Early last year, Canadian chef Andrew Martin made an impressive Bangkok debut when he partnered with Daniel Thaiger to offer superb back-to-basics burgers at Brew Beers and Ciders. But we learned a lot more about his cuisine when he hosted his own seafood-focused pop-up dinner at Sway, where chef Napol Jantraget’s team saw the similarities between his style and their’s. Since then, Martin, 29, has joined them permanently at 80/20, helping to balance out Napol’s Westernized cuisine with his passion for Thai flavors (honed during a stint at Bo.lan) and multicultural Japanese-French-Canadian background.
Chef Carol Boosaba draws on a decade spent working in the patisseries of Paris (count hallowed grounds like Angelina and Laduree among them) to run this fine pastry and high-tea powerhouse on Sukhumvit. Her glass display cabinet is a childhood dreamland of perfectly presented tarte tatin, Saint Honore cakes, eclairs and chocolate tarts elevated by the finest ingredients and a lightness of touch. Her croissants even came first in BK Magazine’s blind taste test thanks to their gloriously flakey crust and the distinctive taste of quality butter. Her millefeuille, made from the same pastry, is just as exceptional.
G/F, Metha Wattana Building, 27 Sukhumvit Soi 19, 088-870-0020. BTS Asok.
Making its way to the no. 1 spot in Top Tables in its debut year, Suhring’s position here is hardly surprising. Set in a beautiful villa tucked away from Yen Akart Road, the restaurant truly feels like dining in someone’s home, though the food of Suhring twins Thomas and Mathias is far from the stuff of family cooking. Dinner starts with a small beer mug of shandy and goes on to finger-food items and main dishes that combine all the nation’s food cliches in new, creative ways without ever making the flavors hard to understand—a whole new look at what German food means in our culinary dictionary.
10 Yen Akat Soi 3, 02-287-1799. Open daily 6pmmidnight. BBBB
The Quince brunch menu is everything we want on a Sunday morning, be it a strong bloody Mary, hummus with a sesame flatbread, a rabbit terrine accompanied by pickled veggies or a Campari and raspberry sorbet. Regulars can sometimes take the consistently delicious dishes for granted, taken as they are by the space: soaring ceilings, glass on three sides, rustic Casa Pagoda decor pieces and a little garden. Indeed, when that green pocket fills up with a couple dogs and some running toddlers, your brunch experience reaches Kinfolk magazine-worthy perfection.
Coming from the team whose affiliated wine company, Global Vineyards, supplies wine to L’Atelier, Suhring, Gaggan—basically a who’s-who of the Top Tables pointy end—it’s little surprise that this restaurant’s cellar (a warmly rustic outbuilding complete with dining table) is one of the best in town. But just as amazing as labels like Prieure-Roch (the boutique operation from one half of Romanee Conti) and Champagne Jacquesson (bubbles of choice for Napoleon Bonaparte) are La Casa Nostra’s prices. A policy that sees no bottle marked up by more than B500 means wines here can cost you literally one-third of what they would at some other places in town. Bonus points go to the beautifully slender Zalto glasses and Coravin wine opening machines which allow them to serve upscale wine by the glass without popping the corks.
22 Sathorn Soi 1 Yaek 2 (Goethe), 02-287-2402. MRT Lumphini. Open daily 11:30am-midnight.
Top Tables 2017 lists Bangkok's best 100 restaurants. The full list is available as a free booklet inserted in BK Magazine issue number 684 (Mar 31) and a downloadable PDF version here.
