How a trio of restaurants is overhauling the way we eat our meat and vegetables by focusing on local products and ensuring virtually nothing goes to waste
By Howard Richardson
By Howard Richardson
| WE may have survived the Mayan-predicted end of the world, but according to more credible forecasts we’re still hurtling towards oblivion on a planeload of food shortages, insecticide poisons and global warming. However, survival may come in the form of a change in the way we eat. Hence, the arrival of new buzz words like Locavore, Nose to Tail, and Artisanal. You’ll come across these phenomena in Smith, Quince and Little Beast, three high profile restaurant openings last year that appeal to diners by offering details of food sourcing, either out of concern for the environment, the ethics of animal welfare, or simply a desire for a healthier, tastier dinner. All three focus on a blend of local produce, preferably organically grown, and nose to tail dining, in which every part of the animal is used. The artisanal element comes in a liking for hand-crafted, cottage industry products, sometimes in items like cheese and bread, but often in retro, back-to-roots architecture and décor. | 
Smith, sister restaurant of Hyde & Seek, is located on Sukhumvit Soi 49 (smith-restaurant.com)
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Locavores go local because the food needs fewer air miles to get from farm to table, so therefore involves fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and also because the food is fresher when you eat it, and thus tastier.
The benefits of organic produce are less clear. Research released last year by scientists at Stanford University was the latest in a long line to conclude that organic meat and vegetables are no more nutritious than conventionally grown produce. However, all these research projects were conducted in Europe or the US, where pesticide residues are generally below safety limits. Those of us living in Thailand don’t have it so good.
The Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) in 2012 published results showing that many vegetables from Bangkok markets and supermarkets contain up to 202 times the amount of chemicals allowed by the European Union Food Standard. Some are carcinogenic and most are harmful to health. A Thai-PAN spokesperson said, “The situation is severe. Thailand has very few standards to limit the use of pesticides.”
Why the powers-that-be are not more concerned is a mystery. After all, they are presumably eating the same food we are. In the meantime, it seems buying organically grown produce in Thailand may actually save your life.
One way to combat food shortages, according to the World Development Bank, would be tougher financial market regulations. They say “Banks, hedge funds and pension funds are betting on food prices in financial markets, causing drastic price swings in staple foods such as wheat, maize and soy.”
Michel Barnier, European commissioner for the internal market believes that “speculation in basic foodstuffs is a scandal when there are a billion starving people in the world. I am fighting for a fairer world and I want Europe to take the lead on that.” The belief is the rest of us can help through greater awareness of what we consume.
Bangkok’s Thai restaurants have no problem finding local produce. There’s no expectation of high-falutin imported items, while favoured proteins such as duck, pork and chicken are generally decent standard, and any lack of quality in the pre-chopped morsels traditional in Thai dishes is easily disguised. In the steak-sized slabs of meat at western restaurants, any quality issues are glaring. The impetus of restaurants like Smith and Quince in particular is that they’re western-style restaurants advertising their commitment to local produce.
The benefits of organic produce are less clear. Research released last year by scientists at Stanford University was the latest in a long line to conclude that organic meat and vegetables are no more nutritious than conventionally grown produce. However, all these research projects were conducted in Europe or the US, where pesticide residues are generally below safety limits. Those of us living in Thailand don’t have it so good.
The Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) in 2012 published results showing that many vegetables from Bangkok markets and supermarkets contain up to 202 times the amount of chemicals allowed by the European Union Food Standard. Some are carcinogenic and most are harmful to health. A Thai-PAN spokesperson said, “The situation is severe. Thailand has very few standards to limit the use of pesticides.”
Why the powers-that-be are not more concerned is a mystery. After all, they are presumably eating the same food we are. In the meantime, it seems buying organically grown produce in Thailand may actually save your life.
One way to combat food shortages, according to the World Development Bank, would be tougher financial market regulations. They say “Banks, hedge funds and pension funds are betting on food prices in financial markets, causing drastic price swings in staple foods such as wheat, maize and soy.”
Michel Barnier, European commissioner for the internal market believes that “speculation in basic foodstuffs is a scandal when there are a billion starving people in the world. I am fighting for a fairer world and I want Europe to take the lead on that.” The belief is the rest of us can help through greater awareness of what we consume.
Bangkok’s Thai restaurants have no problem finding local produce. There’s no expectation of high-falutin imported items, while favoured proteins such as duck, pork and chicken are generally decent standard, and any lack of quality in the pre-chopped morsels traditional in Thai dishes is easily disguised. In the steak-sized slabs of meat at western restaurants, any quality issues are glaring. The impetus of restaurants like Smith and Quince in particular is that they’re western-style restaurants advertising their commitment to local produce.
