Fine dining in Bangkok: Patara Restaurant revisited

March 15, 2012

My favourite Thai restaurant in Bangkok is Patara in Thonglor which offers exceptional fine Thai cuisine of greatest quality.

I have written about the place a few times, but it is always a very special occasion when the four of us, I mean my family, are heading to Patara for a family experience.

In 2009 Patara was awarded the title: the Best Restaurant in Thailand. We have taken some of our closest friends there to share this experience.

The interior of Patara restaurant

The other day, a Sunday, it was time again to patronize the place, and indulge in fine Thai cuisine. And look what we ordered. The starter platter is just a wonderful assortment of various delicious Thai dishes.

The starter platter

Another starter

Pork wrapped in bamboo leaves

Also the main dishes are fabulous. I love the steamed fish with herbs, but also the omelet Thai style, the greens and the steamed rice in four colours.

The steamed fish

Omelet Thai style

Morning glory greens

Steamed rice in four colours

I was pleasantly surprised to find a few Thai wines on the wine list. New latitude wines from Thailand are some of my favourite wines since I live here in Bangkok.

I choose the ‘2010 Colombard’ from Monsoon Valley Wines in Hua Hin. The winery has a German wine-maker, Kathrin Puff, who graduated from Geisenheim. I met her at the 3rd International Symposium of Tropical Wine in Chiangmai in November last year.

2010 Colombard from Monsoon Valley Wine

I usually do not like the grape variety. But here in Thailand Colombard makes incredible delicious single varietal wines. It is Monsoon Valley premium range brand.

The 2010 vintage won silver and bronze awards. It has a crisp acidity with complex aromas, and a nice finish. Needless to say the wine goes very well with Asian food. I was glad that I had selected it, and was reminded that I need to stock up on the wine myself.

The back label of the Colombard from Monsoon Valley

Dessert

And another sweet

Of course we had a coffee after the delicious meal and the desserts. Another highlight is that Patara offers to take you home in their Tuktuk, an open air three-wheeler, which is great fun for old and young.

Check it out. It is definitively worth it.

Address:
Patara Bangkok
375 Soi Thonglor 19 Sukhumvit 55,
Klongtonnua Vadhana, Bangkok 10110
Tel.: +66-0-2185 2960-1
Fax.: +66-0-2185 2962
www.patarathailand.com

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Lunch on the Mekong river

May 21, 2011

Welcome to my Saturday post. Behind me is a sign in Thai indicating that we are at the Mekong river.

Lunch at a “swimming restaurant” on the Mekong

Let me take you today to an exotic place on this majestic stream, where I had lunch with a couple of colleagues when I visited Udon Thani some time ago. I had to try some Isan cuisine which is not for everybody.

Come on to my boat

On the boat restaurant a large group of school children where having their lunch. They seemed to be on an outing together with their teachers.

The children were delightful

As I said before, 22 years living and working in Asia exposes you to interesting cuisines. I have eaten all kinds of food in my life but not one of the foremost delicacies of Thailand’s North-East: ants eggs.

In fact this cuisine tested my resilience.

An assortment of typical dishes

On the river you eat fish

Also soup is healthy

What would we do in Thailand without “som da,”?

So far so good

Almost all dishes contained the ants eggs sprinkled over them

They look well cooked, don’t they?

The ants eggs have a strong chitinous taste when you bite into them. It’s a strange feeling between the teeth too. In my body the chitinous inside of the eggs produced a tremendous amount of heat. I guess one has to be used to this kind of dish in order to fully enjoy it. My companions, almost all from the Udon Thani region, just loved the food.

By the way, we drank water with our meal, just clear water.

And the river flew.
Come to the Mekong.

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Thai cuisine: Chote Chitr in Bangkok

April 5, 2009

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We were nine all together, one Thai, one Burmese, three Germans and three Australians plus myself. A famous Thai restaurant was our object of desire. We assembled at pier N 9 at the Bangkok Chao Phraya river, jumped into two taxis and drove to the area near the Grand Palace. Here, in a little side street called Phraeng Phuton you will find “Chote Chitre”, a family restaurant of the highest order.

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The entrance to the living-room restaurant

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The menu

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The gods were with us

The owner of the place is Mrs. Krachoichuli Kimangsawat, or Tiem as she is called. Ms Krachoichuli inherited her restaurant from her grandparents whose pictures are stuck to the wall. It’s about 100 years old. Khun Tiem learned her trade from her mother and grandmother. The restaurant is open from 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM, six days a week.

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Restaurant’s reviews on the wall

The family style cooking produces the most amazing results. All the dishes we ordered were just delectable, delicious, just great food. Awesome. Below you’ll find some of the dishes we had ordered.

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Fish and green mango salad

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The signature dish: Banana flowers in coconut sauce

We had also some pork but I failed to get a picture. There was no wine but Singha beer. I was told that one can bring wine from home. I might do this the next time (maybe a Spaetlese Riesling).

