Firmly retaining a top spot in the Bangkok dining scene, Tables Grill has enjoyed, over the eight years since it launched, some slight yet momentous transitions.
The 105-seater launched as the city's only fine dining restaurant that allowed guests an up-close interaction with chefs through tableside cooking. At the first stage, cuisine was classical European. Later on its specialities included a sumptuous variety of flame-grilled prime-cut steak.
Today, with the prestigious Michelin Guide in town, the restaurant seems on the verge of reaching for a star.
Taking control of the kitchen now is chef de cuisine Hans Zahner, a French-born chef who arrived just five months ago from Sir Elly's restaurant at the Peninsula Shanghai. In 2017, while under his captaincy, the modern European establishment was granted its first star by the Michelin Guide Shanghai.
Zahner's culinary portfolio also includes kitchens of star-studded Paris restaurants including Lasserre; Le 39V; Le Cinq at Four Seasons George V; and Alain Ducasse at Hotel Plaza Athénée.
For his position at Tables Grill, Zahner defines his cuisine as modern French that focuses on top-notch seasonal produce from around the world as well as sustainable local harvest -- especially from the Royal Project.
Prior to his relocation, the French chef had for years been familiar with Thailand. He often visited farmsteads in the country's Northeast in search of good ingredients for his kitchen.
Impressively unifying time-honoured Gallic cooking techniques and recipes with worldly-wise flair, his dishes were proved rich in refined flavours, yet never heavy in butter nor cream. A rumour about the humble chef's sporty six-pack thus seems to make sense.
To complement the expertly-executed cuisine is impeccable service by French restaurant manager Sylvain Meme, also freshly hailed from the two Michelin-starred Caprice French restaurant at Four Season Hong Kong.
Tables Grill introduced just last week a new degustation menu as an introduction of its star-studded head chef.
A gathering of seven highlighted dishes from the gradually revamped à la cart menu, the 7-course feast costs 2,900 baht per person.
The meal began with amuse bouche, a duo serving of tomato mousse and smoked mackerel. The first was a creamily frothy emulsion of confit tomato layered with tomato water jelly and Kalamata olive oil, which proved to complement perfectly a neat piece of smoky marinated fish set on a slice of white turnip.
David Herve Boudeuse oyster from Brittany was served next with an artistic and refreshing garnish of lemongrass jelly, Granny Smith apple and homemade beetroot purée.
Zahner has done a fine job in turning sumptuous classics into bracing creations.
Other evidence of that was Brittany royal sea bream tartare with Kristal caviar, Moulin du Calnquet olive oil and water carrot jelly. The very fresh and expensive fish was neatly chopped, lightly seasoned with award-winning Provencal olive oil and added a briny luxurious finish by the French sturgeon roe before being placed on a jelly made with naturally sweet cold-pressed carrot juice.
Restaurant manager Sylvain Meme presents an exceptional sampler of artisan cheese from world-renowned fromagerie Bernard Antony.
Alaskan king crab with Thai red curry, dried tomato, coriander and galangal emulsion was said to be a Bangkok take on Zahner's Shanghai Michelin-starred recipe.
Served in a soup plate was a warm custard-like bisque and layer of finely-chopped cucumber hidden underneath a sandy brown froth sprinkled with red curry powder. The flavourful bisque in which generous helping of crabmeat came seethed was cooked for more than eight hours to develop a precise intensity and subtlety of taste that deserved high praise. Seafood was represented by confit wild Canadian salmon with Tasmanian black truffle, zucchini and Hormardine sauce. Now is the best season for the Canadian salmon, of which its naturally sweet meat was showcased through a supple and extraordinarily-silky slow-cooked fillet complemented by thick and aromatic briny sauce, a concoction of lobster extract, cognac and crème fraîche.
For the meat course, roasted Australian lamb tenderloin with carrot mille-feuille and cumin sauce was nothing short of excellence.
I admired the interplay of the lean grass-fed lamb medallion and the crunchy sweet mille-feuille made with 20 layers of paper-thin carrot slices topped with carrot ginger orange zest foam. The herb-seethed lamb juice reduction proved that cumin and lamb are a couple made in heaven.
Before proceeding to the sweet finale of marvellous lemon cream tart and rhubarb sorbet with hazelnut crumble and raspberry purée, I was offered an extra option of cheese ceremony.
As a French cuisine restaurant that might focus less on butter, Tables Grill clearly doesn't when it comes to great fromage.
Meme, the restaurant manager is a curd nerd who's very familiar with some of the most renowned cheesemongers in France.
Thanks to that, his guests at Tables Grill are promised an exceptional artisan cheese experience from Bernard Antony, an affineur in Alsace who only does business with the high-ranking establishments. Hence his repertoire of customers lists the likes of Alain Ducasse, Pierre Gagnaire, Alain Passard and the late Alain Senderens.
For a very cheap price of 420 baht per person, diners at Tables Grill can add a sampler platter of Bernard Antony cheese to the meal. It was the best cheese experience I've ever had.
Variety changes regularly according to seasons. The current selection, as of today, includes Rove des Pallieres made with Provençal goat milk; Perail from Auvergne sheep milk; Coulommiers from Seine et Marne cow milk; Colombier from Burgundy cow milk; Epoisses from Burgundy cow milk; brin d'amour from Corsican sheep milk; and the world's most sought-after, 48-month aged AOC Comté Grande Garde from Jura cow milk.
Dinner was complemented by a large selection of fine wines with a dozen labels offered by the glass.