Smith’s minimalist interior
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Blood pudding
Head cheese terrine
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Smith is run by partners in Bangkok’s first gastro bar, Hyde & Seek, including Thailand’s favourite celebrity chef Ian Chalermkittichai, who has several restaurants around the world. To lead the kitchens at Smith, he brought in Peter Pitakwong, his former chef de cuisine at Kittichai, in New York.
There’s an impressive attempt here to fulfill the stated commitment, but, like most western restaurants, they find it hard to be completely local, so also use imports. In their popular starter Tuna, braised pig’s tail and foie gras torchon (B250++), Peter uses black fin tuna from Phuket and pork from a small farm in Nakhon Sawan.
“We sometimes buy whole pigs and use everything,” he says. “But otherwise we buy less popular cuts that would otherwise be wasted.” He braises the tail with ox tongue and folds it into foie gras terrine, which is covered by thinly sliced tuna, enriched with pork fat. Laced with citrus, the dish has an acidic bite, with peppery notes and the occasional unexpected, but delicious flavour of lardons.
They also have Slow-roasted lamb ribs (B2,350 for 3-4 people), Calf’s tongue with Mexican spice (B180++), and Head cheese terrine (or brawn, B280++), served with light, easily snappable croutons.
Smith’s locally reared Verjus glazed pork belly (B350++) takes three days to prepare, including soaking in milk and brine, smoking, and braising for four hours. It has a lovely smoky, honey aroma and a pleasing hammy texture below the layer of fat, anchored by the sourness of pickled stone fruit and a bed of spicy lentil.
“The lamb for the ribs comes from Korat,” Peter says. “But they don’t produce enough of it to use regularly, so most of the red meat we serve is still imported. The local quality and availability is difficult to predict for the more expensive cuts, which are still the most popular with diners.
“We want to support the local Thai market and encourage it, and I’m trying to brainwash my cooks to understand and value ingredients and where they come from,” he says. “But in Thailand we’re behind New York and London in the appreciation of produce.”
It was in London that the modern passion for nose to tail started, with chef Fergus Henderson’s 1999 book Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking. It proclaimed, “If you’re going to kill the animal it seems only polite to use the whole thing,” and explained how to prepare food using every part of a pig, something that is common regionally around Britain and Europe.
Henderson’s restaurant St John became a mecca for enthusiasts, and the book went viral after the US version was published in 2004. The New Yorker described it as the “Ulysses of the whole Slow Food movement.”
There’s an impressive attempt here to fulfill the stated commitment, but, like most western restaurants, they find it hard to be completely local, so also use imports. In their popular starter Tuna, braised pig’s tail and foie gras torchon (B250++), Peter uses black fin tuna from Phuket and pork from a small farm in Nakhon Sawan.
“We sometimes buy whole pigs and use everything,” he says. “But otherwise we buy less popular cuts that would otherwise be wasted.” He braises the tail with ox tongue and folds it into foie gras terrine, which is covered by thinly sliced tuna, enriched with pork fat. Laced with citrus, the dish has an acidic bite, with peppery notes and the occasional unexpected, but delicious flavour of lardons.
They also have Slow-roasted lamb ribs (B2,350 for 3-4 people), Calf’s tongue with Mexican spice (B180++), and Head cheese terrine (or brawn, B280++), served with light, easily snappable croutons.
Smith’s locally reared Verjus glazed pork belly (B350++) takes three days to prepare, including soaking in milk and brine, smoking, and braising for four hours. It has a lovely smoky, honey aroma and a pleasing hammy texture below the layer of fat, anchored by the sourness of pickled stone fruit and a bed of spicy lentil.
“The lamb for the ribs comes from Korat,” Peter says. “But they don’t produce enough of it to use regularly, so most of the red meat we serve is still imported. The local quality and availability is difficult to predict for the more expensive cuts, which are still the most popular with diners.
“We want to support the local Thai market and encourage it, and I’m trying to brainwash my cooks to understand and value ingredients and where they come from,” he says. “But in Thailand we’re behind New York and London in the appreciation of produce.”
It was in London that the modern passion for nose to tail started, with chef Fergus Henderson’s 1999 book Nose to Tail Eating: A Kind of British Cooking. It proclaimed, “If you’re going to kill the animal it seems only polite to use the whole thing,” and explained how to prepare food using every part of a pig, something that is common regionally around Britain and Europe.
Henderson’s restaurant St John became a mecca for enthusiasts, and the book went viral after the US version was published in 2004. The New Yorker described it as the “Ulysses of the whole Slow Food movement.”
