Afternoon tea Thai-style at Erawan

Located next to Bangkok’s world-famous Erawan shrine is the equally renowned Erawan Tea Room. I discovered the restaurant a couple of years ago, when my fashion-conscious friends were busy checking out the Club 21 sale next door, and I decided that I needed a well-deserved break from their shopping.

It was a break I have never regretted indulging in.

The eatery is part of the Erawan Bangkok Mall, a place where one can combine two of life’s greatest pleasures with unrestrained zeal – shopping and eating.

The Afternoon Tea Set (220 baht, RM22) I ordered allowed me to sink back in a comfy chair while savouring delicate morsels of Thai desserts and a pot of tea.

I enjoyed the assortment of sticky, finger-sized, sweet and savoury items, each a near work-of-art. They included pretty bite-sized tarts, cakes, and scones served with Chiang Mai strawberry jam, as well as a small but no less satisfying serving of sticky rice and mango.

The tea set is one of Erawan Tea Room’s many attractions; the others being its commendable menu and relative peace and quiet, which is perfect for a proper conversation. Created by New York-based Tony Chi, who has cleverly mined both nostalgic and modern design styles, the eatery features artfully positioned opium mats, smoked wooden tables, Cambodian chairs, exquisite silverware, and ceramics juxtaposed against floor-to-ceiling glass windows.

A favourite of Japanese tourists, Erawan Tea Room offers an ambience that is at once relaxed and elegant.

During the day, diners have a view of the dance performances at the shrine below; while at night, the glittering Bangkok cityscape is served on a magical platter.

Fried rice with crab roe and chilli paste.

On a recent visit, I had the chance to experience Chef Sarawut Imsap’s inspired lunch menu. The dishes, which draw from the cuisines of central Thailand, are familiar but with a few spicy surprises sprinkled into the mix.

“While the cuisine at Erawan Tea Room is quite traditional, the dishes have also been adapted to suit both local and international palates,” Chef Sarawut pointed out.

The eatery’s interpretation of Tom Yam Goong (160 baht) is, undoubtedly, a crowd-pleaser. The soup is light, a tad sour and spicy – as all good Tom Yam Goong should be – and came with generous-sized prawns.

Things soon got a little more exciting after this pleasant if conventional dish.

The Choo Chee Goong (small:360 baht; large: 700baht), or red river prawns in red curry paste and coconut cream, was an opulent creation.

The river prawns were huge and made convincing understudies to full-fledged lobsters. Their flesh was tender and very nicely smothered in a creamy blanket of red curry and coconut paste.

This dish went very well with the Khao Phad Erawan (180 baht), which is fried rice with crab roe and chilli paste.

One of the outlet’s signature dishes, the Khao Phad exuded rich seafood aromas and was a nice balance of perfectly fried rice and tasty crab roe.

Unfortunately, the first thing I did was drench the rice with the red curry gravy from the prawn dish. It was a combination that was extravagant, to say the least, but my dining companion, a true connoisseur of Thai cuisine, was far from impressed.

She urged me to taste the rice on its own. I did, and it was only then that the delicate flavour of the crab roe surfaced.

“Sometimes, you aren’t subtle at all, Mark,” she told me.

Ouch.

Admittedly, that’s sometimes true. I remembered the time I poured half a bottle of vinegar into a bowl of shark’s fin soup – not refined in the least.

Nonetheless, when the Pla Kapong Yang Bai Toey (360 baht), grilled seabass in pandan leaves, appeared, accompanied by two signature sauces, I couldn’t resist covering the succulent fish in both chilli and soy-based dips – separately, of course.

The seabass on its own had a chargrilled taste yet still retained the freshness of the sea. In other words: crispy perfection. When matched with the sauces, though, the fish gained an extra dimension, taste-wise.

For dessert, the Erawan Tea Room’s signature offering – and perhaps its only nod to cross-cultural cuisine – is the phenomenal Coconut Creme Brulee (130 baht). Putting an inventive spin on this traditional French delicacy with the humble coconut, Erawan’s version is memorable.

Presented in a coconut shell, it had a burnt crispy caramel top that hid an intelligent and delicious fusion creation.

My delight increased as I unearthed milky white scoops of tender coconut flesh, which had been baked along with the custard. Yummy.

Erawan’s Coconut Creme Brulee alone warrants a return visit.

Erawan Tea Room
Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok
494, Rajdamri Road,
Bangkok 10330 Thailand
Tel: +662 254 1234
Serves pork
Open daily from 10am onwards