Cuisine de Garden Bangkok is a restaurant that portrays endless human creativity. This is a place that puts to work all the senses while sitting behind the black marble table surrounded by the tree trunks and pink birds. Its modern culinary approach connects nature-inspired cuisine by combining local products with the finest additions. The Cuisine de Garden is a relatively fresh contribution to Bangkok’s fine dining scene included also in the Michelin Guide Bangkok.
Contents
When Ambiance Has a Meaning
I think of Cuisine de Garden restaurant as a gallery where people dine in the environment of significance. Inside the urban area, we tend to forget about an important issue, which is about where our food comes from. When nature functions properly, we reap the tasty rewards that nourish the belly and the soul at once. That is why I understood the nature-inspired menu as a celebration of the ecosystem.
Interior of the Cuisine de Garden Bangkok
Polished concrete, black mirror, artificial birds, and dark tree trunks seem to me like the reflection of the world we are living in. Of course, this is a pleasant, clean exhibit and not the dirty reality. What is more important than that is the statement: “Where does the food come from?” Delicious food comes from a place beaming with life that changes with the seasons. This seasonal change is captured on the menu in the form of international cuisine.
10 Course Tasting Menu at Cuisine de Garden Bangkok.
Here at Cuisine de Garden, you can enjoy the 10-course tasting menu, where you can choose one of the two main dishes. Luckily, Ian always agrees with choosing different dishes, so we can try more. Dishes in the menu are inspired by nature itself and the events that occur in the wild.
Appetizers
Fallen Leaf
Underneath the tiny tree, we got house-made brioches, both shaped like the leaf with the visible main veins. On the side, we got a spread that smelled of forest bounty full of the porcini mushrooms and the truffle oil. For the base, the chef took the thick cream cheese with a mild tanginess that fitted well with the slightly sweet bread and fungi as well.
Rice Field
If you believe the rice field is reserved just for the rice, then think again. With diversity, everything is better just like a bowl of rice is better with some herbs and protein. That is why our next dish came in two separate bites, both inspired by the rice field’s abundant harvest.
The riceberry crumble on top of the spoon presented the soil in color and nutrient abundance. The riceberry is cross-breed brown rice – Jao Hom Nin rice and Khoa Dawk Mali 105 rice, created in Thailand for its health-promoting properties. Below this new rice variety was hiding the beef tartare, seasoned with the secret sauce. In it, I tasted a hint of mayonnaise which went well with the garnish. On top of the one bite “field”, we got the Rice paddy herb known in Thailand as the Kayang. Its leaves tasted unusually fragrant with a sweet and sour finish and firm texture.
For the second part of the rice field, we got the juicy fish ball wrapped in the tamarind leaves. As a matter of fact, the snakehead fish can be typically found swimming around the rice paddy. That doesn’t apply to the fish ball’s seasonings; the tamarind, which is never far out of sight in the tropics. I loved the combination of the grilled snakehead fish and tamarind sweet and sour notes with slight tartness coming from its leaves.
Koi Pond
The shrimp is just as colorful but way tastier than the Koi fish. This is especially true for organically grown shrimp we got to taste here. Due to the ocean imitating farming techniques, the meat becomes sweeter and juicier. On top of that, the chef cured the shrimp with kombu, which is the king of seaweeds. Among many health benefits, kombu also contains the flavor-enhancing glutamic acid. On the side of the shrimp (filled with chili-shrimp paste,) we got the pickled red long bean and chive pesto. The whole combination cuts through the spiciness and ends with the refreshing sweetness.
Campfire
Fire for the halloumi cheese and brown rice makes the difference for this leafy salad. However, even more important than the fire is the fermented gooseberry dressing. Its full and fruity taste gives to greens the utterly delicious potential that comes with the texture of the mixed salad. For more juice and sweetness comes here the perfectly ripe peach from Chang Mai. Fruitiness goes pleasant with the halloumi cheese and makes this salad top notch.
Highland Caviar
It used to be that the caviar was solely meant for the fish ikura, but now the caviar symbolizes the shape; the tiny balls to be exact. On this plate, we got the salmon ikura and the finger lime caviar, both on top of the main star. This main star of the plate, was pan-seared Hokkaido scallop, which was slow-cooked in sous vide before. For more depth, the chef seasoned the sabayon sauce with the miso. That way he lifted the scallop and bonded with the caviar, making it easy to catch and enjoy the exploding flavors.
Crabpuccino
My favorite dining rule “eat as you please” let me enjoy the sweet corn soup with the wafer in an experimental way. Really, the corn sweetness connected soup parts with the smoked corn wafer, filled with blue swimmer crab very well. Even so, I liked it even better individually.
