Blog Scribbles

I don't read the Financial Times everyday but I try to get the Weekend Edition as much as I can. There is always something interesting on restaurants and food in the Life & Art section. But sometimes the At Home section offers some gold reading nuggets as well.

This week there is a funny portrait of Fergus Henderson – the British chef who advocates "nose-to-tail" dining. More than a style of preparing food it is a philosophy. It became a world trend. As more and more restaurant are now catching up on serving offals.
This trend is now arriving in Bangkok with the opening of two restaurants : "Quince – Eatery & Bar" with Jess Barnes at the helm of the kitchen and "Smith on 49" by the achingly ubiquitous Ian Kittichai.

Jess has put down on the menu at Quince a bone marrow dish in honor of Fergus.

You can find the amusing article on Fergus here.

So here it is – for now. Never a dish has been evolving so much since it was on the menu, involving numerous tastings, with the diverging inputs from the owners, the general manager and the head chef, all of which are perfectionists. Sort of a steering committee so to speak.

The burger is a compilation of the best experiences the committee has had with burgers. One member had a say on cheeses: put Parmesan on the bun, mix Gorgonzola with Cheddar. Another knew what different parts of the beef needed to be mixed together to bring flavour and consistency. Another focused exclusively on the composition of the sauce.
Of course there were differences. Should the onions be sautéed or not? Should there be different burgers for different tastes? Why not try Fontina instead of Gorgonzola? What about Gruyere?

Also with the never-ending subject of the bun, its composition, the process of making it daily, fresh. It's pretty good as it is right now. But should we try brioche buns?

And about the truffle oil, why can't we use a syringe and inject it directly in the meat just before serving it?

Work in progress. Sorry for the inconvenience.

–
The BSC burger is available nightly at Bed Supperclub. It comes in a single serving or as a double.

Burgers in Bangkok don't need hash tags to create a buzz. People talk about burgers, specially if they are male aged between 30 and 45 year old.

Because Bed Supperclub are also a contender for the best burger in town, your servant has sacrificed himself to taste the best burgers available in Bangkok; to show you we also mean business.

Talk burgers in Bangkok and very quickly a venue keeps on popping up in the conversation and that's the Water Library at Chamburi mall behind Chulalongkorn university.

There we were, waiting to be seated for lunch in the dining room of the Water Library, a circular room with a high ceiling and generously filled room with soft daylight.The good looking and well groomed staff showed us our table located by the window. In the middle of the room was a towering library of mineral waters from around the world that hovers above the service bar. Determined to only have the burger we didn't even open the menu and ordered promptly with the gentle waitress, a medium rare burger. She kindly recommended that we opt for the 2-course menu instead, as it is the same price as the burger.

- "Wow, but we won't have any room for an appetiser if we go for the burger," we told her candidly.
- "The burger on the set menu has only one wagyu beef patty whilst the à la carte option has two patties," she replied and not without some charm in her tone.

We thought it would be normal for a burger to be priced 1,000 THB: two layers ought to justify the hefty price. On the other hand, if you take a patty out and convert it with an appetiser, which in this case was a hamachi sashimi, it's the same price.

Now let's talk about the burger. It came with an "open-bun" presentation: the left bun was top down on the plate. It had tomato relish, some truffle mayo and a sprinkling of balsamic vinaigrette-soaked wild rocket leaves. On top of the construction sat 2 thin pork belly slices that looked very crunchy. The other bun had the wagyu patty, a melted mix of gruyere-cheddar cheeses and some lightly caramelized onions. It was served with thick french fries along with some buttery sauce that was an attempt to be a béarnaise sauce and a cup of ketchup.

I decided to close and assemble the burger with no additional condiments. Before grabbing the buns, I pressed the top bun down to stack them together to make sure it would give a firm grip. I was surprised how it all really fitted together nicely. The bun, which was a brioche, was perfectly crusty on the outside without being burnt. The top bun had some sesame seeds sprinkled on it. The first bite was great, it didn't drip with sauce too much. The bun, I must say, is probably the best in town, but that is just my opinion. Brioche bread is soft and slightly sweet and this one was a great choice for the burger. The sauce had a hint of truffle, probably from a truffle oil mixed with egg yolk and there was a hint of chilli on the palate, probably from the tomato relish. Just the right amount of sweetness came from the onion. The patty was nothing extraordinary and it did feel a little greasy and the bacon had bits that could not be chewed properly.

