Tummies heed call of the wild

With the French hunting season in full swing, Reflexions Restaurant at the Plaza Athenee Bangkok, a Royal Meridien Hotel, has just introduced a game menu called “Little Red Riding Hood” that conjures up a picture of dark, mysterious wilderness. The girl with the red cap in that European tale ends up being swallowed whole by a wolf. Instead, diners feast on game meats in this fairytale dinner that is likely to make even grandmas feel like hunters.
This dining concept is the brainchild of young chef Daniel Bucher. “It’s easy for European diners to identify with this fairytale, which shows what to expect of the forest. It’s easy to visualise a forest and wildlife with this title. And I want the dinner to coincide with the hunting season in France,” said Bucher.
Bucher’s menu sets out to highlight what it’s like encountering wild animals in the French autumn forests and enjoying authentic taste of forest produce. He uses sustainable-harvest game of high quality such as fowl oyster, wild boar, partridge, hare civet and venison. Treating the ingredients with respect, Bucher creates cleverly presented and tasty dishes that celebrate classic and contemporary French styles. Overall wild mushrooms permeate most dishes.
The amuse bouche shows a degree of grittiness. Bucher coats a hot stone with oil and grills a tiny piece of fowl to be savoured with a fruit juice and wild mushroom. It took a while for the meat to cook, and it was worth the wait. The second starter was foie gras that kept you wanting more food.
There are six items on the game menu, which can be ordered a la carte. Bucher wanted this reviewer to try them all, but I insisted only a few dishes would be enough. He proposed why not have them all in smaller portions.
The first course – Forest Mushroom with chanterelle, cep, garlic confit and new potatoes – is a mass of crispy ingredients and fresh green leaves that strangely conjures up tropical flavours, spicy aromas, and the smell of the forest, if you like.
Fowl Oyster came next with morel, organic egg and Parmesan. Upon seeing the dish, you’d simply want to tackle first the white organic egg placed on top of the juicy dish. Bucher explains the oysters are two small, round pieces of dark meat on the back of the poultry near the thigh. This was my favourite dish of the night simply because it was spicy and aromatic. You just want to finish the dish as quickly as possible.
Hare Civet with spiced polenta, snails, morels and chanterelle was heavy with several kinds of fungi that added to the dish’s pleasant crunchiness. As a Thai, I got the feeling that the wild meat tasted like “red” roast pork. The fattier it gets, the tastier it becomes. You get the mushroom and green leaves to lighten the dish.
Wild Boat is a soup that features
 veloute, chestnuts, tortellini and truffle, which offered a bit of a relief before the heavy main dish came. It looked simple, but the soup was thick, foamy and rather complex. Yet it’s easy to finish it off in no time.
After a sorbet, the much-awaited venison was served, featuring celeriac, cabbage, chanterelle and rose hip. I liked the aromas that struck your nose directly and automatically whetted your appetite. The meat was so soft that it didn’t require a lot of chewing because it slowly melted in your mouth. The sauce was amazing too, and you again got plenty of tasty wild fungi.
 The chef recommended 2007 Domaine Chandon Chardonnay, Australia and 2008 Domaine Chandon, Barrel Selection Yarra, Shiraz, Australia to pair with these dishes.
It was quite a dining marathon to tackle all of these dishes on your own as the real dishes are much bigger compared with the tasting dishes I had. But the Thais are likely to enjoy the smaller portions I had. Dishes on the game menu cost from Bt420 to Bt1,500. The recommended wines cost Bt3,500 per bottle.

YOU GAME?
 These rare special a la carte items, daily specials and regularly refreshed game set menus are available all this month at The Reflexions, Plaza Athenee Bangkok, a Royal Meridien Hotel.
 Make bookings at (02) 650 8800 or via e-mail at [email protected].