Aqua

In the courtyard garden of the Four Seasons Bangkok, amidst plants and pond is this veritable watering hole.  Its cool clean lines are seen in the no-nonsense tables set on a raised wooden platform by a pond. Patrons have a choice of seating at the bar, coffee table or dining table. Low rocking chairs add that touch of quirk — rocking with a martini  in hand becomes invested with new meaning. 

Improbable strings of light drape around plants and festoon the bar. In another setting, it might be tactless. At this bar, the lights assume a crystalline quality, being reflected in the shimmering waters — unapologetic, and glistening with aplomb. Incandescent light columns shed a worldly glow on every patron — everyone is … delectable. 

What makes Aqua exceptional are the available choices of food. In particular, Thai dishes may be ordered from the menu of Spice Market, the Thai restaurant located next to Aqua. Amidst lush foilage and points of light, a drink before tucking into food from one of the best Thai kitchens in Bangkok is an experience not to be missed.

Principle of Cool

The rocking chairs (without the slightest hint of grandmother) and iced drinks shot through with refracted light.

Aqua

Four Seasons Bangkok

155 Rajadamri Road

Bangkok 10330 Thailand

Madison

This Manhattan-style restaurant delineates space — by  using glass and wooden lines — into enclosure upon room upon chamber. Setting clear or azure frosted glass against warm wood, and burnt orange hues and creams, this is an extremely sleek place with a touch of mystery in its layered design. Glass doors extend along the length of the bar creating the first layer. The main dining area is the next labyrinth with teak tables and semi-private booths looking out onto a garden.

To the right is the private dining room with an automated ebony-steel wall that slides — glides actually — shut to encase the patrons in an elliptical glass showcase. This science fiction exterior is humanised by refectory-style lights and teakwood dining table, and mustard-coloured silk upholstery.    

But the sexiest décor means nothing if the food is dismal.

It is here that Madison shows its single-mindedness in presenting the freshest meats and seafood done in contemporary Western style — this means a combination of searing, baking and grilling shrimps, lobster, salmon and beef, accompanied by a sauce formed by reducing the juices from the meat or seafood, or using cream, tomato, or vinegar or other herbs as a base. The New York-style steakhouse is notable for its openness to influences from East and West but does not try to incorporate fusion elements as an end in itself.

The menu changes every few months. The starters include spinach soup, black olive polenta with mixed mushroom, and mustard seed crab cake, and main courses include hearty veal chops and melt-in-the-mouth Prime Hereford Australian steaks, and the freshest Andaman Sea lobsters.

In comparison with French and Italian cuisine, Manhattan charcoal-grilled fare at its most focused requires a far simpler cooking process. This does not detract from its merit because it takes a truly confident chef to execute simpler dishes that bring out the natural flavours of meat and fish.

As Nicolas Schneller, Executive Chef puts it, ‘I don’t add many spices as the freshest products are used to ensure the real taste of the seafood and meat comes through.  There is no cover-up by the sauces.’

Principle of Hot

The hermetically sealed capsule of a private dining room — who can afford to have the good food and rarefied air flow out?

Madison

Four Seasons Bangkok

155 Rajadamri Road

Bangkok 10330 Thailand

Wine Wise

At this newly-opened wine bar, 24 wooden barrels of wines, ports and muscats are stacked in two rows.  Match these barrels with tables and chairs made from wine-crates, and you get an organic wine-cellar feel to the entire experience of wine-tasting.

Selected from six different Adelaide vineyards, these wines are varietals and peddled under the ‘Wine Wise’ brand. They are mainly light in texture and flavour, and short on the palate. The customer can sample without charge all wines straight from the barrel before having his choice bottled to bring home — the first of its kind in Singapore.  Sit-in patrons can order cheeses to accompany their wine by the glass. Two of the most popular are the Adelaide Hills Cabernet Sauvignon 2003 and Langhorne Creek Shiraz 2001.

Affordable wines (from $13 per 375 ml bottle to $34 per 750 ml bottle) plus the practical approach of allowing tasting before buying make this a relaxing and rewarding place for family and friends.

The absence of the snob factor ups its cool quotient — a breath of fresh air in wine-appreciation that is stultified with superfluous practices and posturing. This is not a place to look beautiful or appear very knowledgeable about wines (especially when you have scant idea). Instead, it allows you to roll up your sleeves and do some real tasting. You can even ask, ‘Bouquet — are you referring to flowers?’ without having scorn poured all over you.

