29 dishes you must eat in June

Still a new kid on the block, Islero’s modern Spanish cuisine is known to strike awe. Chef Eduard Borsch deconstructs elBulli’s avant-garde cuisine into more accessible dishes that still truly represent Spanish eating culture. A stand-out has to be the homemade canned shellfish, inspired by Spain’s canned-food culture and manifested in three creations: chewy razor clams slow-cooked in citrus juice, garlic shrimp with paprika, black pepper and salt foam, and slow-cooked mussels in olive oil, black pepper, vinegar and salt foam.

As if the new collaboration between Bangkok’s new supperclub and Blue Elephant wasn’t exciting enough. Chefs Tony Bish and Anchana Ratanakovit refashion Thai food with modern techniques such as sous-vide, vacuum and foam. The duo prep three seasonal set menus: Earth, Fire and Water. A highlight of the latter four-course set is Mae Naam, a reinterpretation of dimsum using tiger prawns, white radish and spicy soup.

Chef Gaggan has just secured
the title of Asia’s Best Restaurant
for the second year, and there’s no better time to feast on his creations.
His innovative new 23-course testing menu features one dish that we really love: the red matcha. Inspired by Japanese green tea culture, he tests your palate with a cold salad of tomato, grapes and starfruits before tomato powder and warm tomato juice are poured on top to create a foamy, sour, salty and spicy soup that could be either Japanese or Indian.

The annex to one of the city’s favorite bike cafés has become a popular shave ice spot. Among the selections, the newly-introduced creation is the avocado kakigori, milk-based shaved ice topped with crushed avocado and, surprisingly, fried bacon. The combination might sound odd but this is just fantastic and worth a revisit.

It’s one of the very few places in Thailand where you can sample Rubia Gallega, fine Spanish beef from Galacia. Sourced from a trusted supplier, Rubia Gallega at Il Fumo is made from free-range cattle and is aged for thirty days for a chewy texture, especially when grilled using Italian woods.

J’Aime by Jean-Michel Lorain has introduced a new menu which includes the revamped razor clams in their gelée, now presented as a Surf & Turf appetizer cooked with olive oil and served with crispy sweetbread, yellow radish and orange mousse.

Thailand’s first branch of this Japanese curry franchise now offers an exclusively Thai dish: big camp fire curry, which was inspired by the way Thai people camp. Once you finish the curry, you can continue to enjoy the leftovers by ordering rice and eggs to boil up in the curry soup, or continue feasting on the curry with udon noodles.

Inspired by a leading female character from Thai folklore, Wantong Café is a twisted Thai dessert café slap-bang in the middle of the world’s largest outdoor market. The chef emphasizes original taste while utilizing unconventional techniques to create exciting creations. Nilla cake, for example, is a reinterpretation of rice berry grains, infused with charcoal, coconut juice and coconut meat.

One of the best Edomae-style sushi restaurants in Bangkok is now accepting new reservations! If that’s not enough reason to go, let’s focus in on the uni. It’s a true wonder: the perfect combination of warm Japanese rice cooked with three kinds of red and white vinegar, wasabi, and two breeds of uni: the sweeter Bafun and the creamier Murasaki.

It’s your first chance to try the beef that won first runner-up at the Wagyu Olympics 2012. Raised on mineral water and the finest rice in Akita prefecture, the cattle are from the same black-haired breed that produces Kobe and Matsusaka beef, legendary for their tender texture and sublime marbled layers. Thanks to the chef’s French slow-cooking process, this Akita beef shank really does melt in the mouth.

With the new venue in Sliom, Chu has proven it’s grown from a chocolate and churro café to become an all-day dining bistro. Signature dishes at this branch include the chicken and waffle with cider slaw, which features tender fried chicken topped with Sriracha honey syrup, and the ‘pulled pork waffle’ made with Joe Sloane’s pork, herbs, Jack Daniel’s BBQ sauce and Sriracha mayo.

Meatlicious is currently Bangkok’s best bet for beef, thanks to its exclusive grilling techniques and the creative input of consulting chef Gaggan Anan, who personally sourced the best farm-to-table wagyu from Japan. Don’t forget to try all of the five condiments: salt and lemon, fermented white rice with salt, fermented red rice with salt, yuzu and chilli.

Until the end of June, Greyhound Café creates special dishes inspired by Italy and its fashion, art, coffee and food cultures. The dish we love most is high heels pizza for its perfect marriage of food and fashion. Not to give too much away, but salami and black olives are served in the shape of a lady’s high heels.  At all Greyhound Café branches.

Good churros are a rare find in Bangkok so we’re particularly grateful for Dolly Churro Café. Their Dolly Churro Strawberry Sundae combines strawberry sundae ice cream and a cinnamon churro before being topped with whipped cream, strawberries and crumbs.

From its origins as a small organic cafe, Farm to Table now occupies a charming vintage space in Bangkok’s flower market. Its homemade ice cream selections have always been remarkable and this month sees the introduction of chestnut ice cream, made with fresh chestnuts from northern Thailand, chestnut purée from France and organic milk, served with fried chestnuts from Bangkok’s Chinatown.

