AMARETTO-old
August 29th, 2006, 05:12
A new player in BangkokтАЩs high-end dining scene fills a void
Just over two weeks old, Californian restaurant Harvey is already a major contender in BangkokтАЩs high-end dining scene. In the short time it has been open, it has relied on little more than word-of-mouth to pack diners in.
On a recent Friday night the place was buzzing with men in crisp white shirts and the seriously moneyed. The reason for this popularity is a combination of great ambience and service тАУ and seriously good food.
For once, all sectors are up to scratch тАУ a rarity in Bangkok. The wait staff, dressed in pale jodhpurs and braces, lay out the chic cutlery and tableware with orchestrated precision. The restaurant, thanks to walls of dun-colored marble, spotlighting and leather-backed seats, is all warmth and elegance.
The food itself тАУ Californian тАУ is a novelty in Bangkok. It espouses Mediterranean traditions with a slight nod to the French. With fresh flavors and an emphasis on salads (read: thereтАЩs not a lot of cream or butter here), wannabe Hollywood starlets can dine knowing they havenтАЩt consumed a weekтАЩs worth of calories. And it shows. Chef Charles Christiaens must be one of the few chefs in Bangkok whose stomach doesnтАЩt hang over his trousers. Intense and contemplative, with hollow cheeks and a gaunt frame, he looks like a young Ichabod Crane.
тАЬWhen you walk out, you donтАЩt want to feel you have overeaten,тАЭ he says. A Belgian native, he has lived in London and Dublin and is a former chef of Le Bistingo, a defunct Bangkok restaurant.
The secret of his current success is thoughtful experimentation, just-from-the-farm freshness and well-trained staff. Christiaens presides over a glass-wall kitchen where chefs meticulously grill prawns and marinade meat. They slice vegetables to paper-thin fineness. A huge leg of Iberico ham sits in a curing humidor.
Christiaens makes use of local ingredients as well, buying a lot of his produce from the Doi Kham Royal Projects Foundation. For example, tangy Thai pomelo is used liberally in salads and a fig is used as a foil for salty prosciutto. He uses fresh fish from Thai waters and Phuket lobster whenever he can.
A baked porcini mushroom starter is a bold and beautifully flavored dish (490 baht). It features meaty portobello mushrooms, topped with a rich fontina cheese. Shavings of freshly-grated black truffles, smoky and musky, make the dish a sensuous olfactory feast.
For Christiaens, contrasting tastes and standout textures is important. Thus the mushrooms with a soup?on of mustard are slithery, the sauce heavy and creamy. Likewise with the Duo Seafood dish, which features rock lobster and a scallop, served with a fennel and pomelo salad (450 baht) with a balsamic and creamy dill sauce. The sweet scallop, grilled lightly, is plump and juicy and the sauce is tangy. The crunchiness of the vegetables combined with the pomeloтАЩs soft sacs burst with piquant flavor.
If you want something completely different, try the seafood with avocado (520 baht). A compote of crab meat and avocado, blended with mayonnaise and not at all fishy, is a perfect foil to the avocado sorbet, dressed with a beetroot chip. The sorbet, tinged with the fruitтАЩs natural sweetness, is a velvety surprise, a refreshing tongue-tickler after all the creaminess. This one is drizzled with an orange sauce.
Also recommended is the tuna tartar (590 baht). Dressed like a sushi maki roll, it is wrapped in seaweed. Rich ahi tuna, which tastes like it has just been plucked from the sea, is set off by an ever-so-slightly bitter saffron emulsion. Round globules of salmon roe add additional flavor.
After the starters, two salads follow. A smoked salmon roll (390 baht), stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, has real bite. A tiger prawn salad (490 baht) is set off by a medley of citrus and tangy fruit, including California blood oranges, passion fruit and Australian red onions. Shards of thin pancetta enfold the tiger prawns.
Christiaens has put together simple grilled seafood and tangy salads beautifully, showing great imagination, but the true value of his cooking lies in his attention to detail. A double chicken consomme soup (290 baht) is boiled for two days, its fats skimmed off. Ravioli stuffed with porcini, goose liver and cep mushroom, adds a smokeyness to the clear, clean-tasting soup. Bar the ravioli, it otherwise tastes like mum would have made it, wholesome and sweetened by vegetables alone. It is wonderful. A lobster bisque soup (350 baht) tastes just how a classic bisque should, except Christiaens has added slivers of pancetta.
The mains donтАЩt let Harvey down either. The rack of lamb (690 baht) has a thin sliver of fat, which seals the juices in. Wonderfully pink, the meat is from a prime Australian cut, dusted with a rosemary, thyme and breadcrumb crust. ChristiaensтАЩ secret? He grills the lamb, coating it with mustard, and roasts it in the oven for just under a minute to give it a crunchy texture. A layered тАЬlasagneтАЭ of roasted vegetables тАУ carrot, eggplant and capsicum topped with Parmesan тАУ accompanies the dish.
Next off is a dish of sea bream with a seafood artichoke sauce, served with florentine spinach (690 baht). It is sweet and tender and the artichokes are al dente.
But sweets are definitely not ChristiaensтАЩ forte. His vanilla chilled cake (290 baht) and mille feuilles strawberries are insipid, hampered by his restraint in using cream and heavy sauces. But they are the only detractions from an otherwise outstanding meal. Harvey does Mediterranean-style food, but not as you know it. It is food that has recognizable tastes, but with imaginative, original twists.
Harvey :
тАв Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm, 6-10:30pm.
