It recently closed for renovation and has just re-opened with a softer, warmer more approachable feel. The glass fronted restaurant al­lows maximum light and visibility yet is sufficiently set back from

the pavement to allow some element of privacy. The new interior is matt polished chrome columns, caramel illuminated glass panels all nicely balanced with subtle lighting. Not only does it have a new look but also a new restaurant manager Kaseman Satayrak, who was most recently at Harvey but has a pedigree of having worked in most of the top restaurants in Bangkok. He understands the fine dining crowd in Bangkok and will be instrumental in growing this great restaurant into a successful business.

As with the sister restaurant in Singapore, Ember in Bangkok focuses on contemporary European cuisine complimented by a burst of local fla­vours and draws heavily on local ingredients.

The kitchen is overseen by muscular Chef Haikal Johari who previously before moving to Bangkok has worked in some of Singapore’s top restaurants such as Les Amis, Pierside and Raffles Hotel and has also short periods of time worked alongside the likes of Joel Robu­chon and Laurent Gras from San Francisco.
Chef Haikal is renowned for his tasting menus, reg­ular customers coming back time and time again; they aren’t specific about what they eat as long as it wasn’t the same as last. This involves complex guest history records but so far he has excited every time and never once re­peated.

We were eager to see what he wanted to serve and left the meal selection in his capable hands.
To start the meal they poured a glass of Hob Nob Chardonnay and to awaken our palate served Lang­oustine with Avocado ice cream, the combination may sound a little unusual but the combination produced a beautiful taste and flavour. Chef Haikal has a very indi­vidual and elegant style of cooking.

Next to the table came deep fried tofu, sautéed scal­lops and a wonderfully subtle tasting shitake-foie gras sauce. This combination was packed with powerful fla­vours yet the dish was beautifully light. The portion sizes are perfect for this style of multiple dish tasting menu.

Then arrived herb crusted frogs’ legs with spinach and porcini cream. For this dish Kasemsan felt he should pour the Hob Nob Shiraz and we agreed with his choices.

For his pasta dish he served tortellini stuffed with spinach, fricassee of leek with bacon and a veloute of fruits de mer. A simple dish yet with wonderfully complex flavours.

It was then time for some soup, roasted crab bisque with cognac and smoked paprika, a light foam style amaz­ingly packed with multiple flavours.

For his pan roasted foie gras he intro­duced some unusual flavours that worked exceptionally well together, lavender jelly and pineapple granite subtle ye effective.

Before progressing to the main course a mango passion fruit sorbet was served to cleanse the palate ready to ap­preciate what was to follow. A Japanese influence came with his aka miso glazed cod, again the flavours had a powerful “wow” but expressed with the subtlety of a whisper, so light and easy to digest.

Victorian field rack of almond crust­ed lamb was perfectly cooked, served with perfectly balanced unbelievable flavours of lavender- orange jus.

To finish the meal the house speci­ality, warm Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla bean ice cream.
This was a perfectly balanced din­ning experience with a chef in kitchen a committed perfection with a front of house team who deliver with equal profes­sionalism to the guest.

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Ember