We rarely go to D-Sens just because; simply, we lost interest. There are more & more French restaurants opening in town (not all of them are good by the way), but they are also more affordable. D-Sens has become a place that is for the 'special-visiting-chef' restaurant for us.
The Menu Dégustation consisted of 6 course menu at 2,900 baht net. That seemed very reasonable, especially since it was chef Bohrer who was cooking.
D-Sens has had a many face lifts over the years since it has been opened because the interiour design; the place was designed just for design sake without thinking of the practicality of the design. When D-Sens first opened; the restaurant was flooded with red lighting. The red light made it so difficult to read the menu & see the food. It truly was horrible. All the red lighting have been taken away and now the new lighting gives the restaurant a warm glow (oh, we were able to read the menu and see our food).
The volume & space of the restaurant is very interesting and the restaurant has potential if they had the right designe for it. I do like the large windows allowing you different views of the city skyline.
The amuse bouche. The marinated salmon had a firm & fatty consistency with an intense salmon taste. A nice way to wake up our palettes.
The next dish was pan seared duck liver, sauerkraut fantasy & beetroot reduction. The duck liver was cooked perfectly; slightly crispy on the outside and very moist, tender & juicy on the inside. The flavour was lovely. The only strange thing about this dish was the sauerkraut fantasy; it actually was suppose to be sauerkraut in a jelly form. It turned out to be a waste of space. It had no taste; so it turned out to be a piece of jelly sitting on the plate (not a good thing).
The next dish was watercress custard with frog legs. The frog legs were amazing; they were cooked very nicely but what stood out was the simplicity of the dish. The frog legs were not swimming in a kilo of butter, oil and garlic (not a good thing). The frog legs stood on their own (bad joke); they were very tender and juicy. The watercress custard was equally delicious. The watercress taste was intense and texture of the custard was airy & soft. A very nice combination.
The next dish was angler fish wafer with girolles, asparagus bouillon, rhubarb with salted butter.
The angler fish had a very crispy skin and the meat was firm. The combination of the fish, girolles & bouillon was spectacular. Rich in flavour and textures.
The next dish was green loveche herbs cappuccino, stuffed morels skewer. The cappuccino had a dense and creamy consistency. The herbs added lovely flavours and colour. The only negative aspect of this dish was that the stuffed morels were deep frozen and not fresh (not good). It was easy to realise because of the consistency of the morels.
The next dish was roasted breast pigeon, arabica reduction sauce with light verbena oil. The roasted pigeon was cooked perfectly (still very red), tender & juicy. A beautiful way to end a lovely dinner.
The pre-dessert was a chocolate doughnut. This pre-dessert truly fits the quote; 'Don't judge a book by its cover'. It was a very ugly sight to see when the waiter placed them on the table. 'What on earth is that?' was my reaction. It turned out to be very tasty. It kind of looked like a black squid; we had to break the head and hot creamy chocolate oozed out. An interesting dessert.
The dessert was déclinaison around strawberry and basil. The strawberry sorbet had a lovely strawberry flavour and the fresh strawberries were tasty as well. I forgot to ask if they were from the King's project.
The sweets to go with the tea. As usual; the mini sweets were way too sweet for me. But; they were very pretty.
Overall; the food was really delicious. The cooking of the food; the combinations of flavours, textures & colours and the creativity shined through.
The only negative thing we experienced was the service. It was not up to pare as it should have been. We had to ask for bread the whole night, we had to ask for water to poured every time, we finally poured our own wine, etc. This was not like this before. Even when we poured our own wine; the waiter saw us doing it but he did not react.
We also ordered two glasses of Reisling; they instead opened a bottle; put it on the side and when the food came out started pouring the red wine. When we got the bill; they charged us for the bottle. We asked where is the bottle and so we decided to drink the bottle of Reisling since we payed for it. But; what is that for service? I am still scratching my head!
But, let me try to make some excuses for them; the service was unattentive because: the restaurant was very busy or the staff was new & not yet properly trained. Either excuse you take; it should have not happened in such an establishment. If I understand somewhat of how a restaurant is suppose to be staffed; there should be dedicated waiters in each section who take care of whatever number of tables. Their job is to make sure that each table is properly taken care of; i.e., check on simple things such as bread, water, wine even cutlery is replenished. Hopefully; the manager of the restaurant takes a hard look at this issue and tries to improve on it.
Oh; did I mention earlier that 'we simply lost interest' in D-Sens?
946 Rama IV Road
Bangkok 10500
Tel.: +66 (0) 2200 9000
www.dusit.com
It's so unfortunate that their service was bad. For such a hotel, even if the restaurant was packed, they should have done better. The food looks to die for though. Is this still going on right now? Thank you!
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