тАв 129 Thong Lor Soi 9
Map : www.harvey.in.th
Just over two weeks old, Californian restaurant Harvey is already a major contender in BangkokтАЩs high-end dining scene. In the short time it has been open, it has relied on little more than word-of-mouth to pack diners in.
On a recent Friday night the place was buzzing with men in crisp white shirts and the seriously moneyed. The reason for this popularity is a combination of great ambience and service тАУ and seriously good food.
For once, all sectors are up to scratch тАУ a rarity in Bangkok. The wait staff, dressed in pale jodhpurs and braces, lay out the chic cutlery and tableware with orchestrated precision. The restaurant, thanks to walls of dun-colored marble, spotlighting and leather-backed seats, is all warmth and elegance.
The food itself тАУ Californian тАУ is a novelty in Bangkok. It espouses Mediterranean traditions with a slight nod to the French. With fresh flavors and an emphasis on salads (read: thereтАЩs not a lot of cream or butter here), wannabe Hollywood starlets can dine knowing they havenтАЩt consumed a weekтАЩs worth of calories. And it shows. Chef Charles Christiaens must be one of the few chefs in Bangkok whose stomach doesnтАЩt hang over his trousers. Intense and contemplative, with hollow cheeks and a gaunt frame, he looks like a young Ichabod Crane.
тАЬWhen you walk out, you donтАЩt want to feel you have overeaten,тАЭ he says. A Belgian native, he has lived in London and Dublin and is a former chef of Le Bistingo, a defunct Bangkok restaurant.
The secret of his current success is thoughtful experimentation, just-from-the-farm freshness and well-trained staff. Christiaens presides over a glass-wall kitchen where chefs meticulously grill prawns and marinade meat. They slice vegetables to paper-thin fineness. A huge leg of Iberico ham sits in a curing humidor.
Christiaens makes use of local ingredients as well, buying a lot of his produce from the Doi Kham Royal Projects Foundation. For example, tangy Thai pomelo is used liberally in salads and a fig is used as a foil for salty prosciutto. He uses fresh fish from Thai waters and Phuket lobster whenever he can.
A baked porcini mushroom starter is a bold and beautifully flavored dish (490 baht). It features meaty portobello mushrooms, topped with a rich fontina cheese. Shavings of freshly-grated black truffles, smoky and musky, make the dish a sensuous olfactory feast.
For Christiaens, contrasting tastes and standout textures is important. Thus the mushrooms with a soup?on of mustard are slithery, the sauce heavy and creamy. Likewise with the Duo Seafood dish, which features rock lobster and a scallop, served with a fennel and pomelo salad (450 baht) with a balsamic and creamy dill sauce. The sweet scallop, grilled lightly, is plump and juicy and the sauce is tangy. The crunchiness of the vegetables combined with the pomeloтАЩs soft sacs burst with piquant flavor.
If you want something completely different, try the seafood with avocado (520 baht). A compote of crab meat and avocado, blended with mayonnaise and not at all fishy, is a perfect foil to the avocado sorbet, dressed with a beetroot chip. The sorbet, tinged with the fruitтАЩs natural sweetness, is a velvety surprise, a refreshing tongue-tickler after all the creaminess. This one is drizzled with an orange sauce.
Also recommended is the tuna tartar (590 baht). Dressed like a sushi maki roll, it is wrapped in seaweed. Rich ahi tuna, which tastes like it has just been plucked from the sea, is set off by an ever-so-slightly bitter saffron emulsion. Round globules of salmon roe add additional flavor.
After the starters, two salads follow. A smoked salmon roll (390 baht), stuffed with gorgonzola cheese, has real bite. A tiger prawn salad (490 baht) is set off by a medley of citrus and tangy fruit, including California blood oranges, passion fruit and Australian red onions. Shards of thin pancetta enfold the tiger prawns.
Christiaens has put together simple grilled seafood and tangy salads beautifully, showing great imagination, but the true value of his cooking lies in his attention to detail. A double chicken consomme soup (290 baht) is boiled for two days, its fats skimmed off. Ravioli stuffed with porcini, goose liver and cep mushroom, adds a smokeyness to the clear, clean-tasting soup. Bar the ravioli, it otherwise tastes like mum would have made it, wholesome and sweetened by vegetables alone. It is wonderful. A lobster bisque soup (350 baht) tastes just how a classic bisque should, except Christiaens has added slivers of pancetta.
The mains donтАЩt let Harvey down either. The rack of lamb (690 baht) has a thin sliver of fat, which seals the juices in. Wonderfully pink, the meat is from a prime Australian cut, dusted with a rosemary, thyme and breadcrumb crust. ChristiaensтАЩ secret? He grills the lamb, coating it with mustard, and roasts it in the oven for just under a minute to give it a crunchy texture. A layered тАЬlasagneтАЭ of roasted vegetables тАУ carrot, eggplant and capsicum topped with Parmesan тАУ accompanies the dish.
Next off is a dish of sea bream with a seafood artichoke sauce, served with florentine spinach (690 baht). It is sweet and tender and the artichokes are al dente.
But sweets are definitely not ChristiaensтАЩ forte. His vanilla chilled cake (290 baht) and mille feuilles strawberries are insipid, hampered by his restraint in using cream and heavy sauces. But they are the only detractions from an otherwise outstanding meal. Harvey does Mediterranean-style food, but not as you know it. It is food that has recognizable tastes, but with imaginative, original twists.
Harvey :
тАв Open daily 11:30am-2:30pm, 6-10:30pm.
тАв 129 Thong Lor Soi 9
Map : www.harvey.in.th