A few courses into chef Eugenio Cannoni's first tasting menu at La Scala and you'll notice that each dish is monochromatic. But that isn't all.
"My first menu is all about simple flavours, but not simple techniques. Though most dishes have no less than three ingredients, I make all of them shine. I want to introduce my cuisine to the people and it is all about traditional tastes served in nontraditional ways," says chef Cannoni.
Start off with an amuse bouche of Corn royale and snowfish, Fake cherry with liver pâté (the realness of the cherry had me fooled!), Mortadella and truffle tart, Black sesame tacos with lobster and horseradish and Carbonara cannolino. "I really like the one colour palette of the dishes. The one colour means that the product you're using matters," says the chef. This is apparent in the Scampo dish, which is langoustine and red bell pepper. "The focus on the colour makes you use all parts of the ingredients to achieve it," adds the chef, who gets his passion of cooking from his grandmother.
The Fegato grasso is a combination of onions and liver, inspire by the traditional Fegato alla Veneziana. "My version is to embellish the original using foie gras and substituting stewed onions for caramelised onions. The contrast is given by the paste made out of calamansi." This is served with a waffle with foie gras mousse, burnt onions, calamansi drops and pickled onions. Delish!
The Capesante is pan-seared scallops cooked with sweet pumpkin cream and pickled pumpkin, covered by a scallop duvet. The creaminess comes from a velvety cream of lard with rosemary essence. Perhaps a favourite of mine on the menu is the bright green Ravioli. Kale flour ravioli is filled with oxtail and served with a fermented cabbage sauce and crisp fermented wild cabbage leaves.
The Aragosta depends on availability and I had a lovely slice of trout confit in brown butter, covered with garlic milk and accompanied by a traditional salsa verde and a savoury perlage of anchovies from the Cantabrian Sea. The dish is inspired by the "bagna cauda", which is a Piedmonte dish based on garlic, milk and anchovies.
Piccione e nocciole has an unusual meat for Bangkok. "Pigeon is my favourite meat to cook and this is also my signature dish. It is a very technical and precise dish to cook, a slight difference in the cooking temperature can ruin the dish. Hazelnut and anchovy are the perfect accompaniments to contrast the iron content of the pigeon. It's a very Piedmont dish," laughs the chef. The dish is divided into three: glazed breast, fried leg and a sesame sandwich stuffed with liver and heart stewed with hazelnuts and aromatic herbs.
Dessert was a delightful yuzu curd, yoghurt honeycomb ice cream, yoghurt foam and a crunchy meringue.
"The next menu may change before the holiday season and when winter begins. Winter is my favourite season and I am looking forward to it. Most of all I want my dishes to be memorable," says chef Cannoni.
The tasting menu offers a selection of 4 courses (B2,480++), 6 courses (B3,200++) and 8 courses (B3,800++). La Scala, The Sukhothai, 13/3 South Sathorn Road / Call 02-344-8888, visit sukhothai.com.
