Celebrity chefs swap kitchen delights

MOST DINERS regularly frequent a particular restaurant because they enjoy the food, and therefore the resident chef who is responsible for satisfying their taste buds.
Chefs themselves can make or break a restaurant nomatter how wonderful the surroundings and service may be, thereby becoming celebrities in their own right.
So, it is understandable that last Thursday’s “restaurant swap” drove some foodies to new levels of gastronomic excitement.
The event was the second international Grand Gelinaz! Shuffle Two – where 40 chefs from 17 countries packed their bags and swapped kitchens with other chefs from other parts of the world. Three of Bangkok’s top dining venues – Bo.lan, Nahm and Gaggan – were chosen to participate in the shuffe. Diners were left in the dark about the guest chef until the dinner was served.
Mainly supported by S.Pellegrino, the event has become the signature trademark of Gelinaz!, with a global mix-up of dozens of big-name chefs taking a leap of faith and swapping their kitchens and lives for a couple of days.
Seventeen countries, including Brazil, Russia, Australia and Japan were part of this year’s event. Top chefs were put to the test in new countries and kitchens, and with new ingredients, where they were tasked with presenting a unique eight-course dinner.
Picked at random by ballot, each chef discovered his or her new restaurant location shortly before the shuffle itself. As for the guests, they paid about Bt6,000 for a dinner not knowing who would be manning the kitchen that night.
As we sat at the table at Bo.lan on Sukhumvit soi 53, it was revealed that Australian Chef Dave Pynt from Burnt Ends in Singapore had switched with Bo Songvisava, one of the masterminds behind Bangkok’s renowned Thai cuisine fine dining venue. Asia-based Pynt incorporated his “tasty, simple, quality and integrity” cooking philosophy with local ingredients, starting with “bugs, chili and lime”, where assorted bugs and larvae were toasted and tossed with lots of dried chili and salt and shredded kaffir lime leaves.

"Bug, chili and lime"

Next up was cubed fish cake wrapped in pandan leaf and grilled until the outside is burnt, served with sweet and sour achar dip with sliced cucumber. A series of appetisers continued with “beef, egg, chili jam”, a crunchy and soft textural play between deep-fried rice cake and beef tatare with chili jam or nam prik pao. Another tasty bite, “duck laab”, followed. The meat was smoked with coriander and mixed with bits of crispy pork skin for extra texture, served on a sheet of crunchy lettuce leaf.
“Dry curry chicken” was presented next. Small chicken wings were tossed with curry power and herbs before being grilled to smokiness. A squeeze of fresh lime helped brighten the musty, coconut-style crust. Pork’s heart, liver and kidney were next on the menu, skewed and grilled and served with grilled sticky rice balls. A slightly more filling and less heavily seasoned entry.
The first main course was “blackened pork jowl” where pork shoulder was grilled until charred and served with crunchy herb salad with several pungent greens to offset the richness of the meat. “Squid curry” arrived next, along with steamed brown and white jasmine rice. The squid was soft and succulent, while the broth had good balance of creaminess and savoury with a slight hint of shrimp paste that somehow reminded you of Malaysian-style curry.

"Squid curry"

The following two dishes were grilled prawn and lamb rack. The prawn was halved, grilled in its own shell and served with slightly sweet Thai-style dip with tamarind sauce, while the lamb was char grilled with grated coconut that gave off a creamy, sweet and smoky aroma.
The last savoury dish was “crab and curry stuffed suckling pig” where crabmeat seasoned with curry powder and herbs made a rich, pungent filling for the slow roasted pig. Unlike the Chinese-style suckling pig where the skin is usually crispy, the suckling’s skin was quite thick and chewy and the meat lean. The bold, overwhelming dish was saved by herb salad with vinegar that helped cut the grease and cleanse the palate.
The dessert was the decadent and super sweet “pineapple and palm sugar sabayon” that was torched to dark caramel on top. Palm sugar and pineapple made a perfect duo to give a tantalising, tropical feel, and a sensational toffee note when caramelised.
We were then asked to go into the kitchen, where we got to grill our own “jasmine som saa marshmallow” – the perfumed and slightly citrusy sweet bite grilled to suppleness.
Meanwhile at Gaggan, German Chef Sven Elverfield of 3-Michelin starred Aqua manned Chef Gaggan Anand’s kitchen, while Dominique Crenn from Atelier Crenn in San Francisco took over Chef David Thompson’s space at Nahm.

Find out more about Gelinaz at www.Gelinaz.com.