Bo.Lan recently ranked 28th on Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants list. But it was already on my list of restaurants to try in Bangkok. Here’s how the meal went:
Located a short walk from the Phrom Phong BTS station, Bo.Lan has an oasis feel. There’s a garden in front with al fresco dining (complete with bottles of all-natural mosquito repellent on each table if air conditioning isn’t your thing) and a romantic interior seating area with large glass windows that make you not feel so bad for sitting inside on a gorgeously warm night.
Bo.Lan is part of Slow Food Bangkok (a city of fast food if there ever was one), and they list their purveyors on their website, following the North American and European fine dining trend. Quality is paramount.
Half the customers were foreigners and half were Thai, which I take as a good sign. We didn’t go for the tasting menu, which comes to around $60 USD. Instead we ordered à la carte and enjoyed an amuse-bouche of a small bowl of coconut and chrysanthemum water and complimentary rice and corn with sweet, fried hot chili pepper to start. The chili was soft on the inside and just a nibble set the tongue on happy fire with the crunchy snack.
I’m such a snob, but when we went with sparkling water instead of flat mineral water to drink and I took my first sip of San Pellegrino in months, my tongue smiled. I’d forgotten how amazing tiny bubbles can be.
Then the appetizer of five one-bite appetizers: a fiery papaya salad, a chicken and sticky rice square triangle wrapped in pandan leaf, a slice of roasted pork wrapped around some miraculously sweet-savoury paste, and a slice of pear stuffed with…oh dear, I should have taken better notes on that one. Can anyone fill in the blank?
Then two mains, one of which I remember perfectly: the Ocean Fish with Three Flavours Sauce (620 baht) and a heritage chicken curry (~680 baht).
Sometimes an entire night is made with a single dish. The ocean fish was that dish. Deep-fried, piled high, and soaked in an insanely addictive sweet and hot, thick chili sauce with savoury slices of deep-fried garlic…after our first bite my dinner companion and I said we’d be fighting over who got to mop up the sauce. Neither of us won that fight, but we fought valiantly. The only part of the dish we didn’t care for was the deep-fried basil leaves towered on top. The deep-frying destroyed the fresh flavour, so they looked wonderful but tasted like air.
The chicken curry seemed bland by comparison. Even with the drizzle of coconut milk. If we’d had it before the sweet fish we would have liked it more, with bitter eggplant and ginger. It was tart and fresh.
We were completely stuffed, but the single origin coffee was a good way to end the meal, along with the complimentary mignardises including a pandan jelly square with strips of fresh coconut, and a homemade toffee.
We skipped the wine list because the by-the-glass selection was lacking. The bottle selection was good, but you’re better off with a martini, cocktail, or mocktail. Some customers even had fresh young coconuts on their tables, which felt kitschy in such a fine dining restaurant (and overpriced: 120 baht instead of the on-the-street price of 35). But tourists love drinking from coconuts, I guess.
I would come back here in a heartbeat and try more of the main courses and appetizers. The fresh flavours and stellar execution of dishes (the fish was perfectly tender and the coating stayed crisp and juicy despite the blasting air con—no small feat) were incredible. And I have a deep respect for the kitchen philosophy of quality ingredients from farmers they know and trust, and the care they take with those products.
Expensive? Yes. At least $40 per person without alcohol. But an incredible meal. Worth it? Definitely.
Bo.Lan
42 Soi Pichai Ronnarong
Songkram Sukhumvit 26
Klongteoy Bangkok 10110
Tel. +66 (2) 260-2962
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