Joe Sloane’s pork products have been a big hit in Bangkok
One person in Bangkok doing genuine nose to tail, and a supplier to several restaurants, is Joe Sloane. Joe trained as a chef with Albert Roux, in London, where he learned to butcher animals, and eventually arrived in Bangkok in 2006 as chef at the Landmark’s Rib Room. He now buys a whole pig most weeks, butchers it, and makes produce using virtually the entire animal. It’s so popular he’s now, in his own words, “stupidly busy.”
“I stick to pigs,” he says, “because it’s easier to find good quality animals that are ethically reared and killed. This means they’re free range, allowed space to roam, and not pumped full of hormones or antibiotics.”
Joe sources most of his pigs from a small farm in Si Saket. “It’s easier to get information from small farms about how the animals are treated. If pigs are stressed when they’re slaughtered,” he says, “adrenalin pumps around their body. This causes more acidity, and results in PSE, or ‘pale soft extrudent,’ which leads to paler meat that leaks water when it’s cooked.”
There are ten regular items such as sausages and chorizo on Joe’s product list, plus specials like smoked ham, pâté and back bacon, and lesser known items such as Bath chaps, in which pig cheek is rolled around pig tongue, then brined and boiled. Like a ham, it’s served hot or cold. His plump, meaty Cumberland sausages have good juicy fat content, and – being not too heavy on the herbs – let the pork talk. If there are better in Bangkok, I haven’t eaten them.
“I’d love to use lamb, too,” says Joe. “But people don’t import whole animals, only the more expensive cuts. You can get lamb, sheep and cows from a breeder in Pak Chong but it’s more expensive to buy than imported. I can’t justify the cost for sausages.”
Apart from a few herbs he can’t find here, such as sage, Joe uses local produce throughout. Why bother? “Partly the challenge, but also not to have any waste and to see the animal have a good life. Every part of the animal is used. The blood goes into black pudding, liver into pâté, the lights and spleen into haggis, the bones into stock, the head makes brawn, and so on.”
Joe is going into business selling Thai and western produce with Bo and Dylan, the owners of Bo.lan Thai restaurant. “We hope to have a shopfront deli operation within a year,” he says.
In the meantime, you can pick up his delicious products either at farmers markets like the one at Bo.lan on the first Saturday of each month, or arrange a home delivery through
[email protected].
“I stick to pigs,” he says, “because it’s easier to find good quality animals that are ethically reared and killed. This means they’re free range, allowed space to roam, and not pumped full of hormones or antibiotics.”
Joe sources most of his pigs from a small farm in Si Saket. “It’s easier to get information from small farms about how the animals are treated. If pigs are stressed when they’re slaughtered,” he says, “adrenalin pumps around their body. This causes more acidity, and results in PSE, or ‘pale soft extrudent,’ which leads to paler meat that leaks water when it’s cooked.”
There are ten regular items such as sausages and chorizo on Joe’s product list, plus specials like smoked ham, pâté and back bacon, and lesser known items such as Bath chaps, in which pig cheek is rolled around pig tongue, then brined and boiled. Like a ham, it’s served hot or cold. His plump, meaty Cumberland sausages have good juicy fat content, and – being not too heavy on the herbs – let the pork talk. If there are better in Bangkok, I haven’t eaten them.
“I’d love to use lamb, too,” says Joe. “But people don’t import whole animals, only the more expensive cuts. You can get lamb, sheep and cows from a breeder in Pak Chong but it’s more expensive to buy than imported. I can’t justify the cost for sausages.”
Apart from a few herbs he can’t find here, such as sage, Joe uses local produce throughout. Why bother? “Partly the challenge, but also not to have any waste and to see the animal have a good life. Every part of the animal is used. The blood goes into black pudding, liver into pâté, the lights and spleen into haggis, the bones into stock, the head makes brawn, and so on.”
Joe is going into business selling Thai and western produce with Bo and Dylan, the owners of Bo.lan Thai restaurant. “We hope to have a shopfront deli operation within a year,” he says.
In the meantime, you can pick up his delicious products either at farmers markets like the one at Bo.lan on the first Saturday of each month, or arrange a home delivery through
[email protected].
Substance and style: Quince boasts a trendy design and great location on Sukhumvit 45
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One restaurant using Sloane’s is Quince, which opened in September last year. It’s helmed by chef Jess Barnes with partners from Bed Supperclub and Oskar Bistro, and is so popular we had to wait for a table on the Tuesday night we visited.
“We are driven towards responsible eating and use as much fresh local produce as we can,” says Jess. “But Quince is becoming a very busy restaurant, and we have the same issues all outlets face – sourcing, staffing, training.”
Included on the menu is Roast bone marrow (B250++), which requires diners to push out the marrow from the hollow bone to gather in pools of oil on the plate. Slap it on to a crouton and eat with a helping of chopped parsley and capers to cut through the unctuous slop. It’s far, far tastier than it sounds.
