A simple left turn on South Sathorn lands you in 13th-16th century Siam. Behold the Sukhothai era resurrected in CBD Bangkok as The Sukhothai Bangkok, complete with priceless antiques and authentic design, all fine-tuned to 5-star sensibilities.
Extravagantly conceived across 388 hectares set with low-medium-rise constructs, its signature Thai restaurant, Celadon, bearer of coveted Michelin Plate status in the 1919 guide, stands sentinel along the stretch-driveway. The sprawling warren of dining rooms and terraces nestling lotus ponds is encrusted with exquisite antique stone reliefs and wood carvings. Its name references the Thai greenware pottery the original Sukhothai kilns produced with such style and which still thrives. In other words, a timeless showcase of Sukhothai in all its splendour.
Kudos to the cuisine, too. Thai folk who really know their culinary stuff should be familiar with most of Celadon's third Thai Tasting Menu, served evenings only. But even they will concede that the restaurant's recently risen star Chef Rossarin Sripathum and team have achieved quite a feat in distilling the essences of Thailand's regional cuisines into new special exhibition tasting menus.
Among the hottest Thai fine dining tickets in town, mega-foodie Japanese and Europeans in particular don't blink at the "full experience (9 dishes @ Bt2,900++), "part of the trail" (6 dishes @ Bt2,200++) tariff, nor the Bt1,900++ for four paired glasses of wine.
A snip for the privilege of telling your friends you've experienced and thoroughly enjoyed "real" Thai food from the Kingdom's four corners, albeit with modern enhancements.
The remarkably cliché-free sequence (not a tom yum, gaeng pet, or somtam in sight) begins in the north and concludes in the south.
It starts with two bite-size assemblies of crispy pork skin beneath Chiangmai green chili foam and torch ginger: spicy, juicy and piquant.
Next is a dish traditionally served with rusticity in the Northeast but here adapted for hi-so tables with Japanese wagyu beef, diced raw and deftly blended with aloe vera, som saa citrus, kao kua roasted jasmine rice, and herbs from the restaurant's organic garden.
Salted river prawn grilled over charcoal in the half shell with fresh coconut milk, white turmeric and prawn head sauce, is definitive of eastern Thailand delicacies.
A soup follows, arriving as a dry rock pool scene in the bottom of a bowl with coconut paste sea shells, Japanese cockles, shrimp paste, onion paste and steamed lotus. Coconut soup is poured over from a clay tea pot, creating a delectable fusion of seafood, pepper and sour flavours.
Cue three main courses, beginning with a table-side preparation of snowfish wrapped in banana leaf steamed in another clay pot over hot stones and herbs. In minutes, the snow fish is unwrapped perfectly cooked. Douse with freshwater field crab sauce rendered ambrosial by cleansing in herb-infused water.
Fall-from-the-bone pork ribs in a runny southern yellow curry with jackfruit seed, finger banana, pakria bean, is delectably savoury-spicy.
Button-size Thai forest truffles, baked and served in bamboo with coconut milk and moonflowers, pop in the mouth surreally.
Fermented glutinous rice, "khao mark", inspires the pre-dessert ice cream.
Pandan leaf blended with betel creates an emerald sticky jelly, provocatively complemented with charcoal-baked young coconut husk jelly fused with coconut milk foam.
The drinks menu gives most space to whisky varieties, deemed the best liquid complement to Thai food, with Thai tots starting at 210, Scottish, Irish, US, Japanese and Canadian at 270. Sukhothai House white is 150/glass, 1250/bottle.
- Lunch: 12:00-15:00 (last order 14:00)
- Dinner 18:00-23:30 (last order 22:00)
- Classical Thai dancing daily: 19:30 & 20:30.
- Tel. 02-344-8888 Ext. 8651
