Piano Bar's Cocktail - Tapas Reimagined Dinner

Iron Chef Thailand 2022 Winner, Chef Prasertchai “Jacky” Trongvanichnam, who is now the Head Chef of Piano Bar of VIE Hotel Bangkok, made cocktail-tapas pairing with the hotel's beverage team from 3rd -4th August 2022 to kick start their new creations for Piano Bar. It was an honour that Chomp Magazine was invited to the party by the Chef himself and the hotel.

Chef Jacky is known for his participation in many chef competitions and won many times. Chef Jacky cooked only French cuisine until he received a wake-up call from his superior while in America. Unable to cook any Thai food he was told to focus on his heritage and learn the culinary history and cooking of his home country. After that, he studied hard about Thai cuisine and ingredients. Since then, Chef Jacky has dedicated himself to cooking and elevating Thai food. He uses his knowledge of French cuisine to make his interpretation of Thai food. Kaffir lime is his favourite ingredients which can be found in many of his dishes including dishes in this cocktail-tapas pairing.

The menu consists 8 courses started with Kanom Bueang, taco look-a-like Thai crispy crêpes with Pla Foo (deep-fried fish flakes), pomelo, lychee and red curry mousse. This dish is full of textures and flavours with a little bit of kick. Immediately following the Kanom Bueang was Mr. Fisherman, a cured Thai fish dish with lemongrass chilli sauce and yuzu-kosho (black pepper yuzu paste) with orangy salmon egg roes on top. It is a dish influenced by both Thai and Japanese cuisine. The third course was Moo Krob, a crispy pork belly with lemongrass, chilli, shallot and basella alba topped with house-made chilli sauce. Tangy, spicy, crunchy, and aromatic.

Next was Seoul Dog Jr., a mini hot dog with Thai and Korean kick. The hot dog bun was made of brioche. The sausage was Isaan sausage. The condiments were kimchi and gochujang. the dog was served with apple slaw.

Sato 2.0 is a palate cleanser and was the fifth dish of the meal. Chef Jacky used apple to make Sato, one of Thailand's traditional spirits, then he turned it into sorbet. It was served with brandy jelly and crispy Kao Mao (popcorn rice).

The main dish was Bobby's Ranch. It was an egg fried rice with toppings of cured egg, hay-smoked Wagyu and house-made chilli paste. This dish combined Thai, Japanese and Chinese cuisine together. To enjoy this dish to the fullest, you must mix everything together before eating.

The dessert was Smokey Banana, a fried banana swimming in coconut milk with kaffir lime zest. The secret ingredient was stink bean which Chef Jacky balanced the smell and taste of it perfectly.

The final dish was Tom Kha. Chef Jacky made Tom Kha soup which made of coconut milk, Kaffir lime leaves and galangal, before turning it into Tom Kha Frozé. It was decorated with squid ink meringue, chocolate dome and kaffir lime crumble.

All of Chef Jacky dishes were refreshing, tasty and playful, same as the Piano Bar's cocktails which are combined with flavours and texture.

Watermelon Martini is a Vodka based cocktail mixed with bianco vermouth and fresh blended watermelon. It's simple, boozy and refreshing.

U-Cha-O is a rye whiskey based cocktail mixed with orange liqueur and Peychaud bitter. It has few ingredients but with knowledge of the bar's beverage team, they balanced the taste of the drink very well and highlight the flavour of the rye whisky and orange liqueur.

Xerneas is a mix of Campari, Amara Rossa, single malt, herb liqueur, rosso vermouth and orange liqueur. This spirit forward drink is herbaceous and well-balanced. VIE Garden is another drink playing with multiple flavours. Cognac is the base mixed with butterscotch liqueur, triple sec, milk, chocolate and egg white. To balance the sweetness, matcha powder was sifted on top of the drink. At Piano Bar, not only you will taste high-quality food and drinks, you will also get to be entertained by the live jazz music.