Go on a Slow, Culinary Journey With These Tasting Menus in Bangkok

To say that food is merely fuel would be disingenuous. Was it not the late chef and travel documentarian Anthony Bourdain who once said, "Food is everything we are?"

Food is fuel, surely, but it is also passion; it is one's personal history and a history of the times. It is likewise, to borrow from Bourdain again, "an extension of nationalist [and] ethnic feeling." These tasting menus from five restaurants in Bangkok prove just as much, with each small dish a presentation of the art, ingenuity, and heart of every chef who created and prepared it.

For a slow, gastronomic experience where food is not merely eaten nor tasted, but savoured and felt – these tasting menus in Bangkok are the way to go.

Yamazato  

Sushi lovers, taste the best and freshest at The Okura Prestige Bangkok's Yamazat0a restaurant, where you can sample the magnificent "Kaisake Omakase" crafted by Master Chef Shigeru Hagiwara. This multi-course degustation is dependent on the fresh catch of the day, for the assembling of its seasonal sashimi and hand-made sushi. The omakase experience comes in two types, namely the Standard (THB4,900) and Premium (THB6,500). The standard omakase comes with two types of starters, four kinds of sashimi, yakimono, six kinds of sushi, soup, and dessert. Go here to make dinner reservations at Yamazato.  

Location: Yamazato, The Okura Prestige Bangkok, 57 Park Venture Ecoplex, Wireless Road

Canvas  

Art, food, and passion intersect at Canvas, a Michelin-starred fine dining restaurant along Sukhumvit Road that's known for serving diners tasting menus "of abstract cuisine as an exhibition of local ingredients, flavours, ideas, art, ceramics, techniques." Its current tasting menu, which is available until April 9, has a dramatic 22 courses invented by Chef Riley Sanders and made from seasonal ingredients across all the regions of the kingdom. Some of the offerings include dishes like "spiced ice," "cool, fresh, warm," "black & squid," "rainbow & earth," "pineapple distortion," and "wagyu, scent of the forest," among many others. This tasting menu is priced at THB6,000 and is subject to a 10% charge and 7% government tax.  

Location: Canvas, 113/9-10 Soi Sukhumvit 55  

Cadence

Cadence is Chef Dan Bark's brainchild. An evolution from his small restaurant Upstairs in 2014 and his passionate team, the Michelin-starred Cadence "represents rhythm, flow, and balance – the lifeblood of our dining room." Bark is unafraid to explore the complexity of natural flavours and the capacity for artistry of every dish, which have helped define Bark's cuisine as "progressive American."  

Cadence's menu is inspired by Bark's lived experiences and favourite flavors. To give you an idea, it includes dishes like chawanmushi, Wagyu tartare, Hokkaido scallop, and the Atlantic kingfish, among others, with a choice of wine, cocktail, or mocktail pairings for an additional charge. The Cadence Dinner is priced at THB5,300 and comprises 15 courses. Go here to make a reservation.  

Location: Cadence, 225 Soi Pridi Banomyong 25, Khwaeng Khwaeng Khlong Tan Nuea, Khlong Toei

Sra Bua  

Thai restaurant Sra Bua, made possible by Chef Henrik Yde-Andersen and Chef Chayawee Sutcharitchan, serves contemporary versions of original recipes, maintaining "familiar flavours of traditional Thai dishes" prepared through international culinary techniques. Described as "modern gastronomy at its best," it isn't unusual to sample curry in Sra Bua that may have the "temperature of ice cream and bites of lobster locked inside gelatinous pearls..." It's bold cooking as it should be. Sra Bua has maintained its one Michelin star from 2018-2022.  

It currently has three menus, namely the Lunch Winter Journey 8 Serving Menu (THB2,150), the Lunch Winter Journey 10 Serving Menu (THB3,200), and the Dinner Winter Journey 16 Serving Menu (THB3,900), which features, among others, dishes like Bite Street Food, King Fish Flan in Miso, Tom Yam Prawn, and Slow Cooked Wagyu Beef Pad Krapow with Peas and Quail Egg. You may book a table at Sra Bua here.  

Location: Sra Bua, Siam Kempinski Hotel Bangkok, Rama 1 Road 991/9

Blue Elephant

Chef Nooror Somany Steppe is the heart and brains behind Blue Elephant. The Thai restaurant was established in 1980 by the chef and her husband Karel Steppe, a Belgian art dealer and businessman, upon their marriage. The establishment was expanded and in 2002, the Blue Elephant Restaurant and Cooking School was finally opened. Today, it has restaurant locations not just in Bangkok but also in Phuket, Malta, and Copenhagen.

The Thainess Menu, also known as the Chef's Menu, was created by Chef Nooror for diners to "discover a gentle and diverse initiation" into Thai cuisine. Some dishes include smoked trout salad with mango, pomelo salad prawn cakes, blue swimmer crab coconut soup, and sweet basil and chili king mackerel, among others. Go here to book a table.  

Location: Blue Elephant, 233 South Sathorn Road, BTS Surasak