A journey to remember
SRA BUA CONJURES UP SOME MICHELIN–STARRED MAGIC
It begins with a magic trick. Your waiter presents a pot of seeds, closes the lid, then abracadabra! Two meringues appear inside. They come with a small plastic bag of crispy rice, and, the waiter informs us, the bag is edible. As a culinary curtain-opener of an eight-course meal, this is a hint of the intricate delights to come.
We’ve wandered through the cinnamon scented and festively decorated lobby of Siam Kempinski to their flagship restaurant, Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin. Thai Senior Head Chef Chayawee Sutcharitchan — in collaboration with the founder of Copenhagen sister restaurant Kiin Kiin, Henrik Yde-Andersen — have put together something rather special for the cooler season. They call it a Winter Journey and it’s a gastronomic trip full of surprises.
Sra Bua deals in molecular gastronomy, the intricate art of exceeding diners’ expectations while at the same time turning those expectations on their heads. This is a feast for the senses, where looking at a dish, or knowing what’s in it, gives you no real idea what the first mouthful will bring. Texture, temperatures and flavours consistently wrong-foot and amaze - green curry is a chilly ice-cream, heavy dishes turn light, and your eyes and palate are often at odds. It’s fun!
Such kitchen wizardry doesn’t go unnoticed, and this year the restaurant was awarded a high accolade. Sra Bua is now Michelin-starred (as is the Copenhagen restaurant), and their Winter Journey will show you why.
That initial magic trick is the start of a breakneck hors d’oeuvre performance. Over 30 minutes, you are presented with a showcase of the kitchen’s prowess and inventiveness. Reflecting the overwhelming bustle of the first visit to a Thai market, the dishes come thick and fast, with barely time to praise and dissect each clever treat before the next arrives. Among the street food-inspired dishes there’s a lobster bisque served in a martini glass, a spicy squid salad that tickles your tongue, a mini wonton cone filled with green curry ice cream, and at one point, adding to the synaesthesia, a cloud of smoke. Thankfully the smoke is from roasted coconut as opposed to the fried gasohol of the streets.
It’s only after this whirlwind whizz through typical Thai flavours that you are moved from the lounge area to your table for the first of the starters. The Winter Journey stops at eight stations - five starters, a main and two desserts. Your waiter will introduce and explain each dish as it arrives, and for good reason — we are in a space where flowers may or may not be edible but plastic bags are to be savoured.
The first starter is tom yum kung, but like you’ve never had before. The prawn is raw, and there’s a couple of tacos, a bowl of broth and a syringe. The trick, as the waiter explains, is to expel the contents of the syringe — blended tofu — into the soup. The tofu floats to the top and looks exactly like your favourite instant noodles. It’s a delightful tromp l’oeil and the broth is perfectly rich and wintery. It’s complemented by a glass of wine, which, if you choose the wine pairing (and you should, as they’re all excellent), is the first of a very festive seven glasses you’ll be served before journey’s end.
Then the weather takes a turn. A cold front approaches. In fact, it’s more smoke, but this time it envelops the table like a mountaintop cloud. Coconut takes the place of snow, atop Hokkaido scallop served with yuzu orange sorbet. I don’t want to overuse the word delicious, so unless I inform you otherwise (any nothing on the menu will compel me to do so) then you can safely assume that everything mentioned henceforth is delicious.
A Sancerre precedes a chunk of Ranong crab (how do they get so big?) in yellow curry foam, a dish from Chef Chayawee’s southern Thai heritage. There’s some kick from the chili, which is enhanced by the wine, but this is more a story of texture, from the plump, succulent crab to the crisped leaves and that airy foam.
Next up is a coffee without coffee. The science lab kit of a siphon coffee maker was first invented in the 1840s by a French woman, and it’s impossible to guess her reaction were she to witness how the device is used here. A crackling flame warms the bowl, sounding like a Christmas wood fire, and the stock bubbles up the funnel to infuse not coffee but mushrooms. I’d imagine that this is your first tom kha mushroom cappuccino.
Following foie gras sweetened with local produce – fruits from Petchabun and Nakhon Pathom — is the main, and perhaps the best Wagyu dish I’ve had. The A5 meat (does A4 and below even get through customs these days?) is sliced shabu-thin, with a double foam accompaniment of soya and miso, plus sesame and butter which rounds out the flavours, and reminded us of boat noodle broth — but of course from a particularly haute boat. It’s this combination of nostalgic Thai flavours and futuristic techniques that showcases just how effective and exciting molecular gastronomy can be. It impressed us, as it impressed the Michelin inspectors.
Pre-dessert has longans and lychees, alcohol and fire. Pernod and triple sec are mixed and blowtorched before being poured over the fruit. It’s boozy and moreish, a splendid combination.
Dessert is a yoghurt igloo encasing orange cake. Smash the dome and enjoy a grown-up and not overly sweet end to what has been a remarkable journey, and one you’ll be telling friends about for some time.
The Winter Journey set dinner menu is available until 31 March 2020 at Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin and is priced at B3,200++ per person for food only. Additional wine pairing is B2,300++.
For more information or to make a reservation, email srabua.siambangkok@kempinski.com or call 02 162 9000.