Stylish Pirate Chamber
Braised beef short rib in red wine sauce is among the highlights at the unique Pirate Chambre
There are a few things about Pirate Chambre, which opened a couple of weeks ago, that i mpressed me. One, unlike most upscale restaurants in Bangkok, this stylish 100-seat establishment is just a few steps away from a BTS stop.
Another is its dining room, equipped with an illuminated cocktail bar and semi-private lounge, which is invitingly lively, yet provides the feel of exclusiveness.
And last, but not least, its food matched the visual grace.
Pirate Chambre is designed, as I was told, to offer two different atmospheres and styles of cuisines for lunch and dinner.
Being there in the evening, I apparently missed its casual Thai-style lunch atmosphere. Although I found the place very attractive after sunset.
The restaurant’s entrance is on the 3rd floor of the Maneeya Centre building, which directly links to BTS Chit Lom.
Once inside, guests have to walk down a narrow wooden staircase to the supposedly hidden dining chamber a storey below.
The interior of the dining room is a photogenic marriage between feminine glamour and masculine audacity. Decorative shelves also divide the hall into a few semi-private zones to suit different moods.
The dinner menu lists a good number of classic Western dishes, as well as trattoria-style grub.
It’s always a great idea to start off your meal with some house-concocted drinks.
The bar, manned by a team of talented mixologists, has a lovely collection of cocktails and mocktails to cater to both feminine and macho preferences.
For appetisers, I highly recommend that you go for baked seafood “escargot-way” (380 baht). This marvellously addictive dish, prepared and served in a traditional snail serving tray, featured morsels of French mussels, clams and prawns, flavoured and baked with herb butter, cheddar, Parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs.
The Pirate takes pride in its poultry fare prepared according to secret recipes. Most recommended dishes include Le Banyan-styled pressed duck (3,200 baht for a sharing platter for two) and Pirate grilled chicken (250 baht).
The latter, which we sampled, featured half a chicken, grilled in a rotisserie oven to yield a crispy golden-brown skin that tightly encased the succulent, well-seasoned meat.
Complementing the flavoursome meat was brittle and pungent trimmings made with deepfried chopped garlic, coriander roots and white pepper, of which the taste nicely reminded me of Thai-style krathiam phrik thai seasoning.
Another dish to receive high praise was the bone-in braised beef short rib in red wine sauce (750 baht), which showcased a sizeable rib, slowcooked until the meat became soft and fell off the bone, yet retained a pleasant chewy texture.
The thick and fragrant red wine-infused beef gravy, in which broccoli, baby carrot and grilled sweet pepper were lathered, was lent a naturally sweet tang from caramelised onions.
Intermingling incredibly with the tender beef and rich gravy was a warm, soft and mildly sweet man-thow (Chinese steamed bun), our choice of side dish.
We asked the waiter for his suggestion on seafood and eventually settled for grilled skate wing with Cafe de Paris butter and warm beetroot salad (680 baht).
Pan-seared with brown butter, the fleshy, fan-shaped wing of the skate fish exhibited, as expected, the ribbed and delicate textured meat. Unfortunately, the taste of this pristine-looking delicacy wasn’t as impressive as it looked.
Each main meat and seafood courseis offered with an option of a side dish. Choose from a selection of sautéed new potatoes with dabs of sour cream and bacon bits, steamed Chinese bun and buttered saffron rice.
Since we had the chicken, the ribs and the fish, we were able to choose three items and found great satisfaction from them all.
Being a burger-loon, I couldn’t miss sampling some of the Pirate’s burgers.
And I found my order of beef burger (320 baht) a bit too fancy in presentation and the taste almost failed to stand out.
Instead of a cut-open bun, the burger is served in folded pizza bread. Never mind. It didn’t actually bother me what kind of bread they chose to serve it in. However, I did expect such an extraordinary case to reveal fantastic treasure inside.
Together with a poached egg, avocado, cheddar cheese and soggy pieces of bacon and onion rings tucked in there, disappointingly, was a regular-sized beef patty, evidently small when compared to the piece of bread.
I have to say that the overall taste of the burger was delectable. Still I had to enjoy half of the bread with just the abundant sauce.
The Pirate kitchen did quite a nice job on the pasta. From a dozen options of pasta and risotto dishes worth trying are the saffron risotto with prosciutto (380 baht) and house-made par-padelle with duck ragu (280 baht).
The dessert selection is still limited. Should you have to have one, try the white chocolate cake. Service was brisk and cordial.