Dinner at Tables Grill at Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok was a very solid fine French dinner in the middle of Bangkok. Sure there are plenty of non-Thai restaurants in this city but many would be mediocre but Tables Grill, helmed by Michelin-starred chef Hans Zahner was something worth noting since he taken over as Chef de Cuisine as of fall 2018.
We had the pescatarian five-course dinner tasting menu was overall tasted and felt like a solid 1* Michelin. The ingredients used in the restaurant feature locally sourced vegetables from the Royal Project in Chiang Mai.
The amuse bouche of a coconut, apple sphere and lobster rice raviolo were a strong indicator of informing us what is to come: delicate flavors of the freshest seafood come to light with just enough of touches of acidity and varying textures to enhance the dish.
We had a welcoming drink of a really excellent lemongrass and ginger tonic. My friend had a lychee iced tea to drink throughout the meal while I had the Harvard Old Fashioned made with Martell VSOP, Mancino Secco, and maraschino liqueur (the restaurant has an Old Fashioned cocktail menu and it intrigued me). Both of the latter drinks were good. The tea was sweet enough to be enjoyed without overwhelming the food. My cocktail was strong and intense like it should be but the vermouth choice was interesting making it herbaceous besides boozy.
The first course of wild langoustine tartare is topped with Hua Hin sturgeon caviar, consommé jelly, and lemon zest was a luxurious first course. The cube of finely chopped tartare was sweet and creamy and juxtaposed with the locally produced Russian-Thai sturgeon caviar added some salinity and subtle nutty notes.
The roasted Hokkaido scallop, endive, cinnamon, star anise infused soy milk foam was a beautiful edible work of art. Besides the aesthetics, it’s an excellent dish that has a few strong bites of flavors of bitter (from endive) and sweet spice from the pool of dark brown, almost black sauce but all of these flavors still were restrained enough that the large sweet scallop still shined.
The Pacific red tuna, coriander root with orange and soy marinade was a unique way of serving tuna as it’s on the sweeter end of the savory spectrum. The tuna was beautifully seared and the sweet orange sauce bridged the carrots and slightly bitter coriander root well.
Confit amber jack, parsley velouté, shellfish jus was a very meaty kind of dish even though there isn’t any meat at all, only fish and seasonings. The amberjack had a strong fishy (in a good way) flavor. The shallow pool of parsley and shellfish sauces added a hint of freshness and sweetness respectively. This kind of course is the kind of dish that is if it’s not a pescatarian menu, this would traditionally would have been your steak or heavy protein dish to finish the savory end of the menu.
We had the cheese course of pretty decent French cheeses that were imported. Understandably, the restaurant isn’t able to import all of the desired French made cheeses so what they can get is actually very good. (Thai food doesn’t have any cheese in its cuisine.) The evening’s choices were mostly French classics like 6-month aged Gouda, Epoisses, brie, and comte.
For dessert, it was a light and almost savory plate of Apple, Cucumber, Dill. It’s an apple-shaped green apple parfait, cucumber-dill compote, lime cream cheese, cinnamon crumble, lemongrass sorbet. It’s all so refreshing and doesn’t weigh me down like certain desserts can do. There were also mignardes of a raspberry financier, a chocolate hazelnut pastry and wafers that tasted like black sesame to sweeten the end every so slightly.
Information:
Tables Grill
Official Website
Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
M Floor
494 Rajdamri Road, Lumphini, Pathum Wan
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Phone: +66 2 254 6250