All in all, a great burger, but a bit too greasy for me. I felt full with just a quarter left. I finished it thinking about the price it cost.

At Bed Supperclub we have a mix of gorgonzola and cheddar cheeses. For our beef patty we mix different parts of wagyu beef to get the right consistency of fat.

Our double burger is priced 840 THB and the single at 590 THB.
So now you know.

There is something to be written about where Fusion food is right now on the global scene.

Unfortunately your servant hasn't been yet to Zuma (closest one being in Hong Kong) nor the new restaurants that are thriving in San Francisco.

Maybe if my readership can send cheques to finance this deficiency (yeah right – cheques to be addressed to Sanya Souvanna Phouma – thank you).
Fusion has suffered a bad rep for now 2 decades. Its molecular gastronomy cousin having diverted the finer global palates to more adventurous coasts. But something is happening today in big culinary capitals. Something called Ze Kitchen Galerie in Paris for example. What really happened? One word: mastery. Fusion no longer takes you to shores of unhappy marriages of flavors with chefs like William Ledeuil, the man who tamed exotic flavors (Japanese and Thai) together with French minutiae and cooking methods.

Now back to our own shores… Are we, Bangkokians, ready for such sophistication? When was the last time you asked yourself if the chef who made your dish has signed a pact with the devil?

Food for thoughts.

We've been doing the melting chocolate tart since we've opened some 9 years ago. Last week, this was served for the weekend surprise menu. This one had a passion fruit espuma garnish, to add some tanginess.
The kitchen team got really inspired with this presentation, which I've never seen in the past. Looks like an alignment of planets and a passing comet.

We have now been serving bread at Bed for already a few months. Not sure if any of you have noticed.

The basket comes in right after you order food (so we make sure that you are hungry while ordering never noticed that in other restaurants?).

We also serve some black olives. We are looking for the tiny ones that come un-pitted… well, they are on their way.

Small details.

A little feature I've help contributing to…

Bed is not featured but hell with it. Here it is anyway.

In April 2011, Methadon Wichakkhana, director of the 7th Regional Office of Fine Arts, has sued Bed Supperclub for having used and altered the image of an iconic temple mural – Krasip Rak (The Whispering) – to promote the wine dinner "The Blind Affair", a charity event to support the Thailand Association of the Blind. (see previous blog).

Even after Bed Supperclub had issued an apology letter to the people of the Nan province, Khun Methadon is still suing Bed Supperclub for "emotional distress".

As owner and Creative Director of Bed Supperclub, I take full responsibility of the actions, that were not ill-intentioned, and remain ready to meet and discuss with Khun Methadon as his convenience.

IT'S NOT EVERY DAY that you get to meet a hero in Thailand.

The kind that operates quite out of sight.

Here I am with my cameraman Rodrigo, en route to the Thailand Association of the Blind (TAB) offices. We were producing a short movie to capture some footage of how to print a braille menu for the wine dinner happening Wednesday February 16th at Bed Supperclub (A Blind Affair). The concept of the dinner was to offer guests a blind fold experience during 1 course so they could enhance their other senses and appreciate – in our opinion – the dish and the accompanying wine. Part of the proceeds of the dinner will be distributed to the TAB.

Arriving at the gate of the building of the TAB, we are greeted by Khun Karn who liaises with Bed Supperclub for the dinner. She tells us "You are lucky, our president is in today, you can interview him". I acknowledge quite positively since I wanted to get first hand answers about the concerns the TAB are facing so that we could put them forward and create awareness.

We meet in a pared-down office on the 3rd floor. A man, probably in his early fifties, is seated behind a desk, he is visually impaired. We are being introduced in Thai, he gives me his card: K. Monthian Buntan. I barely notice the Senator title under his name. Actually I don't really pay attention to his card, as I was thinking to myself I did not bring any of mine, not to mention how he could have read the content of it.