Quince’s locally reared Hanger steak (B500++) is cooked rare and served with a fatty cube of pressed rib and mushroom fricassee. Hanger comes from near the kidneys, so is tough but full of flavour. It also has trendy cachet – the last I ate was recently in Gordon Ramsay’s London bistro Foxtrot Oscar.
The pork at Quince is ethically killed and organic, and they have lots of local produce including Kurobuta pork blood from Chantaburi, cheese from Hua Hin, and all the beef apart from Ozzie rib eye. But, as Jess reveals, “Creating an entirely western menu from local produce is extremely difficult, and I have an obligation to my investors to show I’m toeing the line between integrity, philosophy and savvy business sense.
“Our cover numbers are increasing, and only with time and diligence will we be able to have a manageable product that’s in line with the concept. I think in the short time we’ve been open we’ve shown that good, simple food can be done with mostly local produce in Thailand. I’m pretty sure we’re doing the right thing.”
“We are driven towards responsible eating and use as much fresh local produce as we can,” says Jess. “But Quince is becoming a very busy restaurant, and we have the same issues all outlets face – sourcing, staffing, training.”
Included on the menu is Roast bone marrow (B250++), which requires diners to push out the marrow from the hollow bone to gather in pools of oil on the plate. Slap it on to a crouton and eat with a helping of chopped parsley and capers to cut through the unctuous slop. It’s far, far tastier than it sounds.
Quince’s locally reared Hanger steak (B500++) is cooked rare and served with a fatty cube of pressed rib and mushroom fricassee. Hanger comes from near the kidneys, so is tough but full of flavour. It also has trendy cachet – the last I ate was recently in Gordon Ramsay’s London bistro Foxtrot Oscar.
The pork at Quince is ethically killed and organic, and they have lots of local produce including Kurobuta pork blood from Chantaburi, cheese from Hua Hin, and all the beef apart from Ozzie rib eye. But, as Jess reveals, “Creating an entirely western menu from local produce is extremely difficult, and I have an obligation to my investors to show I’m toeing the line between integrity, philosophy and savvy business sense.
“Our cover numbers are increasing, and only with time and diligence will we be able to have a manageable product that’s in line with the concept. I think in the short time we’ve been open we’ve shown that good, simple food can be done with mostly local produce in Thailand. I’m pretty sure we’re doing the right thing.”
Little Beast, on Thonglor, has several items on its menu that use local and lesser known produce
The Thonglor gastro bar Little Beast was the third new restaurant last year to be widely associated with the locavore and nose to tail movement. It actually makes no claim to follow that path, but does have several items on its small French-American menu that use local and lesser-used produce. Partner Tee Suraphongchai explains that Chef Nan Bunyasaranand, who studied at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA), “trained in using use any leftover body parts efficiently, in a tasty way that also keeps costs down.” Little Beast focuses on small sharing portions in dishes like Corned beef tongue (B330++) served with braised cabbage, mustard seeds, creamed potatoes; Black truffle and pork cheek penne (B350++); and Chicken liver mousse puffs (B180++). They also use local beef in Cheese burger sliders (B300++). “It’s not like just throwing tenderloin on the grill. Many of these dishes take longer to prepare,” says Tee. “So the chef is also adding value in terms of cooking skill.” | 
Cheeseburger sliders
Black truffle pork cheek
Corned beef tongue
Chicken liver puff
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Little Beast focuses on small sharing portions in dishes like Corned beef tongue (B330++) served with braised cabbage, mustard seeds, creamed potatoes; Black truffle and pork cheek penne (B350++); and Chicken liver mousse puffs (B180++). They also use local beef in Cheese burger sliders (B300++).
“It’s not like just throwing tenderloin on the grill. Many of these dishes take longer to prepare,” says Tee. “So the chef is also adding value in terms of cooking skill.”
Many of these cheaper cuts, taken from close to the bone, are actually as tasty as expensive steaks, they’re just more difficult for chefs to deal with and have a concept issue with the dining public.
Bangkok’s nascent locavore movement could possibly be just a fad, but Smith, Quince and Little Beast are all run by well connected people, through social media and otherwise. And they’re busy. Both are indicators that their attempts to develop the locavore market will not necessarily be wasted.
“It’s not like just throwing tenderloin on the grill. Many of these dishes take longer to prepare,” says Tee. “So the chef is also adding value in terms of cooking skill.”
Many of these cheaper cuts, taken from close to the bone, are actually as tasty as expensive steaks, they’re just more difficult for chefs to deal with and have a concept issue with the dining public.
Bangkok’s nascent locavore movement could possibly be just a fad, but Smith, Quince and Little Beast are all run by well connected people, through social media and otherwise. And they’re busy. Both are indicators that their attempts to develop the locavore market will not necessarily be wasted.
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