Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bamboo Chic @ Le Méridien Hotel

My friend wanted to take me to the restaurant of the Le Meridien Hotel. He said that it was really modern & cool and that he heard that the food was not bad at all. We always forget that Le Meridien opened on Surawong Rd., which is not the easiest place to get to because the traffic is horrendous to get from anywhere in Bangkok. Therefore; it never comes to our minds to have dinner there. However; I was curious to see the hotel and to try the food and seeing the hotel.

Here is a clip from the official website describing Bamboo Chic:
'Le Méridien Bangkok’s signature restaurant Bamboo Chic will be introducing an exciting new food and beverage concept. Original and contemporary, with an eclectically Asian ambiance and an injection of the tomorrow’s Europe will set the stage for its modern take on fine exotic cuisine including Japanese, Chinese and Thai.'


After we entered the lobby of the hotel, we had to take an elevator to Bamboo Chic. Once the elevator doors open; we entered a different world. We had to walk over the floating & glowing bridge and the bridge was surrounded by glass windows that had bamboo sticks guarding the bridge. After we crossed the bridge.....


We arrived at the restaurant. The dining room was huge; the volume and scale of the restaurant is impressive. However; at the same time, because the place is so huge and there were only three tables occupied (including ours), the restaurant did not feel cozy or comfortable. The ambiance is moody due to the very dim lights. The lights are so dim; that we could not read the menus. The waitress was nice enough to bring extra candles for us.


We decided to only try the Japanese food. The first dish was California Rolls. I really hate it when they put mayonnaise on top of sushi (but it seems like I am the only one who finds it yucky). The salmon & filling in the sushi were fresh and tasty.


The next dish was Ebi Tempura. The shrimp tempura was deep fried to a nice golden brown. The tempura was crispy on the outside and the shrimp was firm & juicy.


The next dish was Mix Japanese Salad. Nothing Japanese about this salad except the Japanese salad dressing. However; the vegetables were very fresh and tasty. The salad dressing had a nice sour, tangy & acidity taste to it.


The next dish was Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab Roll. Nicely made...the roll was firm, the ingredients were fresh and the combination of textures & colours made this dish very nice.


The next dish was Vegetable Tempura. Just like the ebi tempura; this dish was deep fried nicely to a light golden brown. The tempura was crispy on the outside and the different vegetables were soft & tender on the inside.


The next dish was Salmon Sushi Squares. This dish was a bit bland and we felt that there was too much rice for this sushi. However; I have to admit that we ordered so much food that when this dish arrived; we were not that hungry. So, I will be fair and have to go back to Bamboo Chic and re-try this dish.


The Sushi Bar.

Overall; Bamboo Chic is pretty good. We have had better sushi at other places in town, but there is nothing to complain about here. The food was made properly, cooked nicely and tasted good. The prices were on the high side due to being in a hotel. The service was very good (well, it should be since we were the only ones in the restaurant).

Hopefully; more people will try Bamboo Chic, because it is really sad to sit alone in such a huge restaurant.

www.lemeridienhotelbangkok.com

40/5 Surawong Road
Bangkok 10500
02-232-8888

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