Where spies come in for the hot

IT’S A well-known fact that two of the James Bond movies – “The Man with the Golden Gun” and “Tomorrow Never Dies” – were partially filmed in Thailand. But what you probably didn’t know is that MI6, the real-life British secret service for which the fictional 007 worked, once had a base in Chiang Mai.

Well at least that’s the charming conceit of the restaurant known as The Service 1921, which likes to pretend it occupies the former headquarters of MI6 – had Her Majesty’s Secret Service ever actually been interested in a locale in the north, perched on a bank of the Ping River.

Just opened last Friday with a red-carpet Roaring Twenties party, The Service 1921 is a fresh and entirely welcome development at the Anantara Chiang Mai Resort & Spa. And you certainly can’t blame the owners for playing up the spy angle, because the two-storey building used to be the British consulate, back in 1921, complete with spacious colonial-style verandas that catch the breeze off the river. 

And who knows what sort of political and military machinations were once cooked up here over gin and tonics?

There’s a peephole in the front door, surely more of a Chicago speakeasy touch than British intelligence, but the cloak-and-dagger theme permeates the fully refurbished restaurant with its labyrinth of interconnecting rooms. These include a plush lounge and a wine cellar well stocked with vintages from the Old World and the New.

Back in the day, the British in Siam were invested in teak logging, and the floor and walls are all of the same solid, heavy wood. Antique rugs, lamps, fans and other artefacts further evoke the period. Upstairs is a bloke’s “private” den for tasting whiskey and – get this – it’s done up like an interrogation room, with rustic chain fetters bolted to the brick wall.

Among the three dining rooms, one has various spy gear on display, both old-fashioned and very modern, and another is a library lined with bookshelves – behind which lies a secret chamber!

At least executive chef Prabhash Prabhakaran doesn’t appear to be the secretive sort. He’s happy to talk about what goes on in his kitchen, where traditional Vietnamese, Thai and Sichuan dishes are prepared using ingredients straight from the local market.

“It’s Mekong cuisine,” he says. “Cantonese cuisine is now popular all around the world, but the next cuisine coming up from China is Sichuan, so we have a great chef from the Centara Sichuan, Cheng Du, who also works with many hotels in the Sichuan region. For the Vietnamese dishes we had a chef from the Hanoi Oriental Central train us. 

“All the food is all original flavours – no adaptations, no added Thai twists – because people come here to try something authentic, so we keep everything original and maintain that standard.”

You can try all three forms of cuisine with The Service 1921 Tasting Platter (Bt299). You get Thai fried chicken wings stuffed with glass noodles with spicy tamarind sauce, herbed Sichuan pork skewers and tender Vietnamese ground beef wrapped in betel leaves.

Rather than the mundane Vietnamese spring roll available anywhere, Prabhash opted for Grilled Eggplant Salad with Crab Meat (Bt233) as a starter to the meal, an aromatic char-grilled eggplant and snow-crab meat in sweet-and-sour dressing. “Vietnamese cuisine is about 80 per cent similar to Thai food, but there’s less spiciness.” For the Thai dishes, he says, “We chose the signature dishes from the South, Central and North.” 

Sichuan food he describes as “very aggressive, very spicy and oily”. Most of his herbs and spices come from a local shop dealing in Chinese medicine – “dry, from many kinds of tree roots, to make the sauces and marinades”.

Equally tempting in colour and taste, the Sichuan Pork Meat Dumpling (Bt240) relies on soya and chilli-oil sauce, while the Cheng Du Speciality Dandan Noodles (Bt220) are topped with minced pork and more of that fiery chilli oil. Wok-Fried Crab with Sichuan Chilli Sauce (Bt455) is a blue swimmer crab with ginger, shallots, spring onions and the by-now-inescapable hot sauce, and Chinese Roasted Duck (Bt399) is proving popular thanks to its spicy barbecue sauce.

“Sichuan is close to India, where cooks use a lot of cumin, cinnamon and mustard seed, so Sichuan cuisine uses a lot of these same ingredients, a lot of the dry spices. That’s why it’s so fully flavoured.”

The Thai dishes include Kae Op Muang (Bt310), which is tender braised lamb shoulder in spicy tomato curry, and Gaeng Khua Goong Sapparod (Bt350) – big ocean king prawns braised in hot red curry with sweet basil and sliced pineapple.

The bar has wines to pair with every sort of dish. “In Europe they’ve made drinks and wine more comfortable for Asian cuisine,” Prabhash says. “This is the market now – we have wine, fusion cocktails, ‘mixology drinks’ and many crazy things!” 

 

SPICY AND INTRIGUING

>>The Service 1921 is at the Anantara Chiang Mai Resort & Spa on Charoen Prathet Road. 

>>It’s open daily from 11.30am to 2.30pm and from 6 to 11pm. 

>>Book a table at (053) 253 333.