When I found out that the first board meeting for us, newly elected Board of Trustees of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) Philippines Chapter was going to be at Dusit Thani Manila, I got excited. I love Thai food and it has been quite a while since the last time I feasted on authentic Thai cuisine.
Dusit Thani Manila’s Thai specialty restaurant is called Benjarong, named after the traditional form of Thai porcelain. Although it literally means “five colors,” it actually refers to any porcelain piece decorated with many colors, densely painted and intricately detailed.
It was very nice of the hotel’s director of sales and marketing Kimmy Labayandoy to suggest that we avail of the restaurant’s new offering – the five-course “Experience Menu.” When asked what it was all about, she happily explained that management wants the restaurant’s guests to experience and delight in the very best of authentic Thai cuisine, thus the label for their new menu. They see to it that their Thai chef continuously offers new dishes that show off the distinctively appetizing Thai taste.
Since the hotel management is confident that guests partaking in such a menu will hanker for more, the chef changes the menu offerings every month. Hearing that, the more all of us, PATA Board of Trustees, could hardly wait to be seated and savor this newly introduced culinary offering. Here’s what Benjarong’s Experience Menu includes:
The appetizer, Pla Samun Prai, is fresh salmon in tom yum spice mayo, covered in a rice wrapper tube garnished with fried tom yum spices and edible flowers. The whole entree is served on a stone slab and attractively decorated with colorful condiments such as red chili pepper, green kefir lime, and purple shallots.
Next comes the soup, Khao Griep Pu Ma Prao On, a shrimp and crab dumpling in tom yum broth served in a young coconut shell and garnished with coriander, lemongrass, and chili. Every spoonful of this delectable soup brought me back to my many visits to Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Pattaya, Kanchanaburi, Krabi, and other resort destinations in Thailand.
The menu’s first main dish is Panaeng See Krong Kae, a large piece of lamb chop placed on top of a heap of rice noodles, embellished with red curry sauce, coconut milk, basil oil, and cashew nuts. It is a dish fit for a king and that’s what it made me feel like as I savored every bite of the meat.
The second main dish is Khao Phad Tom Yum, a large piece of prawn in its shell, sitting on chili paste and served with tom yum fried rice which is actually jasmine rice fried with lemongrass, kefir lime, galangal, chili, lime, and red onion. Such a symphony of tastes was the perfect accent to the entire meal, a happy reminder of what the good life is all about.
Just when I thought my experience in this culinary paradise was over, dessert was served – I-Tim Durian Thed, soursop ice cream with coconut jelly adorned with thin mango slices, strips of roasted coconut, edible flowers, and caramel popcorn. Certainly a most appetizing last course made of the most unusual combination of flavors, but a perfect punctuation to a most memorable meal.
What a treat this meal was for us. It could very well be a joyful sign of many good things to come for our association…and an indication of the forthcoming surge of clientele for Dusit Thani Manila’s Benjarong. Meantime, if you want to have a taste of Thai culinary heaven, delight in this restaurant’s “Experience Menu.”
YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE:
A sailor was trying to appease his sweetheart who was crying. “Honest, Honey, I haven’t
got a sweetheart in every port…”
And after a few seconds, he continued,
“…I haven’t been to every port.”
For feedback, I’m at [email protected]