Sunday, March 22, 2009

Zanotti - Bangkok

I went to Bangkok from Tues to Friday last week, and managed to have dinner at Zanotti right after I landed. Fortunately, the restaurant wasn't booked full, or I'd have missed an incredible meal. I got the recommendation from ice (Thank you!:D), who said that I definitely have to eat at Zanotti, but I wasn't able to confirm my schedule so I didn't make an advanced booking till the night itself.
Zanotti is an Italian fine dining restaurant, though it was very crowded when I went, and the tables are pretty close to each other, and it was incredibly noisy for a fine dining restaurant.

I have very crappy photos, because I was seated in a dark corner and the waiter serving me told me that they didn't allow food photos. What rubbish since there's so many photos online! D:< href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDEyc3vr7Ku69zXtxoRRK8TaZIEIY984jbThGixoVkbOuAc0c9LEw2qsd3y3jtpEKzQoBKVHa_844Boitek-nfGonlULZrG0NEBmRwmZYtW1PjYyWaA54wM2dSPBYXbDrjpS37m3YMARU/s1600-h/IMG_2885e.jpg"> Bread - lots of different varieties, served warm.
Amuse Bouche - Tomato bruschetta with cream cheese. The cream cheese was whipped till it had the texture of whipped cream.
Between the two of us, we ordered one dinner set (which consisted of appetisers, 2 choices of pasta, one main meat/fish dish - either fish, chicken, lamb or beef) and desserts) and added on another main. Our waiter was kind enough to tell us that the dinner set was so filling, and that we should at most top it up with another main dish. He was right about filling - we ordered just that and were incredibly stuffed at the end of the meal.
Appetiser - it was a platter of 8 different appetisers, but then our waiter didn't explain the dishes to us, so we just happily ate it. Anyway, I was trying to be inconspicuous so that I could take more photos. From top left, clockwise:
Seared scallops - which were very fresh and sweet.
Lobster
Portebello Mushroom
Foie Gras - very yummy! Slightly crispy on the outside, and oozingly soft on the inside.
2 types of salad with different cheese, I have no idea what.
Parma Ham and Melon
Some creamy cheese with grilled capsicum.
My blurry photo of the 2 pastas I tried - the one on top is Lobster pasta, which had tomatoes and white wine sauce (I think). There were lots of lobster pieces, and the lobster was fresh and juicy.
The green pasta below is spinach pasta with walnut sauce and parma ham. The sauce was rather creamy and cheesy, and I thought it was pretty intresting to incooperate walnut into the sauce.
The pasta was very fresh, and was cooked al dente. It's probably the best pasta I've ever eaten. I was peering through the menu, the lobster pasta is only450 baht, which is around SGD $20!! Super cheap lor! omg I wanted to return for lunch but my mum didn't want to :( The walnut pasta costs 470 baht.
The main we chose for the set was Roasted Lamb chop and lamb loin. The lamb was done pink, and was super tender and didn't have the lamb smell (good for people who don't like lamb smell, but I do). The mashed potatoes were extremely smooth and buttery.
The other main which we ordered - Salt Baked local fish (which was seabass, I think). The presentation was very impressive, and the salt layer even had Zanotti's emblem of the bull painted in orange. The waiter then cracked open the salt layer, deskinned and deboned the fish and placed it onto the serving plate. After that, he drizzled an emulsion of herbs and olive oil, and I think a bit of balsamic vinegar over the fish.
The fish was so fresh and delicious, and I think it was definitely better than the lamb. The waiter recommended this dish to us -and we didn't regret ordering it. In fact, I liked this better than my lamb. Which is pretty rare since I really liked the lamb.
If I'm not wrong, it costs 390 baht, which works out to be less than SGD$20. And for this kind of fresheness and presentation, it's extremely worth it.
By this time, I was rather full (actually, I was full after eating the pasta, since I ate too much of that soft freshly baked bread!). So when they served us the chiacchiere (the curly thing) and mini cream puffs I decided to eat the cream puffs (even though I don't usually eat whipped cream, this one was really nice and worth the fats). The chiacchiere tasted pretty oily to me, and I didn't finish it.
Dessert Platter - from top left, clockwise:
Parfait with some special nuts, I didn't take it down, but I didn't think it was tt nice, maybe because I don't like parfaits.
Tiramisu - somehow, I can't remember much about this, probably because I was too preoccupied with the wild strawberries.
Chocolate Profiteroles - the chocolate sauce was so thick and lucious, and the profiterole was filled with lots and lots of whipped cream.
Wild strawberry with whipped cream and ice cream. This was the dessert which I enjoyed the most, because it's my first time seeing wild strawberries. They're very tiny, about the size of my last fingernail, and have lots of seeds in proportion to the surface area. Also, it's not bright red, like the GMO strawberries in the supermarkets.
I ended my meal with peppermint tea - tea/coffee is served with the dinner set.
Altogether, we paid SGD $150 for 2 people. I think it's really worth it cos you can't get a dining experience like this in Sgp for $75 nett for 2 people. Plus, even if you're on a budget, you can always just order ala carte - the pastas here are so affordable.
I'll definitely visit Zanotti again if I go to Bangkok. This time, I'll make sure I place a booking well in advance :) For people planning to go to Bangkok, do try to take some time off from freinzied shopping to visit Zanotti.
The Zanotti website is here, and you can make online reservations.
Zanotti
21/2 1st Floor, Saladaeng Colonnade Condominium, Silom Rd.
Silom Bangrak 10500
Tel: +66 2 636-0002
(It's pretty near Suan Lum Night Market by cab, so you can go and walk off dinner)
More reviews from other local bloggers who have blogged about Zanotti

6 comments:

red fir said...

The dessert platter and salt baked fish are calling out to me. Tiramisu looks evil in its little corner.

I'm so envious. :)

D said...

Yup Zanotti is always good. My friend based in Bangkok used to live in the apartments right above it so we had many a good meal there whenever I was in town.

contrarian said...

The set lunch is even more incredible value. Back in 2006, I had many good lunches here when I was working in the office building down the alley and living down the road.

m said...

ice:yup the salt baked fish is fantastic!though I prefered the wild strawberry thing to the tiramisu, prob cos I was v excited about eating wild strawberries!

D & contrarian: Wow looks like lots of ppl know abt zanotti! I've only just found out about it or i'd def have gone there the prev times I went bk. I'll be in heaven if I got to eat zanotti nearly everyday :)Ah I'm feeling hungry now!

ting said...

thanks for posting this up before I left for Bangkok ! Made a trip down for lunch and I was left quite impressed . The paper thin pizza with Parma ham totally rock my socks !
A pity I didn't try dinner ! ;(

Thanks for post again !

Next time u can try le cafe Siam , french fusion Thai food, weird combi but it's really not bad at all ...

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