EPIC LOBSTER TALES
at Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok’s riverside Sunday Brunch
As if the idea of enjoying a lavish combined morning-afternoon meal at peak weekend relaxation time weren’t appealing enough, the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok’s NEXT2 Café is serving a Sunday Brunch featuring a vast all-you-can-eat menu of international and seafood favourites featuring made to order lobster omelettes and Lobster Thermidor.
Executive Chef Marc Cibrowius — whose career profile includes Michelin three-starred restaurant Schwarzwaldstube in his native Germany — has created a tantalising gastro-tour of world cuisines that intrigues with its diversity and wows with masterful preparation.
With his highlight Lobster Omelette, Chef Marc brings together two beloved dining elements that usually occupy entirely separate culinary realms. The fluffy textured egg blankets are generously stuffed with lobster meat and topped with Hollandaise sauce and “Tobiko” flying fish roe. The popular crustacean is also showcased in the Lobster Thermidor with mushrooms and creamy-rich Béchamel sauce on the half-tail, while the list of dishes featuring VIP shellfish continues with Grilled Garlic Butter Lobster tail, Lobster Bisque and King Crab. It’s worth noting that there is no limit on premium seafood dishes, something sure to please Bangkok’s devoted seafood savourers and crustacean connoisseurs.
On the ‘turf’ side of the equation, the Australian Angus Prime Rib station pairs slices of rare beef with real-deal Yorkshire Pudding, offered alongside other western dishes that include Seabass in Cream Sauce, Prune-stuffed Pork Loin Medallions and Grilled Chicken in Mushroom Sauce.
One of the inherent hazards of attending a spread as bountiful and utterly enticing as this, is the ease with which one is distracted by the rows of self-serve islands that punctuate the half-dozen live cooking stations, something to which even we are not immune as we found while making our way to the Indian cuisine station. As we closed in on the targets of this side quest — Prawn and Chicken Tandoori, Lentil curry and assorted breads and rice — we were stopped in our tracks and diverted by a steaming pan of Porcini Mushroom Risotto, with detours for Peking Duck rolls and shucked French oysters on ice adding shame (worth it!) to the deliciously failed mission.
Similarly, our advance on the very well curated and -stocked Japanese Sushi & Sashimi station was thwarted by the Siren Call of the buffet’s imported Cheese Board table. Mercilessly casting their aromatic spell were European heritage varieties like Boursin, Reblochon, Livarot-Graindorge, St Maure and Valancay, while accompaniments of premium crispbreads, olives, dried fruits, cold cuts and assorted pickles rendered our capitulation complete.
That perennial French favourite Foie Gras shows up in several incarnations — classic grilled-to-order, Char Siu BBQ Pork with Foie Gras, Caramelised Foie Gras Sushi, and the ultimate contemporary adaptation, Foie Gras mini-burgers, known as ‘sliders’ in American finger food culture parlance.
It is only after finishing our second BBQ lobster tail that we realised there was one remaining hamlet of this sprawling epicurean empire to which we had yet to venture.
And so, gathering up the last of our intake capacity, we set a course for Dessert Island, where a confectionery honour guard of Mille Feuille, Nougat bars, chocolate truffles, assorted cakes and sweets welcomed us — but it was a trap! Finding ourself flanked in between a multi-tiered Chocolate Fondue Fountain and a rotating 12-barreled Ice Cream/Gelato Carousel, we bravely faced these superior forces of temptation and charged headlong into the blissful sweetness, somewhat like Tennyson’s Light Brigade, but with a patisserie fork and fondue skewer substituting for lance and sabre.
To keep youngsters entertained, there is the Elephant Parade® Workshop, where kids can paint a cute, high-quality elephant statue in any motif they wish. More than just a fun kids’ activity, parents can join, too for a unique bonding experience creating art that you can display at home. Prices start at B1,000 net including painting materials, with 20% of proceeds going to support accredited elephant welfare and conservation projects.
The spacious, airy dining room at NEXT2 Café glows in warm wood-tones and gleaming copper accoutrement, while the outdoor terrace offers a luxurious al-fresco ambience and stunning views of the mighty Chao Phraya River as the sparkling waters of this legendary waterway ripple gently past.
Sunday Brunch at NEXT2 Café.
Sundays, 12noon-3pm. B2,888 net per person.
Half Off for kids aged 6-11 years. Kids 5 years and under dine FREE.