Cuisine with a poetic flavour

GILLES POITEVIN, the new executive chef at Bangkok’s Siam@Siam Design Hotel, spent almost seven months redesigning the menu of La Vue restaurant, transforming it from French Mediterranean to “gastronomic earth”, a genre he describes as “fine traditional cooked to retain the most of the natural tastes and colouring”.

Surrounded by floor-to-ceiling glass, the restaurant on the 25th floor offers a panoramic view of Bangkok but is pleasantly small and intimate with room for just 26 diners. The interior design is eccentric with paintings of eyes and mirrors that remind us to look at our inner selves. 

Poitevin has designed his menu with such attention to detail that every morsel has exactly the right balance of ingredients, flavours, textures and colours even before it’s arranged on the elegant tableware. The result is a culinary experience that pleasing to both the taste buds and the eyes.

Each dish, Poiteven says, is prepared with emotions conjured up from his childhood memories and with a sense of history, poetry and music. The ingredients are carefully selected and imported from France.

A light dish is Steamed Britannnia Lobster (Bt990), a sous-vide creation in which the lobster sealed in an airtight plastic bag and cooked slowly in water below boiling point for a long time to retain the natural flavour. Heritage tomatoes in five colours – purple, yellow, green, orange and red - with different textures and tastes are used to respect the old cultivar that is still maintained by gardeners in small communities in France. These tomatoes were once common fare but are not used in modern large-scale agriculture because they have a shorter shelf life and are less resistant to disease. The lobster is lightly dressed with sweet and sour honey dressing and served with mandarin sherbet.

The Louis XVI Duck Foie Gras with Fig Jelly (Bt790) arrives at the table on an engraved silver tray and is topped with colourful flower petals and served with a fig compote marinated with Benedictine liquor and toasted brioche. 

“Foie gras can trace its origins back to Ancient Egypt and has been around for more 3,000 years,” says sous chef Montep Kamolsilp, adding that in the olden days, the geese were fed on figs.

 “It was greatly in favour during the reign of King Louis XVI of France and we’re creating this dish as a toast to history.”

Challans duck, raised free-range in the French region of the same name, is known the world over for its lean and tender flesh. At La Vue it’s used for the soup called Duck Confit in Mushroom Forest Consomme with Foie Gras and Black Truffle Sense (Bt690). The pan-seared foie gras, Perigord black truffles along with the rosemary and thyme are served separately on a silver tray alongside a glass bowl is filled with wild mushrooms and truffle oil and a bottle of painstakingly prepared consomme made from duck breasts and bones. To eat, just put the foie gras, mushrooms and herbs into a glass bowl then add the hot consomme.

“The Challans duck has a strong flavour compared to the ducks we are used it. It is normally killed by strangulation to preserve all its blood and this gives the flesh a unique flavour,” says Montep.

Another well-flavoured soup is Nage of the Sea (Bt490), featuring scallop, lobster and Bouchot mussels in cream soup. The broth is flavoured with white wine, butter, vanilla, onion and Espelette pepper and the seafood is poached and slightly seasoned with lemon for a tangy taste. Tarragon oil is added before serving. 

We also savour the Steamed Tsarskaya Oysters with Salicornia (Bt1,290). The oysters are steamed with seaweed to give them a pleasant aroma. The Tsarskaya oysters are chosen, says chef Montep, because they have a sweet aftertaste. It is served with a sauce made from Echire butter, salicornia, red onion, fish stock and black truffle oil.

Then comes an old-fashioned dish of Braised Calf’s Head (Bt790). The finely-chopped flesh, skin and cheek are braised and served in mayonnaise-style Gribiche sauce and garnished with julienne vegetables of pickled carrot and zucchini on a chicken breast mousse. It is also topped with calf’s tongue and potatoes.

The winner among the desserts is the Baked Alaska Raspberry & Vanilla Fragrance Flamed with Grand Marnier (Bt410). Vanilla and raspberry ice creams are placed in a pie dish lined with slices of sponge cake and topped with meringue. It’s served at the table in a flourish of liquor-generated flames.

 

 

PICTURE PERFECT

>>La Vue is on the 25th floor of Siam@Siam Design Hotel on Rama I Road. It is open daily for dinner from 6.30 to 11pm. Call (02) 217 3070.