Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Peter Evan's Dinner at the Met., Bangkok

It was all by chance that we happened to be in Bangkok when Peter Evan's was doing a dinner at the Metropolitan hotel, Bangkok. Kim and I both spent a chunk of time working at Hugos while in Sydney, and it had been a while since we'd seen Pete. We always enjoy going to Met. as well, to catch up with the genius (and crazy!) brother pair of Daniel and Shannon, the Executive chef and Pastry chef of the acclaimed Cyan restaurant.

We arrived a little early and took a seat in the lobby. From across the room we noticed someone who looked awfully familiar ... he seemed to notice us, also. He makes the first move to come and chat to us and turns out it's John Sussman, Australian seafood pioneer, who happened to be in town as well, but ended up donating a lot of seafood for the dinner. We manage to say Hello to both Daniel and Pete, them both popping out into the lobby before we are all ushered into the dining room ...

Cy'an dinner

We are seated and immediately receive a glass of Queen Adelaide Brut but the thing that has me bubbling in the too-cute little dish of balsamic / oil marinated olives, with a sprig of rosemary that is used for dipping the bread ... and the bread, a choice of about 4 freshly baked breads, I start with the foccacia and do manage to sample the other 3 throughout the meal.

Cy'an dinner

First course is a quadruple of Australian seafood. Snapper tartare with bacon and black bean dressing, smoked ocean trout on betel leaves, Coffin Bay oysters with mirin, sake & wasabi dressing and a sweet corn soup with Kinkawooka blue mussels, basil & chili oil.

Cy'an dinner

The second course is accompanied by a glass of Naked Range Sauvignon Blanc a very nice drop that compliments the pepper seared black kingfish salad with wakami and ponzu dressing. The little tobiko (flying fish roe) that are discovered throughout the dish a pleasant surprise.

Cy'an dinner>

A glass of Black Opal Chardonay carries us through the next 2 dishes. Firstly, Spencer gulf prawns grilled with oregano, lemon and chili. The flavors were nice, but the prawns themselves were quite disappointing. Mushy and rubbery at the same time. Perhaps it was something about the dinner Pete was holding and the sponsorship / donation of Australian seafood, but there is so much local Thailand seafood that would have made much more sense, being in Thailand and all. (~*Same thought on just eating Australian ocean trout and highly acclaimed Hokkaido restaurant .... nani kore?!?! why?? we are surrounded by some of the most amazing seafood in the world right here, anyway ...)

Cy'an dinner

The last of the savory dishes brings back a lot of nostalgia, and I'm not sure if it was all good ;) We cooked I don't know how many thousands of these while at Hugos, and neither of us really understood why ..... the fish was perfectly cooked, sweet and delicious but paired with sweet potato puree and a coconut lime sauce, there's just a severe lack of texture, and an awful resemblance to baby food. But it works for Pete!?

Cy'an dinner

After we'd all finished our main, Pete has a bit of a chat. The crowd is amped, and his side kick Udo is whizzing around taking photo's throughout the night.

Pre-dessert is a Campari (Yum!) and grapefruit granita that is topped with hand-spun fairy floss .... one of Shannon's new toys.

Cy'an dinner

Then dessert, another familiar contender, the Goats curd cheesecake with passion fruit sauce (this one's for you, Jarrod!) A glass of Wolf Blass Frontignac Traminer pairs nicely with the tart cheesecake.

Cy'an dinner

We enjoy a cup of tea after our dinner, before being given a handful of cocktail vouchers for Met Bar.

Cy'an dinner

We check on the boys, there a while off, so we tell them we'll head to Met Bar and they can meet us there. The first round are 2 signature Hugos cocktails (I totally forget what they were) and a bowl of the delightful Met nuts, cashews, macadamia's and peanuts fried with garlic, galangal, kaffir lime, chilli and baby shrimp. Delish!

Cy'an dinner

2nd round is another pair of signature Hugos cocktails.

Cy'an dinner

We still manage a few more rounds, including a delicious honey cocktail and a Hendricks martini before the boys arrive ....

Cy'an dinner

and Udo busts out some sick dance moves before passing out on the couch !!

Cy'an dinner

We pile into taxi's and make our way over to Bed Suppa. Here we meet Paul, the talented head chef behind Bed Suppa's success as a restaurant. He has kindly saved us a 'bed' that is loaded with alcohol ....

Bed Suppa

Fun times were had by all, including meeting the amazing Austin Bush and talking away with him for hours in the Bed Suppa kitchen ... It would have been after 4am when we emerged and piled into 1 tuk-tuk in search of food. A unanimous decision was made to head towards the Arab Qtr.

Bed Suppa

We enjoy a fair spread of food ...

Late night snack

and somehow Shannon manages to knock over and break a giant hookah pipe ... ah, it's all in a nights fun when hanging out with the Moran boys in Bangkok.

We wish both Daniel and Shannon all the best on their new venture to Parrot Cay !! Good luck, guys !!

the Metropolitan Hotel
part of the COMO group
27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek
Sathorn
Bangkok 10120
Thailand

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice post guys. The food look amazing. If you bring that to Sekka, you'll have the whole village waiting to get in.

John - Niseko Gourmet

Kat and Kim said...

Hey John,
Thanks! It was a great dinner ...
Hope you guys are doing well in Aus, will we see you back here for winter? Summer here has been good, weather a bit up and down though.
Send our regards to Tess,
Kat & Kim

ina said...

omg that looks great
i love your food pictures

Kat & Kim said...

Hey Ina,
Thanks !! The food was great, also lovely blue lighting in the restaurant which helped a bit with the pictures.