![]() ![]() Most ingredients at Bo.lan have equally special stories behind them, from the gaba rice to the palm sugar. Bo.lan supports the livelihood of traditional, sustainable Thai farmers and food producers “You can’t really find good green curry,” Bo laments, “and Bo.lan couldn’t just put green curry with chicken on the menu.” Far from the too-rich, too-sweet knock-offs ubiquitous across the world, the version here is balanced and layered, enhanced with fish, crab and green, nutty, creamy Thai figs. It came with the Thong Lor compound Bo.lan moved into five years ago, but it wasn’t until a recent visit from Thai food anthropologist Krit Leulamai that Bo identified the fruits that have been littering the yard every year. “I use Thai figs from over there,” Bo says, pointing to a fruiting tree across the garden. For these efforts, Bo.lan has won and retained a Michelin star for three years, while 39-year-old Bo has earned the inaugural Asia’s Best Female Chef 2013 award and appeared in her own episode on Netflix’s wildly popular Chef’s Table series in 2018.īo.lan’s is no ordinary green curry. The atmospheric house-and-garden space serves complex, hard-to-make recipes discovered in old royal-court cookbooks and rescued from collective cultural amnesia. The decade-old establishment, whose portmanteau name means “ancient”, has been a brave pioneer in the Thai fine dining renaissance. You’d expect a more obscure answer from the owner of Bo.lan, the restaurant she runs with her husband and co-chef Dylan Jones. Meet the women cooking Thai food like you’ve never had before, and saving Thai culture and traditions in the process.įighting for the future Duangporn “Bo” SongvisavaĪsk Bo what dish on her menu she is most excited about, and the answer may surprise you: “Green curry,” she says with an impish laugh. As Thailand reckons with an increasingly industrialised food system and the threat of unsustainable farming methods, the networks centred around these restaurants have the power to protect livelihood and preserve endangered culinary traditions. A dish from PasteĪnd it’s more than just a lifestyle trend. The new guard is reviving old recipes from ancient royal cookbooks and family archives to serve dishes most visitors have never imagined and many Thais have forgotten existed. Gone are the days of “elevated” green curry and pad Thai. Whatever the reasons, the result of so many independent women chefs is an exciting renaissance of Thai cuisine in Bangkok. That has changed in the 2010s, as more women chefs helm standalone restaurants where they have full creative control. Others still, assert that Thai fine dining chefs at Bangkok’s five-star hotels have been women all along, but were overshadowed by European executive chefs, who wanted to appeal to the unadventurous palates of foreign guests. Others say it has to do with the centuries-long tradition of women-led kitchens in Thai palaces, unlike in European countries, where it was men who cooked for royalty. Some say women are a natural fit for the job, with an eye for detail and an intuitive talent for stressful situations – though that doesn’t explain their under-representation elsewhere in the world. There are many reasons for it, depending on who you ask. In an industry notorious across the world for being a man’s domain, that’s a staggering counter-trend. ![]() If 29% doesn’t seem like much, consider just the 16 restaurants specialising in Thai cuisine. Of the 28 restaurants to win a star, eight are headed by women. All you have to do is look at the Michelin Guide. When it comes to fine dining, Bangkok is unlike anywhere else in the world. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |