It's a force ... pulling us in! Back at Cyan, the Met., Bangkok

Only hours have passed and we find ourselves drifting back towards the Met. for todays lunch. Also hard to beat the fact that they too are offering crazy lunch deals like we had been finding here and here. Cyan was offering a 3 course lunch set for around 700B. We like lunch deals like this, it let's us go crazy on wine and other extras ..... to which we started out with a glass of white and of red wine.



They came in cute little cylindrical glasses, the white even in it's own ice bucket. These were then poured into our wine glasses waiting on the table, which allowed us to share first the white wine, and follow with the red.



A basket of bread is then placed in front of us, with 2 slices each of sour dough, rye and 7 grain. So soft and fluffy, a scraping of soft butter the perfect accompaniment.



We then tackle our choices. The first choice, salmon carpaccio. The salmon beaten out to a perfect this circle, topped with lemon, capers, parsley, olives and 2 slices of grilled bread. Another familiar dish from our days in paradise but a fine example of great produce speaking for itself.



Next up, an incredible salad of buffalo mozzarella, grilled zucchini ribbons, roasted peppers, parsley, basil pesto and pine nuts. The pesto running down through the salad and coating each bite. Another fine example of exemplary produce.



For main course we choose the chicken and the beef. The chicken is a perfectly cooked breast supreme, crispy golden skin but so moist and succulent on the inside. It's sliced into long lengths, and layered with pieces of crisp prosciutto and a salad of rocket, red grapes, pine nuts, herbs, more pesto and pearl barley. A very satisfying dish, so tasty and delicious. Great comfort food!



The beef, Australian Angus cooked to a blush pink in the centre but the taste of the coconut charcoal grill apparent on the crisp outside. There are 3 'chips' of golden polenta, fried to a golden crisp, but encasing a creamy centre with a touch of parmesan. A medley of grilled vegetables is sitting underneath, including asparagus, red onion, red & yellow peppers, mushroom and a few leaves of fresh rocket give it some life. A caper and anchovy butter giving a nice little bit of saltiness and extra richness as it slides down and over each component.



We had selected our desserts, but Shannon brings out 2 little coconut pannacotta with strawberries, and to hello. A few other 'special' things are on the way ....



The blueberry cheesecake, oh wow !! A biscuit like base but full of nuts holds a creamy cheesey centre, resembling a curd ... plump blueberries are then suspended in a rich blueberry syrup, sprinkled with roasted pistachio nuts with a scoop of blueberry sorbet adding to the decadence.



Sticky date pudding. A classic, but often stodgy and way to heavy. What graces our presence is indeed a show of Shannon's genius; a super light, fluffy, cloud like pudding. A piece of pudding is resting on a chunk of grilled pineapple with caramel sauce and ice-cream. Wow, the pudding though, how to describe the lightness ... definitely some molecular gastro-geniusness.



The last sweet treat to grace our table, something that looks rather familiar. At first glance looking like a profiterole filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce. But it was so damn good, I was seriously in a daze of gastro-pleasure and can't really remember what it was but it wasn't as it seemed. There was some delicious hazelnut, some praline, flavored pastry cream and mmmmm



Another outstanding meal had within the Metropolitan hotel. But now I need to lie down ..............

Cyan Restaurant
the Metropolitan Hotel
27 South Sathorn Road
Tungmahamek
Sathorn
Bangkok 10120
Thailand

A-bu-cha pt. I, Niseko Hirafu

A-bu-cha is a cute little cottage sitting on the corner of the main intersection in Hirafu. We tried going here with Shouya the first night we arrived in October, but they were closed. They didn’t re-open until 1st December, which, funny enough was when we opened. We didn’t make it over on opening night, but I think just about everyone else in Hirafu did, it was packed to the rafters. The following night we finished work and headed on over. It is nice that they serve food until like 12:30am, so it made for a good after-work stop throughout the season.

The greeting, with every staff member in the place participating, is an enthusiastic ‘Ishimase’ that really makes us feel welcome. We walk on in, it’s cosy inside, to the left there’s 2 non-smoking booths and then up a few little stairs a long bar stocked with all sorts of spirits, sho-chu’s, sakes and beers. The kitchen is straight ahead and it’s tiny, but they manage to get about 5 Japanese chef’s back there … To the right is the main dining area with a few more booths and some tables. There’s a heater blasting out hot air and it’s snowing outside, how beautiful.

We order a few things.. The first to arrive a ceramic bowl set ontop a bamboo basket with just a few crisp green edamame peeking out from underneath.



The bowl is turned over (used for the pods, of course) and we both dive in. The beans are so plump and juicy, our fingers getting all salty from the outside as we eat them. They are served cold, which when they’re this good they should be.



Zangi, we’ve heard so much about this delight, so are very looking forward to sampling it. It’s like a karage chicken, big juicy bits of chicken thigh that taste like they’ve been steamed first and then coated and fried. When you order, you have the option of sweet chilli sauce or black vinegar. We choose the black vinegar. A generous bowl sits to the side, it’s a nice tart vinegar and there’s plenty of chopped spring onion and ginger. Some of the best karage we’ve eaten.



We settled on just 2 kushi, things on sticks. If you can’t already tell, we love food, especially meat, on sticks. The tsukone is the first to arrive. Tsukone is chicken mince, this one seasoned with garlic, ginger and shallot, then pressed around a fatter stick and grilled. This one is then dipped in yakitori sauce. Sitting to the side a perfectly plump, sunshine yellow egg yolk. The stick is taken and swirled through the egg yolk before each bite.



Next, buta-yaki, pork stick. The pork is quite tender (not quite as good as Sen chou’s) and covered in the rich, sweet sauce. We prefer the pork one seasoned just with salt.



We were both intrigued by the ‘Chicken wing in Gyoza’ on the menu. It arrives and looks to be a beautifully golden, crispy fried chicken wing.



But then we bite into it. Oh-my! It is indeed a gyoza inside a chicken wing. It’s pork mince and garlic chive stuffed, and somehow contained, within the de-boned chicken wing. A touch of soy raises this unsuspecting little morsel to divine.



Now both feeling quite content after our little midnight snack, of course it’s only now we see the specials board that is up behind us. There’s quite a few things on there that we must eat. But tonight there will be just one more. We both swing between the Grilled Hokkaido chicken with Salt and the Delicious salmon. The decision is made, delicious salmon it is. They like to call what is indeed the most delicious part of the salmon, the belly, delicious salmon. We have had this on several occasions, usually served sashimi. This time the skin has been left on, and it’s been grilled over charcoal. The flesh is bubbling from the hot grill, there’s a nice sprinkling of salt, and the skin charred to crispy perfection. This goes brilliantly with the mountain of freshly grated daikon sitting to the side.



Okay okay, maybe just one more thing from the special board.

Today’s special dessert, Maple cheesecake. It arrives, a generous slice with a whipped cream rosette and some chocolate sauce gracing it’s presence. The cheesecake itself is oishii! The crumbly base topped with a rich, creamy and oh-so-mapley sweet baked top.



Ab-u-cha is a bakery during the day, and if this cheesecake is anything to go by, it’s going to become a regular of ours before work also ….

〒044-0081
190-13 Aza-Yamada
Kuchan-cho
Abuta-gun Hokkaidou
The little red and blue cottage at the main intersection, just beside Seicomart
TEL/FAX 0136-22-5620

Winter Season 18:00-02:00 Open Everday
Summer Season 18:00-00:00 Closed on Monday's