Love fabulous authentic Italian fare but draw the line at fine dining? Al Dente, a passion project of "Lorenzo", a 26-year Bangkok resident, veteran 5-star hotel executive chef, who originally hails from the improbably romantic former city state of Venice, should be right up your Grand Canal. Better yet, it's nearby at 1st fl. The Commons, Thonglor 17.
The genesis of the concept revolves around classic Italian cuisine featuring homemade pastas, desserts and cookies, with minimal cream, butter or processed foods, crafted in "a kitchen in a Venetian osteria" (a simple diner) that makes the entire prep process Iron-chef transparent. The only machine on deck is a manual charcuterie slicer; not even a blender.
Around 20 different pastas are prepared, from bigoli to gnocchi and tagliatelle to cannelloni, then precisely cooked to be worthy of the restaurant's name – roughly translatable as 'to the tooth', i.e. chewy. A new pasta is kneaded, rolled and sliced every half hour.
The genial giant further cites "rusticity" shaping the concept, though he implies the 'rusticana' applicable to the age of Italian chivalry more than smelly farms. The stripped down brushed concrete and bright lamps ambiance is paradoxical to the impeccable cuisine, if not the artisanal ingredients.
Though Lorenzo adheres to the essential ingredient centricity of Italian cuisine, each dish is a virtuoso composition bearing his unmistakable signature.
A scrumptious appetizer is a mozzarella, anchovy and sundried tomato, spicy breadcrumb sandwich with spicy tomato dunking sauce. Baby spinach salad (330) with artichoke, champignon, pine nuts, pungent Gorgonzola crouton and tangy sun-dried tomato dressing is Mediterranean perfection. Ditto broiled Rock Lobster (390 baht) with ribboned, basil-seasoned celery, red onion, cherry tomato and kalamata olive with balsamic vinaigrette. Tuna tartare (390) with olive tapenade, goat cheese, truffle vinaigrette and the crunch of toasted corn bread makes choosing even harder.
Progressing to pasta, the Bigoli Carbonara (290) sauce is strictly an emulsion of egg yolks (so it doesn't taste eggy), pecorino, guanciale pork cheek (tastier and tenderer than pancetta), pepper – NO CREAM OR BUTTER! Sprinkled with Parmesan, it's peerless.
Spaghetti Bottarga (390) juxtaposes the robust pasta with grated, pungent sundried mullet fish roe with rock lobster, tomato, parsley, chili-garlic sauce.
The few main courses are equally immaculate.
Snowfish (790) cooked with rock salt and herbs sauced with lemon- and wine-infused Hollandaise, sitting in celery root puree, with gratinated endive, spinach-stuffed cannelloni and veal jus is the holy grail. New Zealand lamb loin on potato fondant with tangy goat cheese mousse, creamy leeks, earthy lentils and sautéed red endive, and rich lamb reduction is lamb dish heaven.
Lorenzo's mastery of Venetian cookery further extends to tiramisu (250), here a deceptively light cake in which mostly mascarpone is spiced with Marsala wine and mocca-soaked ladyfingers. Panna cotta (200), light in gelatin so delectably wobbly, with a dash of olive oil, is lyrically set in a red berry laurel. Hand-whipped chocolate and mascarpone cake, Chantilly cream (250), with fresh red berries, is equally to-die-for.
Shyly noticing how won over we are, Lorenzo ventures to introduce his double-baked biscotti, revealing jars of hazelnut baci di dama filled with truffle ganache, gialletti made with polenta and raisins, cantucci Tuscan cookies with almond, buttery sable dough etc. apt to turn up on espresso saucers of those inexplicably resisting dessert.
The range of all-Italian wines, 5-6 each of reds and whites, each available by the glass, along with limoncello and grappas, is modest but sufficient.
All as passionate Italian pop plays in the background.
Al Dente serves lunch sets Mon-Fri at B340++, hosts monthly wine dinners and delivers with Line Man.
- Open noon-10:00pm.
- Tel.097-078-1968
- http://www.facebook.com/AlDenteBkk