Nest
The description of the Cuisine de Garden signature dish couldn’t be more accurate, because it looks exactly like the bird’s nest. Even the ingredients are usually found in the nest; only the deep-fried rice vermicelli substitutes the usual nest-building-material. Ok, there is a slim chance that the real nest could taste half as good as this one did.
Of course, it was delicious, with pulled chicken sauteed with mushrooms and truffle oil. However, the most important to me was the slow-cooked egg that served as the gravy. In case you’d like to know the egg took 45 minutes at the 63,5°C (146.3 °F) to reach the desired runny texture.
Main Dish
Garden
The name of the dish comes from the edible garden on one side of the plate, made of burnt eggplant and local vegetables like okra, dill, and Roselle. For the protein I choose the pan-seared Halibut fish smoked with applewood and fermented with miso sauce, while my darling Ian went for the charcoal-grilled Iwate beef. Both plates had the Japanese style Ponzu sauce with added juzu orange.
When it comes to the perfectly cooked fish, I must confess that in my mind I compared it with the one we had at the Nobu restaurant. I guess there is some truth when it comes to the saying, “you never forget the first.” Even so, all the compliments to the chef of the Cuisine de Garden to combine the strong smokey notes with the gentle fish that still let it shine through.
Oh, the Iwate beef! I was skeptical if Ian would let me have a taste of his precious Wagyu marbles. Believe it or not, the Iwate is a unique wagyu breed with leaner meat that is incredibly tender and full of umami. At this point, I can only confirm his words; it is absolutely delicious with less beefy character and buttery texture.
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Dessert
Farm
This farm is about the goat milk, the “to die for” version of it. After we tasted it, we would have never guessed all were made of goat milk. We got goat milk pannacotta, goat milk snowballs and goat milk foam crips. Even the tiny snowballs tasted pleasant, especially with the macadamia nuts and roasted buckwheat. What I liked the most was how the absent sugar wasn’t covering any unpleasantness. For a bonus, on the side, we had a sweet little honeycomb with honey.
Cactus
Who knew that canele looks like a cactus after you put some effort into it? Coating it with the pandan powder is surely a good idea. Especially after considering the pandan popularity in all sorts of national dishes. Besides that, I also liked the creme anglaise in the middle. Juicy as the cactus! What would swipe me off my feet is if the whole tiny terracotta pot would be edible.
Stone
Our last dessert was in disguise, a lot of stones, and only two of them are edible. If you know what to look for, nothing is too complicated. Especially not when the moisture starts to build up around it. It really had a good cover, though! Actually, it gave me double joy. First time when I found it, and the second when I tasted it. The dark chocolate coating was just thick enough to break after biting into it. Quickly after that, it melts and becomes a part of the pineapple-chili sorbet. Delicious!
Drinks
Just like Earth has four seasons, the Cuisine de Garden drinks menu gave that particular number a meaning. Especially at the cocktail and mocktail section. Certainly not in the wine list, where the selection is abundant.
Mist
The Ingredients of the Mist start with Scotch whisky, lemon juice, and bael fruit. The bael fruit is an exotic fruit that I haven’t tasted before. On its own, it is supposed to have the sweet, aromatic slightly tangy taste. I can only say “love on the first sight” with a powerful first impression. Before we were able to have the first sip, we had to wait a minute for the smoke to settle down. Just long enough for infusing the whole drink with the applewood. I love the taste of it and how well it is put in the restaurant’s environment. I liked it so much that I was hoping that the table next to ours will order some for themselves. Once they did, I enjoyed the approving faces of everyone.
Bua
This is a refreshing mocktail made of pineapple, grape, lime, and lotus. Among the rest, it has a lovely bubbly addition that spreads its aroma and wakes up the taste buds. With every sip, I could taste the slight sourness surrounded by the fruitiness.
Conclusion
I loved that Nature’s inspiration came to our tables in all possible ways. First and the most obvious are the taste and the art of the plating, which were impeccable. However, there is one even more important aspect that is happening far from our eyes. The hidden part is what we owe to the Mother Earth. Really, how generous of her to provide all the heavenly ingredients that exceed our expectations? Being aware of it, there comes big responsibility – prepare these amazing ingredients in a creative way. The artistically equipped restaurant known as the Cuisine de Garden Bangkok does this in an honorable way and please even the most demanding gourmands.
Cuisine de Garden Bangkok Review Card
- ATMOSPHERE – 9.7/109.7/10
- SERVICE – 9.6/109.6/10
- PRESENTATION – 9.8/109.8/10
- FOOD – 9.6/109.6/10
- DRINKS – 9.3/109.3/10
- VALUE – 9.7/109.7/10
Price and Location
10-course tasting menu for one person will cost you about 73 USD, while the wine pairing comes at a price of
45 USD. Here is a link to a location for easy navigation. If you are in Bangkok, looking for a perfect fine dining location,
Cuisine de Garden might be your answer.
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