Chef Randy Noprapa suggests that June is the month in which you will taste the best flavors from Kimmedai, Katsuo, Inada and Masaba. Randy ferments the saba fish in saline water for five days, followed by three days in vinegar until it’s ready to be served on sushi rice with kombu, spring onions and flavored ginger.

Turkish Chef Fatih Tutak has refashioned his culinary journey at the House on Sathorn, improving the flavours to please the Thai palette as well as adding exciting new dishes such as early morning at Tsukiji Market No.4, which features grilled tuna tummy with caviar, yuzu orange peel, wasabi, shiso flower and myoka.  Oh, and don’t forget to cleanse your palate with the Yuzui Tart.

With homemade dough, French butter, slow-cooking techniques and an experienced chef, Holy Moly is a special place to get some good pie . There are eight fillings for now, and we recommend the bangers & mash: a crispy pie filled with caramelized Italian sausage and red wine, topped with mashed potato and best eaten with homemade pickled veggies. For a sweet sensation, try the succulent, spicy and aromatic Pineapple Express pie.

Cherry blossom season may be over in Japan, but it’s in full bloom until the end of June with The Okura Prestige’s sakura afternoon Tea. Obviously, sakura blossoms were the main inspiration for Pastry Chef Sebastiaan Hoogewerf, who has created a special afternoon tea set comprised of finger foods and sweetened snacks. The set is best paired with a superior gyukuro green tea.

It might be the best time to check out the historic Author’s Lounge, which has just undergone a grand renewal. Inside, the same timeless details remain with a renewed freshness. A current highlight is the La Grande Dame tea blend created exclusively by French tea house, Mariage Frères, to celebrate the hotel’s 140th anniversary. It’s now officially the longest-running hotel in Thailand. Blended from green tea leaves infused with three kinds of orange, roses and jasmine flowers, the tea is perfectly paired with the Oriental afternoon tea set with local delicacies served in a Thai-style layered container.

Twinnies Mathias and Thomas Sühring have partnered with Gaggan Anan, the owner of Asia’s best restaurant, to elevate German cuisine. Sühring serves up a tasting menu of either nine or twelve servings, both of which modernize traditional German dishes. However, the true highlight is the Brotzeit, based on the German bread-centered staple. Homemade sourdough is topped with butter, cripsy pork skin and a pretzel with sour-and-spicy sauce before being wrapped in foil, charcoal-grilled and served with aging Black Forest ham and homemade sauerkraut. Result? One of the best breads in all of Bangkok.

Bangkok’s new fashion cafe serves up a Western-style all-day breakfast with a Thai touch. An expert in egg dishes, Printa sources fresh eggs from quality farms in Nakhon Nayok. One of the best dishes is the healthy benedict, in which eggs are sous-vide at 64-degrees Celsius to ensure a perfect texture before being servedon toast with guacamole and Sriracha sauce.

Brekkie reinvents yucky-looking health food into mouth-watering dishes using organic ingredients, especially the quinoa. A must-try is the flavorful fried quinoa tom-yum with diced salmon, which was inspired by tom yum fried rice.

Beer-and-food pairing master Dan Bark expands the success of his progressive American cuisine at Upstairs at Mikkeller to Sundays with a waffles & beer Sunday brunch. But there’s so much more going on than the name suggests. Bark also serves up beers and chicken fried with maple syrup.

The brand new dessert café sweetens itself up, with everything from the pastel décor to its reinvented menu. Its signature dish, CrumB’, was inspired by the humble apple crumble, but looks anything but. Instead, it arrives in a pink mushroom shape with overlapping aromas of cinnamon, vanilla and earl grey.

Desserts created out of vegetables? Trust us, it’s pretty awesome! Japan’s Patisserie Potager is now in Bangkok with their signature veggie dessert. This dish is for everyone, even those who usually ‘hate their greens’ because the combination of flavors is so unexpected. The cauliflower tiramisu mousse mixes cauliflower with mascarpone cheese as well as pumpkin roll cake, a vanilla cake roll filled with Japanese pumpkin cream.

Chef Nontawat Rojanasakchai has designed Brix Dessert Bar as a dessert café where guys can enjoy creative sweets as much as the girls. This might explain why a cocktail bar sits next to the open kitchen. Try the Yellow Pillow, inspired by Hong Kong’s famous mango pancakes. This is a crepe filled with mango mousseline cream, topped with mango passion sauce and served with mango, crumble and coconut ice cream.

Chef Thitid Tassanakajorn reinvents one of Thailand’s most famous summer dishes: khao chair. Instead of jasmine rice in scented water, Thitid mixes cream and Jasmine-scented water into creamy ice cream to eat with green pepper stuffed with pork and salted fish pate, shrimp paste balls, and white radish purée.

It’s one of the most talked about restaurants right now, thanks to its edgy design. Ah, that faux-swimming pool hidden inside the shophouse! Don’t let the design  distract you, though. The food is nice, too. The dish we recommend is the A.O.P with Italian sausage, which features homemade beetroot fettuccine cooked in 
a spicy Italian style.