San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Take culinary tour of Thailand at Hed 11
New restaurant explores regional, seasonal flavors in 11-course dinner menu
A chef with experience at Michelin-starred restaurants in Thailand is now serving the longest Thai tasting menu in the Bay Area at an ambitious new San Francisco restaurant.
Hed 11 at the Kimpton Hotel Enso, located at 1800 Sutter St. in Japantown, goes beyond the ubiquitous a la carte pad thai and green curry. Instead, it offers a seasonal 11-course dinner tasting menu ($169) with diverse regional dishes that “are hard to find even in Bangkok,” according to owner Billie Wannajaro. The restaurant, which opened May 3, is the second from Wannajaro. Last year, she launched more casual Hed VeryThai in the Financial District, which the Chronicle ranked among San Francisco’s best affordable restaurants.
Thai native chef Piriya “Saint” Boonprasarn, an alum of Michelin-starred Bangkok restaurants Bo.Lan and Saawaan, developed the tasting menus, which will change seasonally. Boonprasarn has been testing dishes at Hed VeryThai, developing themes like an allseafood tasting menu and another that shines a spotlight on southern Thai dishes. Boonprasarn has also better acquainted himself with purveyors at local farmers markets over the last year to plan for and test future tasting menus.
It took months of development to launch the menu, which Wannajaro calls a “culinary tour” through Thailand’s diverse and rugged landscape. Boonprasarn and Wannajaro tested the concept at a preview dinner at the FiDi restaurant earlier this year. A positive reception to the dishes was confirmation they were on the right track, they said.
Despite enviable access to high-quality meat and produce in the Bay Area, some ingredients will have to be imported.
Wannajaro said the restaurant will import a specific type of Chinese shrimp paste and spices for house curries. Most vitally, chiles from Thailand will be imported.
“It’s important to get the real Thai taste,” Wannajaro said. The handcrafted tableware is also imported from the Lampang province in northern Thailand.
The opening tasting menu began with an oyster dressed with herbs, green Thai chiles and whiskey infused with herbs inhouse. This item is inspired by a popular preparation in Southern Thailand, where Wannajaro is originally from. Other items are rice noodles and Hokkaido scallops in coconut curry, as well as a fried shrimp dish served in golden cups — a recipe inspired by the Thai royal family, Wannajaro said.
The middle courses, from about the fourth to the ninth dish, are the restaurant’s take on khao gaeng — casual Thai meals made up of stews and curries accompanied by a bowl filled with three types of rice. Expect a southern-style curry with young banana and chicken;
spicy mango salad with catfish; and a grilled Wagyu steak with a spicy-tart jaew sauce to cut through the beef ’s richness.
The menu closes with sweets: fruits in house syrup and a Thai custard cheesecake with berries and fried onion.
While the eclectic tasting
nd menus are the main attraction, the restaurant expects to offer less elaborate lunch starting at 11 a.m. Wannajaro said the midday menu might include a la
carte khao gaeng meal sets like the ones at Hed VeryThai. Offerings at the downtown restaurant often change but can include chicken in massaman curry, sweet butternut squash with Thai basil or caramelized pork belly with pineapple. These come with a light tom yum soup loaded with mushrooms and a bowl filled with three colors of rice, similar to the dinner tasting menu. Because the restaurant is located inside the Kimpton
Hotel Enso, management requires the restaurant to offer breakfast, which leans traditionally American and western with offerings like egg dishes, sandwiches and coffee.
The restaurant was originally scheduled to open in late March, in time for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival that takes place each spring in Japantown, but was delayed. It took over the longtime place of beloved shabu shabu restaurant Mum’s, which operated for 40 years and earned a Legacy Business designation from the city. The restaurant also joins another high-end Thai restaurant nearby, Michelin-starred Nari from chef Pim Techamuanvivit, which offers an a la carte menu as well as a “chef ’s pick” menu.
Hed 11 accommodates 49 seated diners in a space decorated with dark tones and tropical flair. Beer, wine and Thai-inspired cocktails are available.
Hed 11. 1800 Sutter St., San Francisco. Dinner 5-10 p.m., last seating at 9 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.