Bo.Lan

Anticipations were high, raving reviews about this restaurant. Placed at no. 36 in the Asia's 50 Best Restaurant list. This list ranks all the outstanding restaurants from Japan, Singapore, India, Vietnam, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Maldives, Macao, Korea, Nepal, Pakistan.....
*gasping for breathe*

anyway all the countries in Asia and Malaysia didn't even make it to the list...
so wat??? They didn't come to Msia??? Can't be right? It is also impossible that Cilantro didn't make it to the list...hmph!!!!

So Thailand has got 4 restaurants that made it to the list
3: Nahm
10: Gaggan
19: Eat Me
36: Bo.lan
Monkey went to Nahm last December *and have yet to blog about it*
worth no.3? Ok I promise I will blog about it soon :)))))))))

Bo.Lan in Thai

Bo.lan has got such a beautiful story of 2 Chefs who met each other at Nahm London, helmed by Chef David Thompson. Chef Thompson is the owner and chef for Nahm London and Bangkok.

Bo = Duangporn (Bo) Songvisava
Lan = Dylan (Lan) Jones

Both chefs have multiple accolades on their belt with Bo graduated from Le Gordon Bleu. It was in Nahm London that Dylan discovered many exotic ingredients while working here and also fell in love with Bo.
Aaaawwwww this is such a beautiful real life PR story :))) I like :)))

The restaurant is set in a beautiful bungalow with lots of greenery. It even boast a herb garden with pandanus plants, thai herbs, galangal and lemon grass.



The decoration here is very very Thai with a lot of handmade pewter.
Drinking the ice cold pandanus lemongrass drinks from a really cold pewter really tantalize my tastebuds. When it touched my lips, it sent a sensation that signaled...hungers...HAHAHAHAHA

Anyhow the idea is to refresh your palate and prepare you for a culinary experience. We had a tasting menu of Bo.Lan Balance. A menu that's authentic and very Thai. It has a good range that covers from home-styled thai cooking to street food and refined palace-styled dishes.

Amuse bouche was a cereal liked crunchies
of rice pops/crackers with kaffir lime, chilis and spices.

Next, to further enhance and elevate our tastebuds...were a platter of liquids, tamarind and a berry-liked fruits with a slice of green sour mango, sugar and chili powder.

From left to right:
Ya Dong Grachai, it's a traditional thai spirits.
then the green colored drinks is a sweet pandanus drinks...
After drinking the alcohol, it was entirely washed and neutralised by the pandanus drinks. I was surprised at this sensation.

followed by sour tamarind, then that green sour fruits dip, and finally the sliced of green mango dip in chili and sugar.

looking at the pic brought back memories of its sourness and ignite my saliva glands. HAHAHAHHA. It was REALLY REALLY sour esp the small tiny green fruit. Small but really power packed!!!



Left to right:
Otak-otak liked, in Thailand it's called Hor Mok........very delicate and soft brainy-liked. With extremely fined almost like hair kaffir lime leaves. Served on a crispy wanton.

followed by a yellow golden pouch with really good texture though I dunno wat it was already
then one lone solo sweet lychee with nuts in the middle
the green banana leaf pouch was yummy fat grains of fried rice


see it's like this....just pop them into ur mouth
very yummy, too small portion esp this rice hahahaha



and finally this.....steamed egg yolk with minced pork in the middle
obviously this starter platter is a reflection of home-cooked dishes which u can find in every Thai home..but I don't get this dish...the steamed egg was hard bcoz I thik they only used the yolk?


then our dinner begun with this dish - Kanom Chin
it was deconstructed with a par boiled Duck Egg
the curry was very delicate with fresh herbs all lingered around this dish. It was one of my best dish for the evening. The crunchy greens and beans sprouts added some texture to this dish.

The great thing about dining here is the waitress asked the level of spiciness/heat that u want. You have Spicy, Medium and Not Spicy. Of coz we went all the way out and the spiciness definitely did live up to our expectation.

I guess they have to do this with high clientele of White ppl and tourists. Not a single local Thai clientele was spotted on that evening. It's not very uncommon bcoz Thai Fine Dining usually caters for this type of clientele.

Thai cooking is so consistent, every lil Thai corner/restaurants that u walked into is sure to serve great authentic Thai cooking so there's no reason for locals to come here?



This dish was beautiful presented....every single piece of food/leaves on this plate are to be eaten
Relish of salty duck egg simmered in coconut cream and minced prawns served with grilled squid on the side.

U are to dip all your fruits and vegetables unto the salty duck relish which was so so so good.
the fresh crunchy and sweet guava and rose apples balanced the creamie salted duck egg in even creamier coconut milk...all infused in Thai spices.


Mon style khi lek curry, it's actually a fish dish
the usage of herbs and spices were pretty generous. Somewhat not overpowering but enough to leave u craving for more.


the fish was served with this pickled mustard that I love so much. We actually bought a few packs home from the supermarket. hehehehehehe


Salad of Ku beef with organic Mangosteen and chili mint dressing
don't be fooled by its color. This was the spiciest dish of the nite!!!

Lil Monkey was trying to decipher the complexities of this dish while "tahan-ing" the spiciness....bahahahahahahahaha.

I like the traditional deco of woven rattan basket on its ceiling
quaint!!!!

JS gave me his snobbish look....just bcoz he can consume really spicy food
hmph!!!!!

JS's fav dish of the nite was stir fried pork with Santol
the pork was really juicy soft and moist...I was wondering which cut was this.

Another non-spicy dish *finally* of fried ocean fish with shrimps, shallots
simple but very very yummy!!!!

Finally u get to choose ur soup of the day. There are 3 choices...
and yes u guessed it right
SPICY, Medium and not spicy!!!! hahahahahaha

We even have a intermediate dish before dessert which we chomp chomp nom nom down in seconds...really yummy sweet spicy Pork Floss!!!!

Ice lollies with fresh sweet watermelon!!!

Monkey wanted both!!! see they matches my stacked rings of Amethyst and Lemon Quartz by Joanna L :))))))))) so pretty!!!

the ice lollies were made with Taro flavours and Thai local Oranges.

Another ice cold dish with crispy roasted nuts and rice crackers on the side.

The petit four was really madness!!!! so many things!!!
of all traditional Thai desserts. Sweet and sour all in one platter.
I'll call it Beautiful Mess :))))))

Chiang Mai tea of Spices, Mint, Honey and Ginger

It was full house....
I couldn't book the dates I wanted....Monkey had to submit the duration of our stay in Bangkok and let the restaurant place us on whichever day that they have a table for 2.
JS have a wooden stool for his pretty Goyard bag :P

The Bo.Lan Balance set cost 1,880 Baht per person.

Bo.Lan Restaurant
42, Soi Pichai Ronnarong Songkram,
Sukhumvit 26,
Klongteoy Bangkok 10110,
Thailand.
Tel: +66 02 2602 9612
www.bolan.co.th

*the restaurant is directly behind Four Wings Hotel at Sukhumvit 26*