What's happened to my tom yum?

FAMED FOR decades for its authentic “royal Thai cuisine”, Benjarong at the Dusit Thani Bangkok has undergone a few changes that aren’t so much classical as contemporary. Intricate teak carvings still decorate the interior, but gone is the elaborately carved fruit that accompanied many of the dishes. 

Nor any longer, apart from samples in a display case, will you see the Benjarong crockery – the elegant bone-china bowls and plates that gave the restaurant its name.

The familiar, wonderful taste is there in the food, but now the accompaniments are delightfully peculiar new notions. Prawn tom yum is served separately from its hot and tangy broth. Spicy beef salad is similarly “deconstructed”, as the rage has it these days, arriving with but not conjoined to spicy yum jelly. 

The leader of this culinary “revolution”, and author of the all-new menu, is Danish chef Morten Bojstrup Nielson, who’s previously seen action at internationally celebrated restaurants Nahm in London and Kiin Kiin’s branches in Copenhagen and Bangkok (here it’s called Sra Bua by Kiin Kiin).

“We’ve tried to maintain the same flavours while giving the food a more contemporary visual look,” says Nielson. “There are so many new things happening in food-and-beverage around the world. Even if you already have something fantastic, you have to also think about the future. We have to create something unique – that’s the direction for the Dusit Thani to go.” 

To that end, Benjarong now serves as a Thai-cuisine “training ground” for developing future outlets in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Maldives, he says.

“The best Thai food you can have is home-cooked, in your mama’s kitchen, and it’s difficult to compete with that. But when I go out to a restaurant, I want to get something I can’t get at home or on the street. That’s why I try to go off the beaten track. I use the same authentic ingredients, but the method is changed.”

Nielson was so taken by Thai food while working at Nahm that he went out and got his right arm tattooed with the phrase “passion for food” in Thai script. “Thai cuisine is like a drama that’s complex yet interesting. So much happens in the kitchen – chopping, deep-frying, pounding – it’s a lively kitchen and I really like it. I can never be ‘completed’ in cooking – it’s a lifetime of learning.”

Benjarong offers a-la-carte dishes and a set menu at both lunch and dinner, but the ultimate is the Bt1,700 six-course supper. It’s a glorious voyage that begins with deep-fried cuttlefish with turmeric, scallop and papaya in coconut and a roast pork leg with “smoked chilli tomato jam”. Yes, you read that right.

Marinated in turmeric powder and black pepper, the cuttlefish is deep-fried golden brown and sprinkled with salt, while the diced scallop and papaya are cooked with coconut milk and shredded lemon rind. They make a nice balance for the honey-sweet pork.

Tom yum goong comes to the table in two bowls, one with the prawns, mushrooms, red onion, lemongrass, galangal and dried chilli topped with coriander, and the other with the hot, spicy broth. 

In case you’re not surprised enough by now, Nielson also ships out his crispy catfish salad with tom yum custard and crabmeat on two plates, stacked one atop the other. Up above is yum pla duk foo – the fluffy spiced catfish – with the onion, chilli pepper and raw mango. The bottom plate has the egg custard (khai toon) mixed with the broth, whipped cream and crabmeat.

“You can say it’s Thai food and it’s not Thai food,” Nielson laughs. “Tom yum and yum pla duk foo are Thai food, but maybe not egg custard with tom yum. I try to mix things up for a more stimulating dish, with different textures and presentation.”

Next up is a choice between grilled wagyu beef salad and grilled chicken. Instead of cooking the beef in its spicy sauce together with vegetables, as usual, the chef arranges the ingredients in alternating rows – beef, Japanese cucumber, sweet melon, dehydrated tomato, shredded red onion and mint – while the sauce is set with gelatin and placed alongside. 

Nielson’s duck breast is cooked “sous-vide” for 45 minutes to ensure it stays juicy and soft and is served with mashed aubergine, Chinese chives, shredded cabbage and a crispy wonton stuffed with more duck. The sauce is oyster sauce, sweet basil, ginger, red pepper and sugar.

For dessert there’s basil ice cream with fresh pineapple, cookie crumble and salty meringue – quite refreshing – and your coffee or tea comes with a choice of macaroons in six flavours: Thai iced tea, lemongrass, cinnamon, passion fruit, lotus and o-liang (sweet, iced black coffee).

Also available is a much lighter, four-course lunch or dinner set for Bt1,100. 

 

 

OH, YES, PLEASE!

>>Benjarong at the Dusit Thani Bangkok is open daily for lunch (noon to 2.30) and dinner (6 to 10). 

>>Call (02) 200 9000, extension 2699, or visit www.Dusit.com.