80/20
European-style dining with a Thai Twist in Bangkok, Thailand
In my very limited experience, Thai cuisine always left me with the impression of unbridled intensity - blasts of spice from bird eye chilis, mouth puckering sours, concentrated thick condensed milk sweetness, with very limited balance.
Similar to eating at Panda Express and thinking that it is an accurate representation of Chinese cuisine, I doubted that my experiences faithfully represent the diversity of food culture inside Thailand. On this trip to Bangkok, I wanted to experience the best of Thai cuisine - beyond the stereotypical curries, tom yum soups or mango sticky rice that is emblematic of Thai cooking.
Going to Bangkok, I wanted to tour of the best restaurants in Bangkok that featured Thai cuisine. We picked two high end restaurants that focused on Thai cuisine, starting with 80/20, named for 80% Thai influences, and 20% influences from the chef’s travel abroad.
We stepped into the industrial, loft-like space and we were immediately transported to Brooklyn, New York. The ambience, hip-hop blaring in the background and the kitchen staff in flat rimmed caps reminded me a lot of my time in the States. In contrast, the waiters were smartly dressed in double breasted suits, and colourful murals and graffiti adorned the concrete walls.
The entire back of the restaurant contained an open show kitchen. This was of the busiest kitchens I’ve seen, with 11 people working behind the counter, almost as many people working behind the counter as patrons dining that night.
The waiter brought over a display case to explain some of the herbs and spices they would be using - there was the standard Thai lemongrass, pandan, galangal root, kefir leaf and ginger, but also hickory, cardamon cloves and star anise as well.
We were presented with the tasting menus and we were off to the races.
I started with a mocktail. I’m a sucker for anything with pandan in it - and this colourful mocktail had ginger and pandan flavours, although largely reminded me of a ginger ale.
The first starter, the “Son-in-Law Egg”, a rich soft boiled egg with a tamarind sauce, deep fried shallots and topped with caviar. Really neat dish I would associate more with French cuisine than Thai, but the tamarind sauce added a distinct Thai bend to the dish.
The canapes, starting from the left:
The “Plaa Goong”, a raw prawn salad, on a crisp Thai shrimp cracker, topped with thin slices of bird eye chilis
The “Brioche Na Moo”, a piece of deep fried sweet brioche, topped with a minced pork patty
The “Yum Watermelon, Bai Maeng Luk”, a small disc of compressed watermelon, with a fish sauce jelly, topped with droplets of mint and chili sauce.
On “off menu” addition was a poached oyster, topped with a chili granita and fried shallots. This was a really interesting dish - the chili granita had a bit of a fire and ice thing going, being intensely spicy, but also being cold in the mouth. I’m glad I tried it, but I think one was my limit.
A seared Hokkaido scallop on a bed of chopped lemon grass, topped with caviar and surrounded by a coconut and lemongrass sauce with drops of chili oil.
Next came a piece of slow cooked seabass, with the skin blistered with hot oil to produce a light crispiness, surrounded by a thick, intensely salty and spicy Burmese-Style broth. The fish was very well done, the broth was borderline undrinkable.
To wash the taste of the broth out of my mouth, I ordered a smoked logan Old Fashioned. If there was one thing 80/20 was good for, it was very, very strong drinks.
The last of the appetizers, the 80/20 take on Hainanese chicken rice, or “Khao Mun Gai”. Coincidentally their approach ended up quite similar to Odette’s take on the Hainanese chicken rice. A good break from the intense flavours.
Two pieces of dry-aged chicken, a piece of the brined chicken breast, and a boneless chicken wing stuffed with glutinous rice. This was served with a fermented bean sauce. Perfectly brined, and really, really well done.
Next a refreshing palate cleaner before the mains, a Thai take on a caprese salad, with a tofu ice cream substituting for the burrata and pickled tomatoes. The pickling liquid reminded us a lot of the flavours of Shanghainese vinegar marinaded jellyfish. A good reset before stepping into the mains.
Chilean Seabass and thin slices of green papaya in a intensely hot red curry. While the texture of the fish was buttery smooth and fall apart tender, the curry was unbearably spicy and overwhelmed everything else in the dish. Not a hit.
Wagyu basil beef, served double sauced in a basil puree and another intensely hot chili jam, topped with fried basil leaves. Again, incredible spiciness overwhelming almost everything else on the plate. The fried basil leaves added a bit of texture as well.
Pork Jowl skewers, marinaded in a homemade secret (tamarind, fish sauce sugar) marinade, and topped with birds eye chilis and cilantro. By this time, I knew enough to pick off the birds eye chilis, and received a pleasantly sweet and savory skewer.
The mains were served all at once, and individually and together were a massive kick in the teeth. Intense spiciness all around, with few other flavours.
The highlight of the mains was actually the side - a coconut pandan rice, prepared in a clay pot, slightly overcooked, but with lots of browned crispy bits forming at the bottom of the clay pot. As the waiter explained, the rice is cooked in a 50-50 mixture of coconut milk and coconut water, with a knot of pandan added in for fragrance. Just a amazing aroma of pandan and coconut wafting from the pot, together with a light and coconut flavoured rice. By far the highlight of the meal.
The pre-dessert, a plum sorbet serve don top of plum crumble with a slice of lotus root soaked in a chrysanthemum flower syrup. The lotus root was intensely sweet, but surprisingly the sorbet was a bit more sour than sweet, and the crumble added a bit of much needed texture of the dish.
The dessert was a mix of ingredients, some crushed nuts with cubes of ripe Thai honeydew with some chewy rice flour mochi, topped with a lawyer of chocolate and Thai honeydew ice cream.
The petit four, clockwise from the spoon:
First a spoon of macadamia ice cream - thick, creamy, rich. this is what I needed much earlier to kill off some of the lingering spice
A charcoal madeleine filled with a kaya jelly
A chewy banana pandan coconut flour cake, steamed and served warm
Two pomegranate jellies.
Overall, a really neat introduction to Thai flavours and dishes in a comfortable European setting. My initial impression of intensity was largely kept in place - the majority of the dishes tonight were intensely spicy and even though there were a variety of palate cleansers, the heat kept building up in my mouth throughout the night.
The real highlight of the night was the coconut pandan clay pot rice, and it something I am definitely going to try to make at home.
Total Damage: 13k THB/2 people