Principle of Cool

A real attempt to bring wines to the young wine-drinker. Attitude can reside in the utter lack of pretension — right down to its down-to-earth label. Bring your own cheese if you like.

Wine Wise

444 Upper Bukit Timah Road

The Rail Mall

Singapore 678066

Dolce Vita

If anybody is able to give a new interpretation to Mediterranean and Middle Eastern food without compromising its essence, it has to be a Singapore-bred chef, one with a self-confessed fondness for bak cho mee (minced pork noodles) no less.

So it is at this newly opened restaurant that Edward Voon, Chef de Cuisine, dares to smother penne pasta with an extremely rich gorgonzola cheese cooked with lobster broth. Extraordinarily tender and sweet is the maine lobster that accompanies the dish. You know you shouldn’t — the thought of the calories is staggering — but you will continue to spoon in mouthful upon mouthful. The internal conflict is resolved by promising yourself that this will be the last indulgence ever.

In true Middle Eastern dining, the mezze experience is an offering of hor d’oeuveres, sometimes up to 50 items. The sampling at Dolce Vita is decidedly more modest in choice but not in creativity. The Mezze presents four hor d’oeuveres that cleverly sets the aroma of Middle East against Italian and Greek highlights.  Salmon is cured with aniseed and nestles on a bed of garlic yoghurt and salt-marinated cucumber. Prawns wrapped in ripped filo pastry are deep fried and served with harissa sauce. An interesting match is tangy cumin-sumac marinated scallops with freshly-made pesto.

Perhaps the greatest gusto is displayed in the flatbreads — Voon’s version of pizzas. There is the Berber lamb flatbread with Persian-style minced lamb and goat cheese — a combination that may outrage the traditionalist (until one realises that the pizza dough is really the unfurled version of Middle Eastern wraps).  Or try fresh figs with five cheeses on pizza.

And if you detect your pastas laced with wok flavour, you should know that they have been fired by the breath of the skillet.  Put simply, Voon has been cooking up a fiery storm in the kitchen.

Voon is clearly passionate about his food, given his priorities. He declares:  ‘After Love, there is always Cuisine.‘ After sampling his cuisine, you will be well fortified to love … a return visit.

Principle of Hot

All tables are hot at this restaurant with contemporary design but the best tables are those by the open french windows.  Just beyond, a bit of drama plays out in the huge potted plants thrashing about in the strong winds by the pool, enhancing the intimacy within. 

Dolce Vita

The Oriental Singapore

Marina Square

5 Raffles Avenue

Singapore 039797

Principles of inn keeping

I have reviewed over a hundred luxury hotels and resorts. But it is rare to find a truly elegant hotel with character. I am not talking about posh fittings and opulent amenities — all first-rate hotels have this. But few have any personality. Four Seasons Bangkok is one of the rare few.

Last Christmas, when hotels decked their halls with loud tinsels and fake mistletoes, Four Seasons Bangkok went subliminal with a ceiling-high Christmas tree constructed from twigs and trimmed with the barest hint of silver. For all child guests, the reception staff tugged out a toy-laden wooden wheel wagon along a deep red carpet. This is the kind of savoir faire many hotels try to cultivate but find inimitable.

When hotels jazz up their lobbies with esoteric art or soaring proportions, Four Seasons Bangkok keeps its lobby coolly restrained, with tasteful Thai influences. Effortlessly excellent service earns it a near perfect score. A recently completed US$ 4.8 million refurbishment programme has freshened up the place. Ongoing maintenance and renewal of soft furnishings ensure that the fraying edges of this 23-year old property are kept in check.

What marks this place from its innumerable rivals is its food and beverage outlets — all of an amazingly high standard — including Biscotti (Italian), Shinto (Japanese) and Spice Market (Thai). What is particularly charming is that each outlet is intimately proportioned (and not a sprawling eatery that some hotels have).

And if you are still not getting all this, just stroll over to the Grand Hyatt Erawan two blocks away, and you will see what I mean. The contrast could not be more stark.

Four Seasons Bangkok

155 Rajadamri Road

Bangkok 10330 Thailand