G and I made it to the Blue Elephant in style, skidding into the driveway on a tuk tuk. The doorman stepped forward, as if to open the door of our vehicle for us, then realised there weren't any!
The Blue Elephant was a restaurant and cooking school nestled in a century old colonial-styled mansion. It offers thai cuisine in exclusive places around the world in the likes of Dubai, Paris and London.
I've never heard of them, but stumbled across this place on
TripAdvisor. Wanted to bring G to somewhere nice for dinner, to show my
sincere appreciation of his help these few months with doing up my own
room. I shortlisted three places and he chose this. And I'm really glad he did, because we really enjoyed our meal.
From the tablecloth to the cutlery and even the candle, everything was either elephant themed or blue. We requested for a table for a view. And they placed us in a cozy nook in the corner.
The dim lighting made taking a picture difficult, and this was the second better picture taken by the staff. Just absolutely love this place!
Right after placing our orders, the first dish was presented. Compliments of the chef it was! Just a little starter to our starters. I can't remember what it exactly was. There was a roll made from soy, and prawn with a little light dressing. Was yummers anyways.
Then our starters arrived. Love how the wait staff changed our eating plates every time a new dish was brought to the table. This made sure the plates were always warm. And they held it with a cloth, instead of directly with their hand. The little touches of consideration just made the whole dining experience really wonderful.
Just bear with me. I'm a sucker for noting down details when it comes to exquisite food like this.
Starting with the blue little dumplings at the top of the plate.
This was Chor Muang, a recipe from the Chaowang's kitchen (The
Royal Kitchen). They are steamed floral-shaped dumplings that acquire
their royal blue appearance from the dye of the butterfly pea flower,
with some vegetable stuffing. Tasted a little like the ang ku kueh back
home.
Moving clockwise, we come to the Rice Field Catfish and Prawns
Salad. This was a salad of crispy rice field catfish and Supanburi
prawns with organic lemongrass and ginger, tossed in a spicy lime
dressing. The last time I was in Bangkok, I had this dish but we had to wrap the crispy catfish in lettuce by ourselves. Here it was presented in a leaf, tempura styled.
Next was the Blue Elephant Spring Rolls. It was their special recipe of rare 'Black Chicken' and vegetable stuffing, served with red sweet and sour chilli sauce.
Rught at the bottom was the Chicken Satay. This was strips of grilled and marinated chicken fillet, to be accompanied by homemade peanut sauce, and cucumber salad.
All the accompanying dips were presented in lovely little saucer.
Impressed by the starters, the soups came next. This was Tom Klong Sea Bass, spicy and sour sea bass soup with roasted organic herbs. This was rated three red elephants on the menu in terms of spiciness, so I guess it meant it was really spicy. Thankfully though, I loveee spicy food!
The second soup was Tom Kha Black Chicken. This consisted of black chicken and organic galangal. For those with a less adventurous palate, the black chicken can be substituted by free-range chicken. Rated just one red elephant in terms of spiciness. This was a milky soup in a spice level that was comfortable to take.
Main courses was next, served in the style of a family sharing.
Panaeng Nua - A rich red curry of Kho Khun Phon Yang Kham, Charlolais-Simmental beef in coconut milk, flavoured with sweet basil.
Tamarind Duck - Grilled medium rare duck breast topped with sauce made of golden sweet tamarind from Petchaboon Province, accompanied by fried shallots and crispy kale.
Bamboo Fish - Fillet of sea bass marinated with herbs, grilled in a bamboo case.
Blue Elephant Phad Thai - Fried rice noodles with fresh prawns, ground peanuts, bean sprouts and tamarind dressing.
Tips of Ivy Gourd Vine & Mushrooms - Claimed to be all the way from the virgin hill tribes to busy bangkok, crispy gourd tips and flowers and mushrooms stir-fried in a low fat soy bean oil and aromatic sauce.
We were served jasmine rice and wild rice as well, as an accompaniment to the main courses. I eat very little rice at dinner time, but the rice was so fragrant and fluffy. Lovely!
And just when we could not stuff ourselves any further, dessert was served. This was Couple 'Blue Elephant', which was an exotic variety of Thai fresh fruits topped with vanilla ice cream, mango bits and a little butter waffle.
We had tea and coffee after. I asked for hot lemongrass tea.
And it came in the most charming teapot!
The guy had coffee...
They came with 3 types of sugar, brown sugar, white sugar and sugar cubes!
Explored the mansion after our meal, such a nice charming place to have a restaurant and a cook school.
Oh hello there little elephant teapots, how I regret not bringing one of you back home.
One of the best dining experiences I could ask for, G's choices in food are rarely disappointing. This place may be a little costly but if you're not a shoestring budget, I'll highly recommend the Blue Elephant. This place just blew me over with its charm.
