Delicatezza

There is a famous Thai woman in town who cooks some of the best pasta in town. Her life story is very famous amongst the foodies in town. Its way too long to explain but in a nutshell: at 18 she left Thailand to study in Italy. She studied, lived, learned how to cook Italian food, married, divorced and came back to Bangkok after 25 years. She opened her small restaurant (in a shop house) several years ago on Thonglor. It was a hit instantly. The success has prompted her to build and move into her new restaurant near by. It is a very large, two story, stand alone restaurant (house). It is very spacious, enormous open kitchen and the tables are nicely distanced from each other.

The first dish was grilled vegetables and antipasto. It consisted of grilled eggplants, red & yellow bell peppers, asparagus and zucchini. As well as salami and prosciutto. The vegetables were nicely grilled and were sitting on nice olive oil. The only problem was the limited portion of meats. We only three thin slices of salami and one, yes one slice of prosciutto. I have no idea why this was so, but its not acceptable.


The next dish was the tuna salad. A good portion of salad and with lots of condiments. Big chunks of tuna, tomatoes, egg, cucumber & shrimp. It was tasty and a nice portion to share.


The next dish was fritto misto. The presentation of the fritto misto was very nice when it arrived. Deep fried to a golden colour. But as you took a deeper look, the portion was too small. Three shrimps, five squid rings and two salmon strips. They were too oily and the squid was too chewy. A disappointment since I love fritto misto.


The next dish was seafood soup. This has always been one of my favourites to eat at Delicatezza. Its not really a soup but a meal in itself. It comes in a huge bowl, overflowing with seafood: large shrimps, two types of clams, squid and salmon. The sauce is a balance of sweet, tangy and spicy. This is a soup that can be polarizing. One friend said it was too spicy and it ruined the taste of the wine, another said it was too sweet. I thought it was just right. After all the seafood is shared & eaten, I like to dip the french bread into the soup. Its so good.


The next dish was penne a-la-vodka. Another favourite of mine. It is also a unique dish in town. I do not see this dish at other Italian restaurants. The sauce is thick, creamy and has a dirty orange colour. Very tasty. The only complaint we had was that the penne was over cooked.


The next dish was home made fettuccini with bolognese sauce. This dish was a disappointment for everyone on the table. The sauce was too sweet and too watery. I am not sure why this was so. It could have been that the fettuccini was not properly drained before putting it on the dish. Or that the sauce itself was too watery. It was too bad, because I normally liked Delicatezza's bolognese sauce.


For dessert we ordered Delicatezza's famous home made ice cream. My two favourite flavours are the chestnut or hazzlenut flavours. We ordered the hazzlenut and we instead got the chestnut. Which was ok, because it was so good. It had a creamy texture and was not too sweet. The fine taste of chestnut was very present. The only problem about the desserts at Delicatezza is that the dessert menu does not have prices on them. Which is a bit sneaky on their part. Since no one expects that a scoop of ice cream can cost 240 baht. That is the most expensive scoop of ice cream in Thailand.


The second dessert was apricot sherbert. Another fine tasting dessert. It was like biting into a real apricot. The texture was also very nice and again not too sweet. Yes, a scoop of sherbert at Delicatezza is the most expensive in Thailand.


And the final dessert was the tiramisu. The flavour was good and the texture was right. The only problem was that the tiramisu was still frozen in the middle. We could not believe this. How on earth can you charge extravagant prices for dessert and cannot serve it correctly. There has to be better quality control coming out of the kitchen.


Overall, it was not a good night compared to what I am used to be getting at Delicatezza. A huge disappointment in terms of quality and quantity. Italian food prices in Bangkok are sky rocketing every year. It is getting out of hand. Delicatezza is also riding that wave of being expensive. We do not mind paying sky high prices for Italian food, but we better get the quality that we are paying for.

On top of all this, the staff at Delicatezza needs more training. They are not very competent. Delicatezza was not very busy the night we dined there, but we needed to ask several times to get our order, we needed to ask four times for olive oil, there was never a wait staff when you needed him. I am not sure what is going on at Delicatezza, but I do hope things get back to normal. I will return for sure because I have faith in chef Paula. I know she is a perfectionist and will not stand for the deterioration of quality control in terms of food & service.

145 Thonglor soi 10, Sukhumvit Rd., 02-3924977-8