What comes first in cookery: concept or constituents? After a 6- or 9-course tasting menu at Canvas restaurant (Thonglor, opp. Tops), curated by Michelin-starred mentor alumnus and international ingredient fetishist Riley Sanders, establishment notions of culinary culture are turned on their heads.
The 30-something veteran forager of 35 street-to-3 Michelin star culinary cultures currently starts every unerringly mouth-watering dish he creates with a miscellany of often uncommon ingredients sourced within the realm. Only then does he cover his bare culinary "canvas" with consummate artistry.
Or as he says with breath-taking understatement: "We take the best quality ingredients we can find and then see what we can do with them."
Kudos to the owners of trendy near-neighbour Rabbit Hole Bar for backing the project, persuaded by Riley's 3 Michelin stars L20 in Chicago, private yachts and Japanese fusion legend, Uchiko, experience.
Décor-wise, beyond a grand double arched façade lie a ground floor restaurant and mezzanine bar decked out with lustrous hardwood tables and chairs and red leather banquets bestriding a re-imagined classic black & white chequered bistro floor. A giant impressionist painting in pastels resonates. Upscale grill-smart, the hole of the L-shape table arrangement is filled by the open culinary-lab-cum-farmhouse-kitchen fenced with a golden zinc-top counter drawn-up with low-backed stools and punctuated with adjustable lamps, the better to ogle the awesome plates.
A pour commencer trio leads: umami smoked bone marrow, fudgy egg yolk, pickled algae tartlet balanced on bone; juicy Thai wagyu tartare, grilled bamboo shoots, preserved green apricot in crispy seaweed shell atop bamboo; and deftly blended miang kham: shrimp, gapi, tamarind, with crispy wild pepper leaves in coconut shell.
The first menu dish is a perfectly formed, warm and moist, nutty rusk of toasted fermented sticky red rice flour and pandan bread, crowned with gorgeous jasmine rice and honey butter, sprinkled with salted egg and toasted sticky rice powder.
Slow-cooked, brine-pickled, soy-smoked, King Mackerel, topped with a vivid green paste of dill, horseradish, ant eggs, fried (crispy, nutty, red), and pickled (juicy, sour-sweet, white), follows in soymilk, dried squid, dill oil sauce, and cucumber two ways; dill-oil marinated and warmed, and pickled and grilled.
The next dish demonstrates that Thai frogs are every bit as gourmet as their French cousins. De-boned frog flesh is blended with galangal, krachai, and sticky rice, and simmered in frog bone stock. Topped with krapow milk foam, lotus root, hairy eggplant and kachai, it's "Cordon Thai".
Naem-style fermented pork rib is basted with Chalawan pale ale and honey, crested with roasted rice and onion flour, and served with caramelized onion and Chalawan purée.
Two preparations of aged Company B duck breast follow: crispy skin, vapour-cooked; fermented peanut sauce brushed, ginger topped. Pickled santor fruit puree, toasted peanut and hibiscus, and duck jus complete another scrumptious dish.
For dessert, charred pumpkin and smoked palm sugar mousse, beneath pumpkin seed caramel, beneath grilled pickled pineapple ice cream, beneath pumpkin seed crumble, with crispy pumpkin chips, is totally wicked.
The 9-dish menu adds cooked and raw river prawn; grilled, fermented "truffle mushroom" coated Thai wagyu with oxtail jus and vegetables; and lemon basil sherbet.
Call it original culinary art at its most exhilarating.
Meanwhile, mixologist, Kira, whips up a mean gin and lychee cocktail, among others.
With its sultry soul soundtrack and valet parking, Canvas is a night-out place. When the F&B's as key as the company, nothing compares.
- 6-courses: 2,400/wine pairing 1,200
- 9-courses: 2,900/wine pairing 2,000
- Mon-Sat 1800-2200 hrs.
- Tel. 099-614-1158 / www.canvasbangkok.com
