Let’s be clear: Hamilton’s Steak House, the over 36-year-old stronghold of gourmet surf ‘n’ turf dining at the illustrious Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel, is named after Hamilton King. His Eponymousness was United States Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Thailand during King Chulalongkorn’s reign around the turn of the 20th century and after retiring from a long tour of duty during which he came to love the place, lived out the remainder of his days in Thailand.
But Hamilton’s the restaurant has also always exemplified the fact that the steak tradition so beloved of Americans is actually the invention of French chefs from the Escoffienne culinary tradition. And in a nice little coincidence, the man most responsible for the Franco-American special relationship that spawned a slew of culinary and cultural synergising, the Marquis de Lafayette, who gallantly fought to free America from British tyranny leading up to independence on July 4, 1776, was not only a close friend of George Washington, the first US president, but of one Alexander Hamilton, another founding father of the US and leading advocate for the abolition of slavery, who’s life has recently been staged as a Grammy-winning Broadway musical.
Somehow Lafayette looms large in the imagination when comfortably installed in Hamilton’s plush dining salon. Freedom fries be blowed, there’s a meeting of culinary minds in this environment that needs no diplomatic spin doctoring.
Indeed, the Dusit Thani Bangkok’s current Executive Chef with oversight of the restaurant, classically-trained Frenchman Philippe Keller, makes no bones about putting out the welcome mat to those who like their steaks and whatnot American-style while also not holding back from enhancing the experience with some equally ingrained French culinary virtuosity.
That doesn’t account for the decadent contributions of Executive Pastry Chef Slawomir Golaszewski, who hails from Poland, except that he’s a self-confessed culinary chameleon who consummately adapts to the mores du jour.
And nowhere is the confluence of influences more eloquently expressed than in Hamilton’s popular, well-priced set lunch menu, a new version with 2- or 3-course options of which was launched in time for New Year’s.
While ruminating on the three choices for each course, wonderful, dense, rustic wheat-flour campagne baguette arrives hot from the oven with plain and herbed butter pats.
Among the appetizers, Pumpkin Soup is anything but standard. The dainty white porcelain bowl is filled with squash-colour velouté (velvet) soup with a drawbridge of parmesan crisp, a green garnish, caramelized orange, pistachio oil-infused whipping cream and roasted pumpkin seeds. More ingredients lurk beneath the surface, including a julienne of vegetables and something delectably savoury that remained a tantalizing mystery.
Quite as exquisite is Chef Philippe’s healthy and delicious duo of Salmon and Tuna Tartar, mini dice of sour-dressed fish arranged in a patty, garnished with micro greens and framed by beetroot reduction, orange sauce, pickled onion, greenery and edible flowers.
Or how about Hamilton’s Seafood Caesar Salad? With smoked salmon, grilled bay scallops and baby tiger prawn, and Japanese seaweed and a dash of lemon juice blended into the classily cheesy dressing, it’s another “superbe” choice.
Main courses comprise fish, crab and chicken dishes.
Pan-fried sea bass gets the cordon bleu treatment with the tender fish steak set in a sea of saffron beurre blanc and complemented with fennel braised with star anise, garlic and herbs, buttered asparagus spears, beetroot-glazed new potatoes, roasted onion and a frisson of micro leaves.
Alternatively, Curly Cabbage with Crab Meat - flaky crab flesh moistened with lobster stock and seasoned with chive - is packed into lightly steamed cabbage leaf, sealed with deep-fried leek julienne, and set in a startling orange, light lobster emulsion joined by salmon roe, semi-confit tomato and asparagus.
NB: next to its steaks, Hamilton’s crab cakes is the dish that most assiduously claims the title “signature” - a high concentration of lightly seasoned prime crab with a pan-seared crust served with spicy mayo and green salad with a tart dressing that provides the perfect foil to the seafood and starch.
The third mains choice - Chicken Roll Stuffed with Seasonal Mushrooms - is another winner. A cylinder of chicken about the size of a toddler’s forearm is roasted and pan-fried, stuffed with delectably earthy seasonal mushroom fricassee, sliced into segments and doused in rich gravy. To this is garlic mashed potato and comfit shallots braised in red wine.
The equally unabashedly Franco-American desserts include Hamilton’s first key lime pie, a seductive luminous green confection contrasted with a dark brown base of chocolate-almond sable, beneath a soft meringue roof. A mini jam jar of exceptional red berry compote provides tart contrast, Hershey kiss-shaped crispy meringue is fun to crunch and chocolate stripes complete appetizing ensemble.
Brownies and Vanilla Ice Cream Tower/hot cherry sauce, a Very Hamilton’s adaption of black forest gateau, is also spectacular with bright red braised sour cherries so French, the brownie so American, and the and the fresh vanilla ice cream so both.
The final dessert slot is a lock: Marble Philadelphia Cheesecake with a biscuit base, toffee and raspberry sauce, popcorn for crunch, fresh strawberry and chocolate flakes.
At Baht 990++ per person for 2 courses and Baht 1,290++ per person for 3 courses, it is rare to find such quality priced so affordably.
Hamilton’s is a nostalgic dining room with décor suggestive of Prohibition-era New York and the walls lined with framed sepia photos of earlier era Bangkok. The white ceiling presides over dark wood panelling and polished wood flooring that positively gleams. Plain dining chairs with jazzy burgundy fabric and crocodile skin leather upholstery are drawn up to classic white starched-clothed tables laid with chunky cutlery. Floor-to-ceiling windows along one side look out on a waterfall and carp pond shaded by bougainvillea trees while private dining rooms line the opposite side. A sultry soundtrack of soft jazz plays at a volume that does not compete with the good conversation and focus on fine dining the venue primarily lends itself to.
HAMILTON’S STEAK HOUSE
Dusit Thani Bangkok. 946 Rama IV Road. Tel: 02 200-9000 x 2599.
