EDIBLE ART
Ihave always been a fan of chef Riley Sanders of the Michelin-starred Canvas. As a food journalist and food nerd, my palate welcomes the weird and wonderful, and chef Sanders delivers just that in his 18-course new menu (B4,500++).
The “Willy Wonka” of Thai ingredients manages to use the exquisite tableware as a canvas to present his works of art, which are not only a feast for the eyes but the mouth, as well. The menu does come with a “canvas” of what the dish may look like as you begin with three amuse bouches: Sour fruit with shrimp paste and shallot or six different types of sour fruits, which gives the dish different textures of sourness. Fresh and dried jinda chilli is mixed with fried shallots served with cashew leaf and a kapi ice cream. Delish!
Eel with perilla and malaep or rice paddy wild eel from Nakhon Nayok, which is marinated, grilled and served with a relish of turmeric, grilled shallot, chilli and the northern
maleap wild pepper, which is very rare and costs B2,000 a kilogramme!
Squid with hairy eggplant and borage is a steamed squid crisp with raw squid on top, dressed som jeet and Indian borage and also a paste that is made from hairy eggplant, cooked with white turmeric, chilli and a bit of caramelised fish sauce. Garnished with my favourite flower to eat — the ginger flower.
The menu is a mix of small and big bites so the diner gets the most of the chef’s craft. The bigger dishes are accompanied by artist Fern Damrongwattanapokin’s interpretation of the dishes.
One of my favourites on the menu is a long-standing dish: Toasted rice bread brown butter, salted egg, yellow chilli. Red rice from Surin is roasted and turned into flour to retain its nuttiness. This is baked and grilled, and is served with a brown butter emulsion flavoured with lemon and garlic yellow chilli and a little bit of honey, dehydrated salted egg yolk and toasted rice powder. Despite its rather rich and big serving, this is the one dish that will keep you asking for more.
The Duck breast with pineapple, long pepper and ginger was my favourite main. The pineapple from Uttaradit is cooked for 20 hours and glazed in a spice syrup, which includes the in-season mountain zephyr that has an intense lemongrass aroma to it.
“For me, it’s always the ingredients first. I would say that over the past year I’ve gotten much better at understanding the ingredients and the food has changed a lot from when we opened to now,” says chef Sanders.
Also, not to be missed are general manager Roberto Cini Mencacci’s kombucha pairing: jungle oolong, chrysanthemum, roselle and osmantus flower. “My personal recipe is using the finest teas for the kombucha with spring water and I leave it to ferment with the ‘coby’ for 14 days,” he says. There is also a tea pairing (B1,200++), most of which are sourced from Chiang Mai. Three of the teas come from Japan and include Hojicha Gold Roast from Kyoto, which is known as the Champagne of green tea.
Highlighting seasonality from all over Thailand, Canvas’ menu is fun, bold and ever evolving. In these times of restricted travel, here is where your adventure should begin!
Canvas, Sukhumvit 55 / Call 099-614-1158, visit canvasbangkok.com, FB.com/canvasbkk.