As Valentine’s Day approaches, many of us are probably trying to book a table at a nice restaurant so we can spend the special occasion with our loved one in style. There are plenty of romantic spots in Bangkok to celebrate this day of love, but very few offer the same memorable experience as Blue by Alain Ducasse.
The one-Michelin-starred riverside restaurant at ICONSIAM is encouraging all lovebirds to make a reservation for Valentine’s Day weekend as early as now. From 12 to 14 February, renowned French chef Alain Ducasse’s Bangkok venture will be offering special menus for both lunch and dinner.
If romancing during the day is your thing, then book the seven-course lunch menu (B7,900++ per couple). Both you and your significant other can indulge in splendid French creations delicately made from premium ingredients like Brittany scallops or guinea fowl. For your main course, you can choose between the Wagyu beef or the Atlantic brill. Our suggestion: order both so you can share!
For a romantic rendezvous come sundown, the restaurant recommends the nine-course dinner menu (B17,000++ per couple). Stimulate your appetite with fresh Friandise oysters and Champagne granité and then follow it up with homemade ravioli stuffed with butternut squash served in duck and cardamon consommé.
Enjoy the rest of the meal with the Chao Phraya River as your backdrop. Up next is pan-seared Brittany sea scallops with crunchy quinoa and a pear and chicory salad. Don’t get full just yet for what follows next—a pithivier stuffed with guinea fowl farce and topped with freshly shaved black truffles—is meant to be savored with gusto.
A pre-main of Beaufort cheese soufflé cooked around white asparagus and finished with jus, also made with white asparagus and Noilly Prat vermouth sets you up for the first main course of pan-seared Atlantic brill with Savoy cabbage-squid gateau and smoked brill bone hollandaise. This is soon followed by the perfectly grilled Wagyu beef with Jerusalem artichokes and black garlic.
A Valentine’s Day meal wouldn’t be complete without lavish desserts. Leading the sugary line-up is a composition of lime yogurt, fresh mango, mango-lime jelly, a mango sorbet and lime granité. This prepares the palate for the final pièce de résistance— Vacherin cheese with Japanese Amaou strawberries. The dessert features a Viennese biscuit base and layers of vanilla cream, compressed strawberries, dehydrated strawberry jam and jelly, and a crunchy meringue.
Take your romantic meal up a notch, or share the love with friends and family, with Blue by Alain Ducasse’s “Sweet Hearts” cake. This deliciously decadent confection features hand-piped chocolate mousse covering a crunchy milk chocolate cake that is topped with tonka bean crémeux. Two chocolate hearts crown the cake. One is white and the other red, but both are filled with mascarpone cream and strawberry compote. (It’s worth knowing that all chocolate is imported from Alain Ducasse’s de Chocolat Manufacture in Paris.) The Sweet Hearts cake (B3,000) is available from 4 to 28 February.
Saying “I love you” alone is probably enough this coming Valentine’s Day. But why not do something special and treat yourself and your beloved to all these scrumptious offerings at Blue by Alain Ducasse.
For more information and reservations, contact 0 2005 9412 or email enquiries@blue-alainducasse.com.