What’s the biggest challenge when serving 14 courses?
Switching gears and doing something we don’t do regularly. We have the staff and the facility to do it but it’s a real change from a la carte.

What’s the course you’re most excited about?
The fact that we’re going to have monk fish with veal sweetbread is kind of sexy. It’s something you don’t see a lot in Bangkok, and it really is a delicious product that more people would enjoy if they could get over what it is [the thymus gland]. When you treat it right, they’re like the best chicken McNuggets in the world—crispy outside, soft inside, a very mild taste.

You’ve got a chocolate flavored duck jus in a test tube at one point.
Well, I think for 14 courses, we could just do straight food, and the at level that we’re doing it, it would be a fine meal. But I really want to push some things that would make people remember it and talk about it. The chocolate water is a challenging flavor profile, but it comes at the midway point of the meal. Hopefully we’ll have won some trust from the guests and they’ll be enjoying themselves with the wine by then. And they’ll be able to suspend their preconceived notions. If not, it’s just one course out of many.

Is this a new direction for Panorama?
Within the restaurant we have a private room that can seat up to 10 and it’s got a private kitchen. For the larger space, we’ll be offering chef’s menus that will be short 4-course tasting menus and wine pairings within the same pricing point, and simple, straight food—no duck chocolate water. But the private room is where these kinds of things can happen. People can just tell me how many courses, what they like, their budget, and we’ll make something for them.

What about the wine?
The most exciting are the three Bordeaux we have back-to-back. It’s an interesting showcase of very different styles of wine from the same region. One big fruit-driven one, one animal, earthy, almost rustic one, which is why it’s paired with truffles, and then a Chateau Haut Brion which just has great finesse and is a much more balanced wine. Gregoire Glachant

B3,499, Sep 23-24, 7pm onwards. Panorama, 23/F, Crowne Plaza Bangkok, 952 Rama 4 Rd. 02-632-9000.