At first glance, the sweeping menu of Fire Tiger restaurant looks like a folksy demonstration of the local dining scene.
It lists, erratically yet almost comprehensively, myriad popular items from different culinary genres, including anything from street food favourites to cosmopolitan dishes to a home-style feast; old-fashioned snacks to modern-day confections; and comforting beverages to professionally-concocted drinks.
It didn't take long after receiving the food that I felt such ample offerings speaks clearly for the brand's marketing attitude.
Perhaps Fire Tiger is trying to please everyone with everything.
The eight-month-old dining establishment, known in Thai as Rong Tiam Suea Phon Fai, is a mega outgrowth of a much-crazed bubble tea shop of the same name.
The restaurant serves up, as described by the management, "modern Chinese cuisine", which, for me, is more like a 50/50 collection of classic Chinese dishes and heterogeneous others.
However, don't get me wrong. Their kitchen stint indeed proved a true pleasure to my finicky tase buds.
On the menu is a 150-item repertoire of dim sum and barbecue items, tapas and appetisers, pasta and noodles dishes, hot pot, rice casseroles, dessert puddings and dumplings, shaved ice, cocktails and bubble tea.
Even though takeaways are offered from the existing dine-in menu, it doesn't mean the restaurant takes to-go service nonchalantly.
My take-home order, comprised of two snacks, three drinks, two desserts, four a la carte dishes and a hot pot set for sharing, came neatly packed in upscale, carefully designed packages.
As a first-time customer who had never dined at the restaurant prior, I'd say the quality of every item ordered to my home -- some eaten right away, some in the next day or two -- proved on a par with that of dine-in offerings.
Khao ob phueak nah gai truffle, or baked rice with taro, chicken and truffles in clay pot (490 baht), arrived warm.
It sumptuously combined a mild taste and comforting mouthfeel of a Hong Kong-style clay pot chicken rice with a luxury of fresh black truffle shavings.
Wagyu beef pho (420 baht) is a dish a beef connoisseur can't miss.
The worldwide-popular Vietnamese rice noodle soup showcased crystal clear beef consomme naturally sweetened with onion and enhanced by expansive slices of top-grade Japanese beef.
Another single-portioned dish truly worth having is khao tun tom yum kraduk mu on, or rice simmered with young pork spare ribs in tom yum broth (270 baht).
It's a soothingly delicious stew of jasmine rice, boiled until the grains become very soft and open, slow-cooked pork spare ribs, shiitake mushrooms, deep-fried garlic, celery and Chinese-styled croutons in fiery rich broth.
Ordering khao tom kui for takeaway can sound impractical. After all, the dish, featuring boiled rice soup with a variety of side dishes and condiments, should be enjoyed fresh out of the kitchen, otherwise the delicate side dishes would lose their quality and texture.
Yet, I could never afford to miss Fire Tiger's khao tom kui platter, listed on the menu as all-day Chinese-style breakfast set (480 baht), simply because it's the No.1 best-seller.
The set encompasses two individual portions of pandan-seethed rice soup, a helping of minced pork in pickled plum consomme, a deep-fried sweet Chinese pork sausage, a wok-fried minced pork with Chinese black olive, a sour and spicy salad of salted egg and pickled cabbage and stir-fried sugar-cured turnip with egg.
I had the khao tom set three days after the delivery. Some was reheated, some eaten chilled, per my culinary common sense.
I was absolutely impressed with the prime quality of the ingredients and also how every dish had well retained a great tasting character.
Another popular dish, especially among millennials with a palate that fears no lethal pungency, is mala hot pot.
The sharing-sized hot pot is offered with an option of kurobuta pork or Wagyu beef.
I had the latter (1,150 baht), which featured thinly-sliced rare Wagyu beef under a blanket of crushed chilli peppers, an assortment of fresh vegetables, Hong Kong glass noodles and a generous serving of glossy red-hued broth seethed with dried chillies and mala (Sichuan pepper), which produces a tingling, numbing effect on your tongue.
Icy bubble tea (150 baht), chilled chrysanthemum tea with osmanthus jelly (130 baht), flambe dessert pudding (170 baht) and milk tea shaved ice (280 baht) proved to live up to the brand's glory even after being on the road for at least half-an-hour. I have to say these were among the best of their kinds that Bangkok has on offer.
My order also included street-style snacks: kaloji, or pan-seared glutinous rice cake with toasted sesame (105 baht) and khai suea phon fai, or deep-fried sweet purple potato balls (120 baht).
The first, seasoned with sugar, salt and ground toasted peanuts, was pleasantly tasty and addictive. While the latter was passable.
Fire Tiger Restaurant is located at The Veranda Zone, ground floor of Iconsiam. For more information or to place an order, call 02-288-0707.
