Hi end Thai restaurants are a tricky thing. This is not at all a fair statement to put it mildly but many of us consider sitting at the edge of a Soi with heavy foot traffic passing by as the only way to enjoy Thai food, that being cheap and interesting.
In this issue we have reviewed two excellent restaurants that break this mold and do truly remarkable food in a gracious setting while providing history, culture and the best gastronomy that Thailand has to offer. I certainly feel fortunate to have known both just as they opened so I am not missing any opportunities to enjoy these wonderful flavors and unique dishes and presentation.
Dee Plee certainly is fantastically located overlooking the little island of Layan near the top of the Anantara Resort and within the lush surrounding forest. We arrived and were welcomed warmly and with great attention. We had an excellent martini which came in handy after a long day of work. We settled in to try to understand the menu that provided items from all the different regions of Thailand. We enjoyed a bit of cultural education as we came to terms with our order. There were many special preparations on display at Dee Plee during the evening. One example being that the chili paste was made in front of us with a mortar and pestle. We watched as our hostess expertly chose several dozen ingredients and slowly ground them into the paste we would use to season some of our food.
We began with a variety of traditional appetizers that were all interesting and delicious. Chef Pitak, the local restaurant chef made some recommendation and we began. We started with the Nam Tok Pla which is a northeastern style salad of sea bass, herbs and lime dressing. Delicious. Next, we had the Tom Saab Kra Dook Moo, a soup with northeastern style pork spicy rib and sour soup with lime, chili flakes, shallots, spicy coriander and crushed sticky rice. This was also successful. We continued on with the Sai Grog Esan which is a barbecued pork sausage which is also a northeaster specialty and well known throughout Thailand. Continuing on we enjoyed the Yam Woon Sen Thalay which is Muang beans and glass noodle salad with a variety of Andaman seafood inside. All these dishes were spicy as advertised which I love and all came well presented and lovingly served. Everything was fantastic and you can’t go wrong with all of it.
DEE PLEE at Anantara Layan - Authentic ThaiAfter resting a moment, we began with our mains of Gang Pha Nua, a spicy jungle curry with beef cheeks, long bean, eggplant, bamboo shoot, ginger and hot basil leaves.
This was another tremendous offering and we all commented on the complex flavors. Amid sips of wine, we continued with a stir fried grouper fillet with young ginger and oyster sauce. This provided perfect flavors and the great preparation was appreciated by all. We finished our mains with some wok fried eggplant, local mushrooms and hot basil. This somewhat lighter dish would be perfect for vegetarian guests and I, the meat lover, loved it as well. Everything was perfect and we could only manage a small desert of fritter fried banana with ice cream to finish so after a nice and spectacularly presented coffee, we were off to try to beat the curfew.
The coffee was black ivory coffee, extremely rare and expensive, presented and prepared in an unusual contraption that made both the preparation and the tasting an event. Only a few hundred kilos of this coffee are produced each year making our experience very unique. More importantly, the coffee taste was fantastic as was the after dinner drink finished in a rush. We are very happy to recommend Dee Plee at the Anantara in Layan to all our readers and we will be sure to see you all there very soon. Bon Appétit.
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