In the future I will write reviews about restaurants abroad in English only. I do hope nobody sees this as a problem. Le Du, which is a lovely little restaurant, is at the moment listed among The World's 50 Best Restaurants. The name of the restaurant sounds French but it derives from the Thai word for season. It serves seasonal, creative modern Thai food. Chef Ton is also a certified sommelier and one of the two owners. Unfortunately he was absent when we visited. But we had the pleasure to be served by the other owner, Tao, who is a talented sommelier. We chose the 4 course set menu where you have a choice between 3 dishes for every course. And the wine pairing was as outstanding as the food. This is what we had.
Amuse-bouche: Watermelon 3 ways
1) drink 2) green melon + dill + dried fish 3) red melon + candied smoked peanut + coriander
They were all amazing but number 3 was our favorite.
ONE - COLD
My first course was Crab, papaya salad and crispy pork skin accompanied by a glass of Austrian white wine. I was in seventh heaven...loved this crabsalad: fresh, spicy and crispy elements in a very tasty and beautiful composition.
My husband's first course was Crayfish & Cooked Oyster, jicama(tastes like a savory apple) and fresh water seaweed. It was a soft and mellow spicebomb. Much to his liking.
TWO - FROM THE SEA AND FOREST
My second choice was Sustainable Ocean Fish, bamboo shoots, turmeric, ivy gourd (looks like a small gherkin with the taste of melon). The fish was catfish and the yellow turmeric sauce was strong and spicy. I got the recipe for the top notch sauce and will certainly try to make it one of these days. And the Chardonnay accompanied the dish most perfectly...even though I am not much into this grape normally.
My husband fell for River Prawn, pork belly jam, shrimp paste and organic rice. He loved it and the pairing with a Portuguese Vinho Verde was utterly successful.
THREE - FROM THE RANCH
Charcoal-grilled Pork Jowl (cheek), pumpkin, gourd, onion. The flavors worked well together and I was happy with my choice, in particular the sauce with pumpkin was to die for.
30 Days Dry-Aged Beef Tenderloin, holy basil, barley, egg. Again nothing to complain about. At this point our stomachs told us to stop eating but the desserts were waiting around the corner...
FOUR - SIN
The first one was Duck egg custard, lotus seed, shallot ice-cream. I haven't even heard of shallot ice-cream before and had my doubts but it turned out to be a real winner in this dessert.
The second one was Pandan cake, soy, thai-tea ice-cream. My husband (who seldom eats desserts) was not very impressed with this and I didn't like it much either.
Comment: Le Du is a rather small restaurant and I recommend that you make a reservation before you go because it is very popular as well among the locals as the tourists. The service was great and the staff spoke good English. I highly recommend this hidden pearl (in a small alley) if you are in Bangkok and in the mood for some fine dining.
