For those who hold that pictures are paramount and frames and settings should be supportive and unassuming, the place to escape with an afternoon break this festive month, or any on given day, is Up and Above Bar, The Okura Prestige Bangkok (BTS Phloen Chit).
Chef Sebastiaan and co’s original Festive Afternoon Tea for two will not put you in mind of Victorian conservatories, though the scones are beyond classic. Rather the spectacle is a bright smorgasbord of culinary cameos contained by the contemplative order of a Japanese shrine, the better to appreciate and admire their too delectable forms.
Not for Up and Above Bar, the three-tier silver cake stand waltz. The sweet sensations arrive on simple white dishes arrayed on a sober lacquer tray covered with a paper mat that currently sports a natty green Christmas tree motif. The savouries are thoughtfully arrayed on an equally angular black slate, while the scones, clotted cream and jams justly merit independent presentation.
Featuring traditional festive ingredients, the sets are appropriately accompanied by lashings of piping hot, Christmas spices-flavoured “Noël Tea” by Mariage Frères – “a gourmet black tea with silver needles, elegant and sparkling – an irresistible blend of mandarin, cinnamon, almond, orange and Bourbon vanilla sprinkled with golden stars.” Or other equally exquisite libations.
If you can restrain yourself a moment from zeroing in on the predominantly festive red and fairy pink sweet temptations, and freshly baked scones, start with the equally dainty savouries, of which there are four per person.
These range; aged prosciutto crisps, fresh mozzarella and green olive; smoked turkey, cranberry & cream cheese white bread sandwich intriguingly contrasted with the buttery crunch of puff pastry; sweet potato vichyssoise chilled soup with Christmas chestnuts, herbs and olive, and; smoked salmon tartlet with horseradish, chive and caper.
Go for the scones next because, mixed with organic cranberry and white chocolate, they’re out of this world. The proper Devonian way is to slice the scone into top and bottom halves, spread the locally supplied yet somehow authentic clotted cream on the insides, followed by the strawberry, raspberry or orange Bonne Maman French jam. Note the cloud-soft centre, slightly crusty outside and buttery finish.
Still more crescendos follow, to wit: red velvet gateaux filled with sour cream, spiked with the sweet citrus of yuzu topped with purple meringue; macarons with raspberry filling decorated with a snowman and holly; a kind of black forest cherry and chocolate cream jam roll; cherry custard topped with red current pearls; fresh strawberry and custard tartlets; and a little Japanese-meets-French number – red velvet cream Daifuku (mochi stuffed with a sweet filling) with a beguiling flavour that half-seems manufactured and half is as fresh as the raspberries that are in it.
For your beverage choose from 16 Mariage Frères teas, five Saro Royal Lotus Teas, various illy coffees or iced drinks.
And all for “only” Baht 1,190++ for 2 persons. Or Baht 1,750++ served with a glass each of sparkling sake or Prosecco. Or Baht 2,750++ served with a glass each of real Champagne.
As for the scenery, Up and Above Bar occupies a corner of the lobby on the 24th floor, with floor-to-ceiling windows on both sides. Posh but unostentatious beige leather and chocolate velveteen low-slung chesterfield-like sofas and modern salon-style chairs are arranged in an orderly fashion around low coffee tables over an alpaca-soft beige rug. Neighbouring sky-scrapers looming large across the way.
Festive Afternoon Tea is Baht 1,190++ inclusive of coffee or tea for 2 persons, Baht 1,750++ inclusive of sparkling Sake or Prosecco for 2 persons and Baht 2,750++ inclusive of Champagne for 2 persons. Available daily from 2 pm – 5 pm during 1 – 31 December 2017.
Up and Above Bar
The Okura Prestige Bangkok, Park Ventures Ecoplex, 57 Wireless Road. Tel. 02 687 9000 Email. upandabove@okurabangkok.com.
