![\"secret-blog-bkk-chef-01\"](\"https:\/\/www.secret-retreats.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/secret-blog-bkk-chef-01.jpg\")
\nBo.lan\u2019s spread of sustainably sourced Thai dishes<\/i><\/p>\n
\nBo.lan\u2019s spread of sustainably sourced Thai dishes<\/i><\/p>\n
BANGKOK<\/strong> Anyone who thinks Thailand\u2019s menus are limited to pad thai fried noodles or tom yum goong, This new culinary movement, spearheaded by both foreign and homegrown chefs, is especially noteworthy because it is going beyond the appetite for novelty among Bangkok\u2019s free-spending urban professionals. The city and country are fast becoming Asia\u2019s leading staging ground for earthsaving principles sweeping the culinary world — espousing the embrace of a \u201ckilometer zero\u201d terroir to create a more deeply rooted food identity while helping to reduce climate-changing \u201ccarbon footprints.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe world food system, depending on destructive chemicals, is broken,\u201d said Dylan \u201cLan\u201d Jones, co-founder of Bo.lan, a Bangkok restaurant that sticks to time-honored recipes but is leading the way in sustainability. \u201cIn wanting to work with farmers to improve growing methods, in recycling cooking oils into soap or using bamboo straws in place of Styrofoam, I\u2019m just safeguarding the future of my profession.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones is far from alone in beating this new path. When chef Weerawat \u201cNoom\u201d Triyasenawat returned to the northeastern Thai region of Isaan after a decade in California\u2019s \u201cfarm-to-table\u201d restaurant sector, he quickly forged ties with organic farmers and began foraging for jungle plants to supply his restaurant Samuay & Sons, setting off a pilgrimage by dedicated foodies to a backstreet of Udon Thani, the region\u2019s biggest town.<\/p>\n And when brash 29-year-old Texan Riley Sanders wanted to establish himself as a force in Bangkok\u2019s fine dining scene, he vowed to base his Canvas restaurant \u201c99%\u201d on herbs and produce found in local markets. Three years as a globe-trotting cook on a yacht had taught him to scavenge markets where \u201cwhat\u2019s best are items I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n LOCAL FLAVORS<\/strong> Arnie Marcella, who learned his culinary craft in New York\u2019s dining scene, came to hone his \u201ccontemporary American cuisine\u201d at the trendy nightspot Bunker, in Bangkok\u2019s Sathorn district, and found inspiration in a burgeoning scene of specialty suppliers that helped him create a menu based on Thailand\u2019s edible flowers and little-known forest nuts. At the same time, upcoming star Garima Arora has based her restaurant Gaa, in Langsuan, Bangkok, not so much on her Indian roots as on the unusual fruit and fish that Thailand offers.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing local,\u201d said Marcella, \u201cis good for business, catering to younger, more ethical diners. It\u2019s good for building community and the economy. It\u2019s good for the environment. But above all, it\u2019s good for the flavor of our dishes.\u201d Weerawat, a graduate of Jones\u2019s kitchen, added: \u201cThis is our way to honor native wisdoms and preserve biodiversity at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n For most diners, however, what matters is safeguarding the diversity of dishes, savoring fresh ingredients and experiencing culinary innovation through menus that go far beyond recycling old protein combinations.<\/p>\n That could mean Gaa\u2019s ice cream, made of rarely found \u201cegg fruit,\u201d or frozen chicken liver mounted on longan; Bunker\u2019s local pompano in a cream of tropical \u201calmonds,\u201d or a puffed greencolored rice dotted with decidedly local frog and snail meat; or perhaps Canvas\u2019 ceviche of raw cobia fish from Phuket, or grilled squid topped with a bed of feathery cha-om herb.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone is tired of using the same imports day in and day out,\u201d said Marcella. \u201cI was attracted to move to Thailand in part because of the many products and long growing season. By now, my palate has been expanded. And for customers, too, there\u2019s less demand for luxury items from Europe [and] a growing pride in what they have here.\u201d<\/p>\n This change of emphasis may have started with Thai chefs such as Thitid \u201cTon\u201d Tassanakajohn, who returned from training in some of New York\u2019s top kitchens vowing to bring the same level of quality preparation and presentation \u201cThree years ago, when we started Le Du\u201d — the name looks French but means \u201cseason\u201d in Thai — \u201ceveryone said we were crazy, that no one would pay so much for local ingredients and we should just serve Norwegian salmon,\u201d he said of his Bangkok restaurant. Now Le Du has a steady clientele and a top ranking for exquisite minimalist servings of line-caught barracuda with santol, crayfish with freshwater seaweed and jicama. \u201cI wanted to make Thai ingredients really cool,\u201d he said. \u201cNow people are quite willing to spend for unusual local produce, or eggs with no hormones.