Right then, as my camera operator is getting ready to shoot, I have my questions in front of me, we start chatting in English. K. Monthian has a perfect american accent. OK. I feel that some of my prejudice about blind people are about to fall. The following are excerpts taken from my notes and not the from the footage. Complete transcripts will come in a later stage.

Q: What is the mission of the association?
A: Simply put, we work "to change how people view blind people". The association works in promoting acceptance and respect towards blindness. We want society to stop looking at blind people in a peculiar way. We fight against prejudice, the idea that blindness is darkness and seclusion. Thailand is a charity based society, but we would like to promote positive action. Blind people have rights. In order to benefits those rights they need to register. We work so that as many blind Thais can have access to those rights. Recently we have succeeded in getting a law voted that allows free education through college for blind students.

Q: What is the population of visually impaired people in Thailand?
A: We do not have an accurate census of the population incapacitated by blindness. But according to some figures and estimation we can say there are about 600,000 people visually impaired. That is 1% of the total population.

Q: Given the data that you have, can you estimate the ratio of those living in rural areas versus urban areas?
A: Well, we can say that 20% live in urban areas and have access to rights, knowledge, work opportunities and assistance. Whereas, 80% live in the country side, in majority in total seclusion, because of shyness or shame they dare not get outside their house (or kitchen) to seek assistance or recognition. They are literally invisible.

Q: What are the challenges of being visually impaired in a country like Thailand?
A: There are still a lot to do with accessibility issues: city planning, architecture and of course the prejudice from the rest of the population itself. There needs to be harder campaigns promoting universal accessibility and issues such as corruption are giving hurdles in improving the footpaths and streets to make them blind-friendly. In terms of access to media, we need to get more done in the fields of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). We need to get more Speech Synthesizers in Thai available out there. There needs to be more blindness friendly products. More generally, blind people are not given the right opportunity to prove to the rest of society that they can contribute in doing something worthy. We need to eliminate discrimination.

Q: I am still living with the prejudice that blind people can only get jobs as lottery sellers or pianists. Do you have examples of blind people working and integrated in society?
A: Of course, blind people can be employed or self-employed. Some examples are: Radio DJs, lawyers, teachers, farmers, massage therapists, office secretaries and tele-marketers. Myself, I am a member of the senate, whilst taking care of the association.

Q: How many visually impaired people can read braille?
A: There are only 10% of the population that can read braille [same ratio as in the USA]. That makes an illiterate ratio of 90% which means there are tremendous efforts to be made in improving the education.

(…)

As I finish the interview, with a strange feeling of mind cleansing, I cordially invite the senator to the wine dinner. To which he accepts joyfully not without mentioning he is a wine amateur. We discuss briefly about training blind people to become sommelier, why not? He then remembers that Siam Winery provided the wines for an APEC summit not so long ago.

We then part ways and I continue filming the process of how to do the menu of Wednesday February 16th dinner in braille. Khun Karn the liaison lady shows me and my cameraman to a typing machine used to print braille characters on clear stickers. The operator, a blind lady, reads the menu from her laptop where a speech synthesizers translates the text in english to her ears (the speech is quite quick as in fast forwarding dialogues). She then types the keys simultaneously on a 6-key keyboard (there are 6 characters on a braille letter grid).

As we hop into a taxi, leaving the TAB building, there are 3 blind people in front of the car, holding hands walking one behind another in the narrow street. The taxi driver, mockingly, says to me "See that? How many eyes are there?" To which I reply: "There are 6 arms, 6 legs and 3 hearts". As his smirk went off his face, he engaged the gear and we slowly passed them.

During dinner, there will be two blind massage therapists, providing after dinner massages for guests.

My friend Hervé Frérard is a passionate cook. He is also a very prolific creator and has a cook book under press.

Today he showed me the new app of his restaurant "Le Beaulieu" for iPhone.
I told him that with his iPhone he should blog immediately. We registered on the spot on wordpress.

His blog is http://chefherve.wordpress.com/

Le Beaulieu is No 1. on Tripadvisor, Bed Supperclub is No 25.