For over three years, Monthep “Thep” Kamonsilp has nurtured his commitment to showcasing local ingredients meticulously sourced from all over the country at TAAN, the Thai fine-dining restaurant on the 25th floor of Siam@Siam Design Hotel Bangkok.
Chef Thep, whose CV includes impressive stints at French restaurants in Thailand and France, heads the kitchen, where he gets to explore the boundless possibilities of local produce and creates innovative fare that still retains authentic Thai flavors.
The chef’s hyper-local philosophy is aimed at celebrating the country’s “food artisans and their unique ingredients.” By using 100-percent local ingredients, he hopes to “honor” the farmers and fishermen of Thailand.
This year, after managing to survive the worst of the pandemic, Chef Thep is welcoming back avid foodies with PRODE, a set menu that brings together dishes that embody TAAN’s culinary essence.
The nine-course set (B2,890++) uses a mix of exotic proteins, vegetables and herbs—some of them unfamiliar—to take diners on a culinary journey from the north to the south of the kingdom. Each dish is cooked in the traditional way, and doesn’t compromise on flavors just to please foreign palates, as Chef Thep promises.
Raw lobster soaked in freshwater fish sauce starts off the meal, whetting the appetite with pungent hits of sourness and spiciness. Crispy goby, a favorite among diners, comes next, served with a mushroom sauce mixed with local ya-nang leaves and a chili-heavy grilled bamboo shoot salad.
The third course is a southern-style golae cake stuffed with seafood, while the fourth is a rice noodle and coconut curry dish that flavors grouper with popped rice, fermented fish and pineapple.
One course comes with a surprise element: grilled sticky rice stuffed with deep-fried braised pork belly and frog legs, the latter an ingredient that Chef Thep hopes will broaden the culinary horizons of city diners.
The pre-main is a surf-and-turf soup that combines squid eggs, top round beef and prawn fat paste. This is shortly followed by TAAN’s signature black chicken congee, the menu’s main highlight. The comforting dish warms your throat and fills your tummy with a milled congee topped with dressing made with a thousand-year-old egg, crispy pork belly, organic black chicken and bitter beans.
The dessert is a fitting end to an artfully prepared meal. Inspired by tao thueng (a Chinese-style shaved ice dessert), the dish combines coconut pandan ice cream with several grains and longan-infused Thai meringue.