\u201d<\/p>\n CHALLENGING CONVENTIONS<\/strong> Another trendy Bangkok eatery, founded by a young chef trained in the short-order dives of Canada, is named \u201c80\/20\u201d after his local-to-foreign formula. At the same time, the city is drawing more specialized regional restaurants, like the eye-opening Sri Trat (a first for Bangkok, featuring the dishes of this seaside province).<\/p>\n \u201cYou need purists, but you also need people who break the rules,\u201d said chef and author David Thompson, who has created a rooftop garden for his famed Nahm Restaurant, in Bangkok. \u201cWesterners have always had a very limited view of the complexity of Thai cuisine. So it\u2019s great there are so many creative people drawn to Bangkok now.\u201d<\/p>\n Emblematic of this is Sanders, probably the most adventurous graduate of Austin\u2019s Texas Culinary Academy, who purposely set sail for Thailand to work with ingredients like pepper and tamarind leaf, pork floss, tangerine juice, pineapple oil and bitter Thai \u201colives,\u201d feeling like \u201ca kid in a candy store.\u201d<\/p>\n Weerawat, defending himself against charges that his experimental dishes may go too far, argued that \u201cThailand has His return to Udon Thani was originally motivated by aging family members, but he soon found himself wanting to \u201csupport local agriculture\u201d and help strengthen a network of logistics that he admits is still developing. \u201cTo get the best fish sauce, delivery can take time. You have to build dialogues with people, [and] especially teach fishermen to practice more responsible methods and careful ways of shipping their catch.\u201d<\/p>\n But, he said, \u201cA lot of young people are returning to farming in Isaan, and the older ones are seeing the benefits of going organic — where you can charge 50 baht ($1.51) for a bunch of holy basil instead of 10.\u201d<\/p>\n In future, many may follow the example of Jones, who has planted 250 trees on newly purchased fields in Isaan to supply Bo.lan. \u201cWe\u2019ve got our own bee sanctuary, and eventually hope to get off the energy grid entirely. Of course, one restaurant can\u2019t change the world, but we have to set examples for young people to continue the trend,\u201d According to Garima, a former journalist who signed up to study at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, \u201cThis generation of independent chefs wants to be impactful\u201d — and not just through unique dishes such as betel leaf fried in duck stock and served on a mock shrub.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to be very conscious when you try to twist ancient cooking traditions,\u201d she said. \u201cBut sometimes, by staying close to home in Thailand, a fresh set of eyes can bring new perspectives.\u201d<\/p>\n This article was written by Bo.lan\u2019s spread of sustainably sourced Thai dishes BANGKOK Anyone who thinks Thailand\u2019s menus are limited to pad thai fried noodles or tom yum goong, the piquant prawn and lemongrass soup — two of a dozen basic dishes fostered by a former government keen to standardize the cuisine as a tourist lure — is missing a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[30],"tags":[155,88],"yoast_head":"\n
\nthe piquant prawn and lemongrass soup — two of a dozen basic dishes fostered by a former government keen to standardize the cuisine as a tourist lure — is missing a brilliant redefinition of \u201cmodern\u201d Thai cuisine.<\/p>\n![\"secret-blog-bkk-chef-03\"](\"https:\/\/www.secret-retreats.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/secret-blog-bkk-chef-03.jpg\")
\nRiver prawn with sugarcane and rice cake at Samuay & Sons<\/i><\/p>\n![\"secret-blog-bkk-chef-dylan-jones\"](\"https:\/\/www.secret-retreats.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/secret-blog-bkk-chef-dylan-jones.jpg\")
\nChef Dylan Jones at work in the kitchen of Bo.lan<\/i><\/p>\n![\"secret-blog-bkk-chef-num-samuay\"](\"https:\/\/www.secret-retreats.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/secret-blog-bkk-chef-num-samuay.jpg\")
\nReturning Issan Chef Weerawat \u201cNoom\u201d Triyasenawat<\/i><\/p>\n![\"secret-blog-bkk-chef-02\"](\"https:\/\/www.secret-retreats.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/secret-blog-bkk-chef-02.jpg\")
\nGrilled squid with cha-om herb, passion fruit, coriander and smoked chilies at Canvas<\/i><\/p>\n
\nto his homeland.<\/p>\n
\nalways had a melting pot cuisine — with fermentation from the Khmer, curries from India. What we\u2019re trying to do now is simply apply modern techniques to ancient products.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
\nAuthor JOHN KRICH
\nNIKKEI ASIAN REVIEW<\/strong> OCT. 16-22, 2017 Page 54-56<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"