It has been almost two months since I came back from my CNY trip to Bangkok, a first for me in the Land of Smiles! Arriving in the evening, we quickly dumped our stuff in the hotel room(which was awesome, btw) before heading straight out for our first meal; dinner at Blue Elephant!
Housed within a 3-storey colonial-styled building, Blue Elephant is the place to go for exquisite Thai cuisine. With their renowned cooking school and branches around the world, you can expect to be pampered with elegant furnishing, detailed services and cutleries fit for royalty!
Complimentary Starters
To kick off the meal, we were given a small serving of fruit cocktail and duo of appetiser each. The cocktail was refreshing and nothing like the artificial punch rubbish, while the pomelo scallion salad and mini wanton whetted our appetites nicely.
Lime Juice (฿165), Fresh Coconut (฿165), Chilli Vodka (฿250)
Presented with the drink menu before ordering food items, mom and I had the fruit juices ready to put out any upcoming fire, while dad was adventurous enough to make it even hotter with a chilli vodka!
The interesting thing about Blue Elephant's menu was how they divided it into cooking of the past, cuisine of today and kitchen of tomorrow, each with unique choices of spices and ingredients. Fancy Thai Tamarind Sauce with Foie Gras? Not today, I'm here for the good ol traditional stuff!
Spring Rolls (฿280), Khang Khao Phuak (฿240)
Served piping hot, the spring rolls gave a resounding crunch as you sunk your teeth into the blend of minced chicken and vegetables. Yums when paired with their sweet and sour sauce!
The second one was much like the Chinese 芋角, as the taro pastry was filled with minced prawn and chicken then deep fried. Loved how well it all came together!
Tom Yam Koong (฿290), Mixed Satay (฿260)
The first encounter with a true blue tom yum soup! Sourish, spicy, and undoubtedly addictive. I'm hooked onto every spoonful of the prawn and mushroom broth! Note that it was meant to be an individual portion but we just shared it to save space for other stuff!
Sadly, this was the sore thumb that stuck out for the meal. With chicken, pork and buffalo meat, this came across as dry and hardened. Used the toasts for sauce dipping though!
Jasmine Rice (฿60/pax), Bamboo Fish (฿480)
Rice served was also interesting as there was free flow of the usual white jasmine rice or the more chewy black glutinous rice. Both were good for me!
The fresh sea bass fillet was marinated with a whole load of unknown herbs (to me, at least), giving it a very unique taste and then grilled in a bamboo case for that extra aroma and sweetness. Simply fantastic!
Vegetable Green Curry (฿240), Forgotten Beef Curry (฿580)
What's Thai food without curry? I'm a huge fan of green curry because of its high coconut milk content and less numbing spiciness. The one here certainly didn't disappoint and is in fact, the best rendition I had yet. The curry is so well-balanced and addictive, I could just drink it on its own! So much that I bought a packet of the pre-mix back home and hope to replicate the taste again!
The most expensive item we had, the beef was nothing short of excellent as well. Tender slices in a dark, red curry that was thick and robust in flavour, distinctively different from the green and much spicier too. Goes really well with rice!
Mango with Sticky Rice (฿240)
The most classic Thai dessert of all! The glutinous rice was steamed to such perfect degree of hardness, while the coconut cream was brilliantly served in the form of ice cream. Paired with sweet Thai mangoes that would never disappoint, there's simply no better way to end the meal!
Bill for three was ฿3966.49 after 17% taxes, approximately SGD180. It turned out to be the most expensive meal we had for the entire trip, not that we were filled to the brim either. But I suppose this really was Thai fine dining at its best and with the outstanding experience, it wasn't too outrageously priced by our standards. A most memorable meal to start my trip!
Blue Elephant Bangkok
233 South Sathorn Road, Kwaeng Yannawa,
Khet Sathorn, Bangkok 10120, Thailand
Tel: +66 (2)673 9353
Click here for website!
Note: The restaurant is easily accessible via the BTS skytrain, alighting at Surasak station. You can even see the building from the platform!
Taken with Nikon D70
4 comments:
Your dad is so cool. Chili vodka! Way more adventurous than your lime juice lolx.
I remember this Blue Elephant restaurant at Millenia Walk not too long ago but I think they have already closed it. Should be an outpost of the Thailand branch.
The spring rolls looked really delicious!
Blue Elephant was closed over the new year hols while I was there. Lucky I can eat through your great photos.
ice: okay i admit i'm weak when it comes to spicy stuff, lolx. But it really was handy for the red curry! Oh they did?! Darn.. and I thought I could get my fix of green curry already..
Hovkonditorn: Hi! Thanks for visiting! I see that you got an amazing cooking blog too! =) Yes the spring rolls tasted as good as they looked!
PY: Ahhh.. For me, they really set the gold standards for green curry and mango glutinous rice. Others I tried while in Thailand were also very good but still, nothing like BE!
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