Cuisine with colonial charm

The hotel takes its name from the previous owner, Eugene Yu-Ching Yeh, a Taiwanese businessman who moved to Bangkok in 1998 and converted the three-storey manse into the 12-suite establishment in 2006. The property, managed by Compass Hospitality, now belongs to Fico Corporation, which owns the Thai rights to Domino’s Pizza and The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The ownership may have changed but the grandeur favoured by Yeh remains. The furniture and fittings are part of an eclectic private collection picked up by the businessman and his family over the years in the erstwhile British and French colonies of India and Indochina. Some 300 antiques are still used to furnish the hotel’s dining rooms and lobby area with leather chesterfields and elegant chandeliers adding to the old-fashioned luxury.

The private home feel extends to the dining room, named DB Bradley in honour of the American missionary Dan Beach Bradley who arrived in Siam in 1835 and made the kingdom his home. He is also credited with bringing the first Thai-script printing press to Siam, publishing the first Thai newspaper and monolingual Thai dictionary, and introducing modern medicine. 

“Bradley cut across cultures to bring Western medicine to Siam and treated Siam as his home. He also loved Thai food. The food served here would have delighted him, as it features cross-cultural gourmet French and Thai delicacies prepared by Thai chefs,” says F&B manager Jason Macleod.

The small dining room, designed to resemble mix of old wooden house and temple, can accommodate about 20 diners. The walls are lined with old timber and hung with mural paintings in a gold shade that is reminiscent of the lacquer murals found in Thai temples. 

DB Bradley offers a la carte and set menus for both lunch and dinner. I didn’t have a chance to try the Thai dishes during my visit but instead enjoyed a range of the French delicacies that appear to be the restaurant’s pride. A good starter is pan-seared Alaskan scallops (Bt690) served with fresh vegetables and dressed with cauliflower and wasabi mousseline. The dressing is mildly spiced to suit the Thai palate.

Then comes foie gras soup (Bt410) with cream of miso and white truffle. The restaurant uses the foie gras from noted exporter Rougie in the South of France and its pureed in the soup giving the liquid a creamy texture. The white truffle, also from France, enhances both look and taste and is softer and less powerful than its black cousin.

“Black truffle has a much stronger kick,” Macleod confirms, adding that this expensive fungus is best cooked with pasta or main dishes while the white one is perfect for a starter. “The soup is not too heavy but light and aromatic,” he adds.

Next up is roasted sea bass fillet in bisque sauce (Bt510). The fillet is wrapped in tinfoil and roasted in the oven at 350 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes to maintain its juicy texture and is served with pan-seared tiger prawns, mushrooms and Mediterranean vegetables. The chefs keep steak simple, using the slow cooking philosophy for their Tournedos Rossini (Bt1,500). The tournedos is 200-gram, 500-day grain-fed wagyu tenderloin with a marbling score of six plus and is roasted in oven at 250 degree Celsius for about 15 minutes. To keep it juicy but not bloody, the beef is removed from the oven then left to stand room temperature for another five minutes before pan searing. It is topped with a slice of whole foie gras, served with green-asparagus wrapped with bacon and mushroom, and finished with Madeira sauce.

“We serve our beef medium rare to keep in the natural juices and ensure tenderness. Over cooking is not recommended. Only the tenderloin cut is served here, as it is of the highest quality,” he says.

The meal is completed with blueberry amaretto cheesecake (Bt280) with hazelnut cracker and a rich and creamy vanilla sauce. 

  

 

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DB Bradley at the Eugenia Hotel on Sukhumvit Soi 31 is open daily for lunch from 11.30am to 2.30pm, and dinner from 6 to 11pm. Call (02) 259 9011-7 or visit www.TheEugenia.com.