The much-hyped Harvest restaurant and its conjoined Woodshed bar is a partnership of siblings Tim Bancha Vijitratanakit and Bell Nattawadee Vijitratanakit.
Trendy London art schools-graduated Tim designed the barnlike ground floor and mezzanine spaces with a passion and precision paradoxical to the blasted plaster, distressed brickwork, vintage beams and floorboards, purposely-aged farmhouse chairs and tables, and cowshed lighting of the decor, and the anachronistic old-time jazz soundtrack, including live acts.
"How the bricks go in the shape of the concrete is quite an art," explains trendy London arts school- and Le Cordon Bleu-graduated Bell, indicating discernible method in the apparent derangement.
Doubling down on entropy, sprays of dried-out plants and pine cones frame the widescreen front window pressed hard-up to the fashionable Sukhumvit 31 pavement parade.
The aim of creating a rustic, elegantly wasted, European farmhouse ambiance has been achieved with such surreal finesse that auteur Béla Tarr’s strangely compelling "Turin Horse" springs to mind.
Having grown up abroad and travelled much, Tim and Bell take an international approach to the menu as it evolves under the original sous chef, now Chef de Cuisine, Chef Jeff.
"We have a very stimulating way of creating each dish at Harvest," Jeff says. "We dream up ideas and brainstorm concepts, then imagine the ingredients and experiment with cooking techniques, textures, flavours and aromas to make the dream a reality."
And doesn’t it work well. Building from the bottom up with top-quality local and imported ingredients and taking cooking and seasoning approaches that respect natural flavours results in visually striking European-inspired dishes, packed with nutrients, bursting with flavour.
A favourite from the get-go, Char-grilled Spanish Octopus (450), offers a butter-soft Dali-esque tendril of octopus basted with chorizo sausage oil, enclosing warm fennel and sautéed chorizo confit and contrastingly earthy braised fennel.
Another perennial is Green Pumpkin Soup with cumin cream, bacon bits and pumpkin seeds.
Pasta ai Funghi (890), homemade flat sheet pasta, sautéed in brown butter with cremini, champignon, morel and other tubers, liberally sprinkled with fresh truffle and Parmesan shavings and finished with Parmesan-and truffle oil-cured egg yolk, is too delish.
Truffled Beef Carpaccio (680), succulent slices of 150-days grain-fed tenderloin, with truffle mayo, truffle shavings, fried capers, almonds, veggies and lemon, is a classic of the genre.
The anaemic-sounding "Curly Kale Salad", with butternut squash, heirloom tomatoes, pine nuts, Parmesan and taste bud-tingling coconut vinegar & sweetcorn dressing, is anything but.
Grilled Iberico Pork Secreto (980), rose pink tender, succulent, spicy Iberian black pig jowl complemented with baked buttered apple, sautéed new potatoes, grilled butternut squash, is Spanish Sunday lunch on steroids.
Similarly Barcelona chic is Barramundi whitefish (400) sautéed with broccoli florets, olive oil, garlic, honey, coriander, lime.
Date cake, doused in sticky toffee sauce, juxtaposed with French vanilla ice cream pulls no punches. Ditto Strawberry Mille-feuille, a fabulously frivolous confection of puff pastry, pastry cream, mulberries confit, mulberries reduction, strawberry, maple leaf, and caramelised pears.
Service is like being waited on by a farming family wearing simple white aprons or, in the bar, sharp shades of beige, vaguely equestrian caps, ties, waistcoats and jodhpurs.
Woodshed, tacked onto the side, is all about small batch craft spirits and beers with a backstory, alongside organic, natural, bio-dynamic, sustainable wines from smaller vineyards. Smoke Lingers – Laphroaig 10-years whiskey, ocho tequila, espresso, coffee syrup, burnt walnut (450), is quite something. As is Red – sloe gin, redcurrant, sparkling wine, lime juice.
- Open: Mon-Sun, 5:30 pm-midnight
- 24/1 Sukhumvit Soi 31 (rhs from Sukhumvit). BTS Phrom Phong.
- https://www.facebook.com/HarvestrestaurantBKK
