JOIN THE CLUB
Siwilai’s new dining space has much to offer
Occupying a 1,200m² space on the 5th floor of Central Embassy, Siwilai City Club is a culinary spin-off of the Siwilai Concept Store. The expansive 400-seater offers various dining zones catering to different preferences. There’s the all-day Deli corner, the casual Eatery restaurant, open-air barbecue bar The Grill, secluded café City Lounge and the alfresco Terrace with its resort-like setting, cocktail bar and live music stage.
Last week, I checked out The Eatery, which follows the current global trend of providing a creatively written menu that gives an exciting frill to familiar recipes.
The Eatery lists approximately 70 items under categories such as “one bites”, “small plates”, “bigger plates” and “communal feast plates”. Ingredients are sourced locally, with beef from Surin province, chicken from Lop Buri, blue crab from Chumphon, soft-shell crab from Chanthaburi and corn from Phetchabun.
My party of three was there on the afternoon the Eatery launched its new menu. Since the service staff couldn’t yet recommend the most popular dishes, we had to trust our instincts.
First up were the crab cakes with onion-chilli jam and kaffir lime powder (360 baht). The ballshaped fritters were filled with a rather runny mix of crab and herbs and served on a bed of onion jam with a garnish of fresh bird’s-eye chillies to give to each bite a fiery kick.
Next was a gourmet version of khanom jeen nam ya pu, or fermented rice noodles with Southern crab curry, listed on the menu as ocean trout and blue crab (850 baht).
The price evidently reflects the cost of the imported rainbow trout, which came in a decentsize portion, and not the minuscule serving of yellow curry which had me wondering where the crab was and why the betel leaves were lying under the noodles instead of being chopped and mixed into the curry.
I have to say that the Gai Yang 2018 (370 baht), despite its tacky name, was the best-tasting dish on the table. I loved everything about it.
Two hefty chicken fillets, with slightly charred skin that lent a smoky dash to the juicy and flavourful dark meat, came in a yellow-green sauce — a thick blend of sawtooth coriander, turmeric and African spice mix. The sauce tasted like a delicious mild green curry with a hint of tanginess. The addition of deep-fried shallots gave it a sweet and nutty crunch.
Another dish we enjoyed was the braised beef tongue in soy and molasses with mascarpone, coriander and tangy chilli sauce (890 baht).
The tongue is cooked in salty sweet gravy until tender but still retains a pleasant chewiness. It comes served with a creamy dollop of mashed potato (I presume this is where the mascarpone comes in), deep-fried Chinese kale and a touch of nam pla phrik, or common lime and chilli infused fish sauce.
If you should find yourself at Siwilai City Club in need of a speedier meal, you may want to pass on the Eatery and head to the Deli and choose from its selection of salads, snacks, sandwiches, burgers and pasta.
I tried the grilled sourdough sandwich with roasted portobello mushrooms, behamel sauce, Grana cheese, grilled onions and truffle (360 baht). I found it very satisfying.
The kitchen’s Italian take on chilli-cheese fries, fries with beef Bolognese sauce (220 baht), was less successful. It was simply a pile of deep-fried frozen potato sticks drenched with mediocre-tasting beef sauce and grated Parmesan cheese.
For dessert, the staff’s recommendation of mango and gianduja chocolate mousse cake (320 baht) provided a nice finish to our meal.
This well-executed delicacy, featuring layers of mango gel, citrus mousse, chocolate-hazelnut paste and fine sponge cake dressed with longan honey on a dark chocolate crust, was fragrant and luscious but not overly sweet.
My order of sticky date pudding with poached pear (280 baht), meanwhile, was rather dry and lacking the quintessential buttery taste.
When there’s a fancy looking drinks bar in front of you, it’s hard to resist the urge to sample some of what it has to offer.
Unfortunately (perhaps due to poor decision-making on my part), my two orders of non-alcoholic beverages turned out to be nothing but simple concoctions with interesting descriptions.
We all agreed that Siwilai’s Cream Soda (160 baht) was a nice rendering of honey-lime soda, but with no palatable signature touch.
The salted caramel smoothie (180 baht), meanwhile, was simply an icy chocolate milk topped with caramel sauce.
With its variety of sections, offering peaceful dining chambers, dynamic bar area and alfresco terrace, Siwilai City Club is ideal for social gatherings and casual business meetings.
Some of the staff were a little unfriendly, but most were sweet and eager to please.