Thai restaurant Suan Bua reopened with a completely new look

Gone is the traditional Thai teak house with dim lighting, authentic artefacts and silverware. In its place is a contemporary building in warm wood with tall latticed windows that allow the light to stream in and offer a view of the garden and fishpond.

 

The main dining room can accommodate about 70 people and those wanting space to themselves can opt for one of the two private rooms. The alfresco dining area next to the fishpond is a pleasant place to relax when the weather's nice. And there's also a new bakery corner featuring pastries, cakes and confectionery created by pastry chef Sebastien Gyre that's open from early morning until late at night. 

 

The Thai culinary delights are still under the baton of chef Santiphap Petchwao and he's injected some premium Western ingredients like foie gras, wagyu beef, lamb, salmon and Kurobuta pork while retaining and refining such local favourites as ultra-spicy Northeastern-style som tam with fermented fish and tangy beef soup made to an old recipe. The presentation of the food has also been given an update to match modern times though not at the cost of the authentic Thai taste.

 

"About 70 per cent of the menu has been changed. The new Western ingredients have been added to bring diners' attention to traditional menus," says chef Santiphap.

 

The first dish to arrive at our table is the traditional Thai appetiser Chor Muang - savoury dumplings crafted in the shape of a flower and dyed purple with butterfly pea flowers. In place of the traditional filling of minced pork is salmon, which has been stir-fried with coriander root, garlic, pepper, ginger and seasoned with plum sugar and fish sauce. The dumplings are steamed for several minutes and served with chilli, lettuce and coriander leaves. Served on the same plate is Kanom Jeeb Goong - white steamed dumplings stuffed with shrimps, which are prepared in the same way as the Chor Muang but with roasted peanut replacing the ginger for more crunch. The dish is priced at Bt310.

 

Served next on a long plate is the Suan Bua Mixed Appetiser (Bt320). It boasts grilled and marinated organic tiger prawns from Vietnam with peanut sauce and a tart relish, and organic vegetable spring rolls with chilli and lime sauce. Also on the plate is the traditional finger food known as Ma Hor - sweet marinated minced pork with ginger topped with fresh pineapple slices and edible lotus leaves, as well as Rarai - steamed rice thread noodles topped with crabmeat and flavoured with coconut sauce. 

 

Santiphap's new take on meat and vegetables tossed in a spicy lime sauce is a sweet and tangy winged bean salad topped with seared foie gras (Bt330). It's served with half a boiled egg. 

 

"I opt for the 50-gram foie gras fillet imported from France instead of the familiar minced pork and shrimps. The foie gras is slightly battered before being seared and its creamy taste goes well with the sweet, tangy, slightly spicy salad," says the chef.

 

Though a restaurant in a hotel is not generally regarded as the place to eat som tam, Suan Bua serves several choices of this "national dish" and other Isaan favourites in contemporary style. For a true taste of Isaan, go for Som Tam Laos (Bt320) with fermented fish that's as strong and fiery as it should be. It comes with tender and tasty sun-dried pork and sticky rice.

 

River prawns from Myanmar are grilled on volcanic rocks (Bt590) before being topped with spicy fried clam meat cooked with ginger and kaffir lime. 

 

Based on a century-old recipe and an ideal remedy for a cold is Tom Jiew (Bt350), a clear beef soup with sweet potato and herbs. Braised for three hours with a variety of herbs including red onions, chilli, sweet basil leaves, holy basil leaves and coriander roots and flavoured with lime and tamarind juices, the thin slices of Japanese wagyu beef give the soup, which is milder than tom yum, a tender texture.

 

New Zealand lamb shank is slowly braised for six hours for the massamam curry and served with roti (Bt690). Another must-try is the red curry with Phuket spotted babylon meat and wild betel leaf. Dried fish and shrimp are added to the curry paste along with young cha-om leaves to enhance both aroma and flavour..

 

Do leave room for the traditional dessert of Bua Loy - taro, pumpkin and pandan flavoured dumplings with young coconut meat in warm coconut cream together with egg in jasmine syrup (Bt190). For a more refreshing kick, opt for shaved ice with condensed milk and condiments (Bt190). 

 

 

 

THAI TASTES

 

>>Suan Bua at Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao is open for lunch, 11.30am to 2.30pm, and for |dinner, 6 to 10.30pm. The bakery corner is open from 9am to 10.30pm.

 

>>Call (02) 541 1234 extension 4068 or visit www.CentaraHotelsResorts.com/cglb.