Table loaded with delicious and magnificent Thai food.
Before

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and after

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My recommendation: Chote Chitr is a must; I would award it all the stars I can think of. We had such a jolly good time and a great feast.

After dinner we wandered the streets around the restaurant. On some of the many food stalls my friend Bjoern bought some sweets for dessert. We passed by a Chinese temple and I heard singing and music from the door. I could not resist and checked it out. There was a fully fledged Chinese opera performance going on. Mostly older folks were sitting on plastic chairs. The actors were in colourful costumes and sang in a southern Chinese tongue, if I am not mistaken. How wonderful. I love Beijing opera. I was reminded of our times in China in the early nineties and the great time we had there. We watched for a while. What a wonderful end to a great evening.

Address:
Chote Chitr
146 Soi Phraeng Pu Thorn, Thanon Tanao Rd.,
Bangkok, Thailand
Monday to Saturday, 11 am to 11 pm
Telephone: +66-2-221-4082
(Not far from the Grand Palace and the Democracy Monument)

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Fine dining in Bangkok: Thai cuisine at Patara Restaurant

March 9, 2009

On the 8th of March 21 years ago, I entered an Italian language class and sat next to a blonde girl from Australia. In the morning of the same day, my boss, Luciano Montesi, had send me out to buy flowers for all the women working in our service. This is how I learned about world women’s day.

It was a glorious day in Rome and I was glad that my friend Jim had taken me to his language class. What I did not know at the time was that I would marry that blonde Australian two years later.

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Today, we felt like celebrating this first encounter and decided to go out for lunch. We called the Patara Restaurant which is only one Soi away from us in Thonglor, Bangkok, and they sent their tuck-tuck to pick us up at 13:20 h. All four of us like Thai food, so the choice of Patara came very natural.

Patara is located in Thonglor, Soi 19. The building used to be a private residence in a single house with a large garden, I guess. Inside you’ll find an elegant Thai restaurant, just the right place for such a celebration as ours was.

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The interior of Patara

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The decoration is very tasteful

We ordered two starter platters, a selection of various small Thai dishes and the three dumpling assortment. Don’t get fooled by the colours. The dumplings are most delicious.

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This was the first starter platter

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Three kinds of Thai dumplings

Then we ordered the main dishes, among them a tofu in red curry, a green chicken curry, an oxtail red curry, some green vegetables and some rice (which came in four colours, unfortunately my photo of the rice was blurred). All of us like spicy food, therefore we just followed our instincts when ordering.

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The main dishes

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Green chicken curry

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The ossobucco-type dish

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Green veggies

The food was so wonderful, so perfect, so delicious; our taste buds went from one sensation to the next. This is Thai food at its best, wow. I could not believe it. Margit and the kids had visited Patara earlier but for me it was the maiden visit. This was the best Thai food in ages.

What about the wine? Food and wine pairings in Asia are at times a challenge. Patara has a well assorted wine list. Since the first encounter had taken place in Italy, I choose an Italian wine. The ‘2005 Campogrande Orvieto DOC Classico Superiore’ by Antinori seemd to be just the right choice.

First, many times we had stopped in Orvieto when returning to Rome from Umbria so that a lot of happy memories are tied up with Orvieto Classico wines. Second, just a day earlier we had this wonderful ‘2005 Antinori Tignanello’, so I thought why not stay with the same producer.

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Wine is expensive in Thailand. The bottle was under 2000 Bath, not bad for a restaurant offer. I know that this wine retails for about US$ 10-12 in other parts of the world. The wine has a pale straw colour. It is elegant and fresh. The wine has a good structure and a very pleasant palate of tropical fruit.

As typical for Orvieto Classico, the wine is a Trebbiano blend. Varieties include Procanico, Grechetto, Verdelho, Drupeggio, Malvasia and – surprise surprise – Chardonnay (15 %!). Antinori went up to the maximum allowed as regards Grechetto (27%). With the exception of Verdelho and Chardonnay, I have never tasted any of the individual varieties included in this blend as single wines.

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Cheers

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Happy children

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After lunch the children entertained themselves in the garden.

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These are the ingredients for Irish coffee. It’s worth to order it. It’s freshly made at the table, a spectacular show, truly amazing.

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The finished product: Irish coffee

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Before we got on the tuck-tuck again, we were served refreshing towels. What a wonderful celebration this family meal was, a delight for the palate, a pleasure for the eyes. The staff at Patara is incredibly professional, very friendly and extremely helpful.

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Happy diners

If you want to experience something special and you have the chance to drop in a Patara Restaurant, please do so. I highly recommend it. And if you are in Bangkok, the choice is clear: visit Patara, its’ worth it.

Address:
Patara Fine Thai Cuisine
375 Soi Thonglor 19 Sukhumvit 55, Klongtonnua Vadhana,
Bangkok 10110.
Tel. 0-2185 2960-1 Fax. 0-2185 2962

PS: Patara restaurants can also be found in Singapore, Taipei, London and Geneva.

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