 |
|
FEATURES |
Celebrity chef mega-branding is now just icing on the blueberry,
lemon-infused cheesecake, writes Melanie Tam. Asia Tatler's How-To-Guide
|
 |
Make a toast, get the best table – the secrets of the super-suave can be yours for the mastering
GET A GREAT TABLE
Maitre d'hotels recommend reserving in advance, especially
for window tables, by at least three to four days. If you
forget to call, then ask the concierge of an established and
respected hotel to make the booking — even if you're
a native of the area. A good concierge will be known among
the maitre d's and restaurateurs in the city. If you're lucky,
he'll call the restaurant and make the reservation on your
behalf. If you're even luckier, he won't ask for your hotel
room number. However, for most fine dining experiences, the
table location is not as important as the quality of the meal
and service. Read more...
Health State
 |
If your aim is to eatwell while doing your body a good turn,
Thai food is the cuisine for you, writes Aaron Espana
If there is an obvious drawback to the information age, it
is that we are bombarded with constant reminders that if it
feels too good or tastes too delicious it is probably bad
for our health. Fortunately, a few of life’s simple pleasures,
like Thai food, buck that trend. In fact, if you do it right,
a night out treating yourself to a delicious local meal can
prove downright healthy for you. Understanding Thai food’s
salutary effects breaks down to a few simple factors. Armed
with a little knowledge of the food itself, some intuition,
and a dash of local wisdom, you are in for a revivifying time
at the table. Read more...
Barrelled Over
 |
Wine expert JamieGoode explores the use ofoakin ageing wine
Despite their importance in the winemaking process, the positive effect of barrels was most likely a lucky discovery made hundreds of years ago: they just happened to be the best way of storing and transporting liquids, and the fact that they could add something to the wine was a nice bonus. However, oak’s accidental association with wine has been a critical one. The majority of fine red wines are dependent on oak barrels for a vital component of their flavour, as are a good number of whites. Without oak, wine. would be quite different. Even where older, larger barrels, which don’t have such a direct flavour impact, are used, their ability to allow exposure of the contents to small amounts of oxygen is important in the development of the wine. Read more...
Fuzzy Fusion Logic
 |
Though anymore met with disdain at its mere mention, fusion cuisine is simply an inevitable process, not a conspiracy. Andrew Hiransomboon takes a look at how things are mixing in Thailand.
Imagine you’re a sushi chef in, let’s say, California (Los Angeles most likely). Business is a bit slow; your customers are bored, you’re bored. So you start playing around with your maki sushi, filling one with, instead of the traditional Japanese fillings, sweet dungeness crab and creamy haas avocado. Radical! Behold: the California roll. On a roll here, if you will, you stuff another maki sushi with chopped maguro, some sprouts, and then jazz it up with some zesty Thai sri racha sauce. Awesome! Voila: the spicy tuna roll. You have now committed the act of fusion. Read more..
Dining comes of age
 |
Bangkok’s restaurant scene continues to mature and,
says Sue Farley, has very nearly reached the heights of other
world dining capitals.
After a few years of new cafes, trattorias, and smaller restaurant
openings, the last two years in Bangkok have been dominated
by the arrival of more serious, formal and pricey dining rooms.
Not only have the food quality and selection improved in Bangkok
but so have the architecture and interior design. Many new
restaurants are looking very modern and even minimalist. Italian
restaurants no longer open their doors to a 1960s scene of
plastic grapes, straw-covered wine bottles and pictures of
gondolas. Even some Thai restaurants have abandoned Thai style
in favour of a more sleek look. It could be that Bangkok has
now joined the ranks of the world’s great dining cities.
Read more...
The New Tastement
 |
From eco-gastronomy to low-carb diets, to holistic menus, RICK KRITT explores the latest dining trends that are bridging the gap between health-consciousness and gourmet cuisine
Agastronome who isn’t an environmentalist is a fool,” says Carlo Petrini. “True, he or she has to enjoy the food they eat, but they also have to know where it comes from and how it’s produced. The only true gastronome is an eco-gastronome!” Petrini is president of Slow Food, the association that came into being 18 years ago not so much to attack fast food as to defend Italian regional cuisine and our typically laid-back way of eating it. “Anyone who thinks of themselves as a food lover but does not have any environmental awareness is na?ve. Whereas an ecologist who does not enjoy the pleasures of the table has a sadder life,” he continues. Read more...
Dinner Party Conversation
 |
It isn’t just what you talk about during dinner, but what you have to say about the meal itself, so try these terms to sound like a real food snob. Compiled by David Kamp and Marion Rosenfeld
Carême, Antonin
Social-climbing French chef (1783-1833) who transcended his
origins as a lowborn pastry cook to become the greatest authority
on French cuisine of the 19th century, concocting elaborate
gorgefests for such clients as the French statesman Talleyrand
and Czar Alexander I of Russia. Generally upheld by snobs
in unflattering counterpoint to French chefs of later eras.
The Troisgros brothers unabashedly embraced the peasant fare;
not for them the lofty pretensions of Carême. Read
more..
|
||||||
|
||||||
|
