchange rates horrendous for such transactions. They did rectify after I voiced out but it gave the meal a bad ending.
The small piece of cake, supposedly for breakfast tomorrow, that I finished then, was the best of the night. Buttery, intense flavours.
There were 2 groups of non Asians there which were raving about the food. Perhaps I’m not their target audience then.