Something for the Weekend #4
Thai-ping away from Bangkok
I write blurry-eyed and semi-staggering after a red-eye flight from Dubai to Bangkok. I’m here on a press trip to gorge on a glut of Bangkok’s top-tier restaurants. No, please, put the violins away. That’s totally unnecessary.
Fortune smiles at me as I never take these opportunities for granted, nor the support to make them happen (I’m talking about Mrs EatGoSee).
What’s on the Grazing Tour: ⭐️ ⭐️ Sühring, ⭐️ Potong, ⭐️ Le Du, 📕 Gaggan (for many, the big one), 📕 Nusara - นุสรา, 📕 Ms Maria Mr Singh, and 💼 Louis Vuitton x Gaggan, among others!
I’ve met the chefs at Sühring and Potong before through collaborations in Dubai, so I cannot wait to eat on their home turf.
You can expect updates about the trip in next month’s SFTW newsletter. Until then, here was June—it’s mad to think that the first half of 2024 is in life’s rearview.
Eat.
Teible’s Lazy Weekend Menu pleased and surprised us with its truncated three-course (plus a drink) menu for only AED 149 per person. It’s excellent value, as you would expect from a Bib Gourmand; it’s another Green Michelin Star restaurant in Dubai offering an excellent Sunday lunch (BOCA being the other). Memorable bites? The Koji sweetcorn starter and the spoon-lickingly good “1950s” (aka Murgh Makani). It's one of Dubai’s best restaurants, in my opinion.
Pitfire Dubai Hills offers an eyebrow-raisingly good Happy Hour with AED 39 drinks from Monday to Thursday between 4 pm - 7 pm (cocktails and draught beer). I sunk a few hot honey margaritas (as is protocol) before heading over to The Revelry for a catch-up with two friends. Readers of the DUO Gastrobar review will know the Revelry eluded me. The music kicks up the later it gets, but the Reverly’s Indian tapas are excellent. Memorable bites? Almost everything, but do go in on the Lamb Nihari, Kerala Prawn Curry and the Hash Brown Chaat Togarashi.
Takahisa x Sushijin’s third collaboration was excellent, with a LONG menu of some of the best sushi dishes I will eat this year. In theory, these are one-off collaborations, but the fact this is the third one tells me that chef Izumi Kimura will return. These dinners are PRICEY but worth it. As
says, it’s cheaper than flying to Japan. Takahisa is one of Dubai’s best restaurants, in my view. I was invited to this collaboration.
LOWE’s refreshed its menu, but some staple favourites remain (e.g., the wood-fired sesame bread; if that were not on the menu, there would be pitchforks at dawn.) It was the scene of my first Father’s Day. Memorable bites? A trio of anchovy, hot and sour aubergine with zuni tzatziki, and the oyster blade steak (med rare) with smoked tallow and carrot moutabel. It is also one of Dubai’s best restaurants.
I loved Jun’s Tasting Menu, which I’ll get to later, but suffice it to say that Chef Kelvin Cheung’s charismatic touch is alive and well (see below). Memorable bites? Oof! The poached lobster pani puri, the fish congee-meets-khichdi and the kaya dessert.
I spent a bewildering amount of time in IKEA which can only mean an outrageous amount of hot dogs and fried onions were consumed (four at last count). Don’t judge me.
Rare is a relatively new opening in City Walk’s licensed district. It’s a very meat-forward menu (aka, Rare is a steakhouse) with a side vegan menu on show for those (like Mrs EatGoSee) who are less inclined to consume vast quantities of red meat. The wine menu is admirably priced, but I would say give the place some more time to work out some kinks. I hear it is LIVELY in the evenings.
LILA Molino+Cafe has its Mexican breakfast menu up and running now! The sister restaurant to LILA Taqueria, LILA Molino+Cafe by Chef Shaw Lash, rolls out a tidy breakfast menu with Mexican-leaning adaptations of classics like their Mexican Benedict and more recognisable Mexican breakfast dishes. Come for a totemic Breakfast Torta, a hearty handheld slathered-in (ingredients) and a generous cold brew. The Huevos Rancheros, steeped in a spiced tomato sauce and Mexican white cheese (look it up), dotted with avocado and jalapeño, is a lighter but equally satisfying start to the day. Stronger people than me would leave without one of their chocolate chilli cookies or fudgy brownies. A recent inductee into Dubai’s Best Breakfasts Club.
Words I Wrote.
The World’s 50 Best Restaurants 2024
Earlier this week, in an auditorium along the Las Vegas strip, the world’s best chefs, restauranteurs, somms and more assembled to find out who among them would levitate immortal and be crowned The World’s Best Restaurant. Every year hospitality’s cognoscenti convene in different locations across the worl…
Co-written with
and .Iranish Iranian Restaurant review
Fifteen years ago this November, my then-new flame and I lay in a dishevelled bed in those still, early hours after a (very) late night out. Humming with the smell of bar hopping, sticky sweat and stale cigarettes, we each took turns swigging from a bottle of
My Favourite Restaurants in Piemonte
My periodic travels throughout Piemonte curated this evolving list of restaurants, osterias, enotecas and more. An evolving list means this is updated over time, so bookmark it! Share it! Check it out now and then! Why do I have this list? I bought a house in Monferrato after months and years of research. Piemonte (or Piedmont, to some) is h…
Jun's Chef Tasting Menu
Chef Kelvin Cheung shepherds me through Jun’s 11-course tasting menu, bite by bite. I could talk about the wine pairing (pocket friendly), the local ingredient sourcing (well done), the technical skill (self-evident) or the satisfying deep cuts of 90s rap and R&B (had me zoned). All those are reasons to book a table. Eat, drink, be merry.
Drank.
My favourite bottle this month was with friends at The Reverly above swigging Dr Loosen 2019 Wehlener Sonnenuhr Riesling Auslese. A low-alcohol, off-dry white wine that pairs beautifully with the aromatics and spicing of Indian food. Simply delicious. AED 791 in Revelry, but available for lower prices in wine shops (as you’d expect).
What’s on the Horizon?
Expect news from this Bangkok press trip on my social media over the coming days.
Hopefully, we are wrapping up what seems like the world’s longest kitchen renovation at times. Word to the wise: check every line of your IKEA order and do not just trust the designer assigned to you. Unless you love going back to IKEA almost every day and waiting ad infinitum on customer service lines to get nowhere. If so, joy can be found there.
I’m going to the Michelin Guide Dubai ceremony next week! Will restaurants go up or go out? Will we see a whitewash from One&Only Za’abeel as they are the host (like we did with Atlantis the Royal last year)?
Collaboration between Takahisa x INJA in New Delhi next weekend hosted by Takahisa. INJA is an Indian-Japanese restaurant hybrid based in New Delhi, which I had the very good fortune of going to last year on a press trip. You can read about INJA in FACT Magazines here.
A finger-blistering amount of writing to cover this press trip and some other work completed recently. No complaints here! Plus, continuing with some long-term projects.
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Have a great time!