Restaurant review: Well-balanced flavours of Thailand fill up the senses

If you’ve taken a vacation to the land of temples and beaches, you may know the most commonly used ingredients in their cuisine are coconut (pulp and milk), galangal, bird’s eye chilli, seafood sauces and pastes, natural sweeteners and a variety of herbs, lemongrass being the king of them all. To recreate this magic of Thailand, The Park had hosted the Loy Krathong — lantern festival falling on November 23 — food festival, spanning a week.

Chef Satit Chaimano had curated a special menu for the occasion, comprising dishes he remembers eating as a child at home. He also pointed out that since he’s from southern Thailand, the dishes would be on the spicy side, compared to North Thai preparations. An even mix of vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes were presented, starting with soup and appetisers.

What lent a punch to the warm soups and mild small plates were two hero ingredients — seafood and lemongrass. The balance of flavours was almost like experiencing a well-coordinated dance performance. Since many people are allergic to select forms of seafood, nuts or fruits, we would suggest the restaurant be informed of this prior to the meal.

The main courses we tasted were Thai style lamb stew with stir fried snow peas and mushrooms served with glass noodles and mixed vegetables; the second course was pumpkin in Thai red curry and turmeric curry with fish and hearts of palms served with coconut and turmeric rice. Despite a small confusion arising — the rice was served with the noodles and stew — the cantaloupe balls and tapioca pearls in coconut milk, which also had a touch of lemongrass, made up for the glitch though.

Address: Lotus, The Park, 601, Anna Salai

Cuisine: Thai

Date and time: Till November 25, lunch and dinner