THIS IRON CHEF IS GOLDEN

Many chefs in Thailand want to be Iron Chefs, given the huge popularity of the Japanese TV show on Channel 5, which sees top chefs from various hotels competing on a weekly basis for the title. If they win it means so much in terms of publicity, marketing and sales.
The latest winner in the Chinese food category is Chef Lam Kok Weng, head chef of the Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Park’s Xin Tian Di restaurant. His victory has made him feel like a born-again chef. Impressed with his winning dishes on TV, patrons have flooded the restaurant, wanting to taste his award-winning four-course set now available for Bt2,000-plus.
The media had their mouthfuls of the four-course set recently while sampling his equally great dishes available on the menu too.
With his 20 years’ cooking experience in his homeland Singapore, plus Indonesia and Thailand, Chef Lam has never wanted to cook anything but Chinese food. He’s even regarded widely as the king of Chinese herbs. So on “Iron Chef” he let no one down by including the best of Chinese herbs in his winning recipes.
The main ingredient assigned to him on the show was goby fish. He had one hour to create a four-course set with it.
The first course presented for the media was the appetiser “Deep-fried goby fish and prawn mousse served with Chinese herbs infused sauce”. The crispy fish and tiger prawn ball were simply wrapped around with even more crispy white noodles, sitting atop a set of Chinese herbs, whose pleasant, strong smells wafted into the air. To eat it, you simply inject a tube of slightly sweet sauce into the filling. The presentation was mind-blowing. The noodles were so nicely crisp that it felt you were tucking into a real nest on your house’s window.
Then I noticed there was XO sauce and Shanghai chilli sauce on the table. With a little spiciness added, I loved the appetiser.
The second course was “Double boiled sliced goby fish and Chinese herbs in superior bouillon”. I didn’t know why I loved the clear soup the most that night. I felt like I was having something healthy and vitalising because it helped keep your system turned on and ready for food, like great wines.
It should have been the first course, I guess. You smell the herbs again wafting, but not too much. All the ladies tasting the food loved the soup more than anything else. It was incredible that the soup had been done in one hour on the show and tasted this great. For the media tasting it took two hours.
Next up was “baked goby fish in Japanese mayonnaise with Chef Lam’s homemade bean curd with spinach”. The chef gave Chinese food a twist by coating the fish with mayonnaise. The result was the fish tasted creamy in the mouth, so tender so soft. What was amazing was the Chinese spinach on the bean curd refused to change its true colour after being cooked. It remained just as green. The smell of the spinach was not too strong, which was nice. Again the aromas of Chinese herbs
 were right to the fore.
The main dish was “fried-rice with goby fish and XO sauce served in steamed pumpkin”. The fried rice absorbed the natural fragrance of the steamed pumpkin, which made your mouth water. I felt obliged to say that everyone must try his fried rice. The rice was firm and grainy, never moist, which is a mark of the chef’s profound expertise. It was delicious and a little spicy (hence its title “The Angry Emperor”) without being too salty.
When you know that the XO sauce was done by the
 chef himself (with Yunnan ham, dried fish and seafood), you certainly know you are eating the top-quality one. It made me forget the Thai nam phrik phrao sauce right away. You are allowed to eat the steamed pumpkin too.
Finishing the four-course set, we were treated to Chef Lam’s other specialities, plus a variety of dim sum, mostly fried. As a big fan of bean curd, I went first for “Pan-fried Chef Lam’s Home-made Bean Curd with Spinach in XO Sauce”. I added more XO sauce and had it with the fried rice from the previous victorious set.
Then we were served “Pan-fried Tiger Prawns with Butter Milk and Lemon”. You got the butter, but it was contrasted with chilli, garlic and lime. I added the Shanghai chilli sauce for more spiciness. It felt like a heavy dish, but I enjoyed it a lot.
The Peking Duck was particularly enjoyable too. Carving the duck into razor-thin slices is simply an art, and Chef Lam was impressive. You put a slice on a crepe-like pancake and add the basic ingredients: scallions, cucumbers and a hoisin (plum) sauce. Spread a thin layer of plum sauce over a pancake. Add a few slivers of scallion and cucumber, then one or two slices of duck. Fold the bottom and side flaps of the pancake. Then munch on the finished wrap. Bliss!
I must say I enjoyed “Sauteed Australian Wagyu Tenderloin with Black Pepper Sauce” the most because it’s hot and spicy. I couldn’t get enough of it. Anyone with the runny nose will need this dish because the black pepper is certainly the right ingredient to fight the rainy season.
There are not many Iron Chefs out there, so whether or not you need to try Chef Lam, you decide. I’d love to be back again.