Arts
Burst of new flavours for Thai Boulevard’s 5th b’day
The Thai Cuisine Boulevard by Tasty Caterers that opened its doors on Queen’s Road Colombo 3 five years ago, last week unveiled new additions to their menu of flavourful Thai dishes.
The men behind the dishes: Chef Indika and Chef Papat Pachid
These new improvements to the menu are the creations of Chef Papat Pichad and Chef Indika Rohana. Chef Papat who has worked in several restaurants across Thailand has used his in- depth knowledge to incorporate those unique flavours into the new dishes. Chef Indika, a familiar face at Thai Cuisine Boulevard, is known as the man responsible for preparing the restaurant’s signature dishes.
At a tasting held recently, new dishes were introduced and old favourites revisited.
Beginning with the beverages, the restaurant now offers unique mocktails made with ingredients such as lemongrass, ginger, chili, passion fruit and lychee. The lychee, hot and sour and kaffir lime mocktails are both refreshing and vibrant in flavour, a good start setting the tone for the rest of the meal.
An individual starter platter followed the mocktails, with a deep fried vegetable spring roll served with sweet chili sauce, chicken wrapped in pandan leaves served with chili tamarind sauce and deep fried prawn toast served with sesame soy sauce. The spring roll was fried to achieve a satisfying crunch but would not be complete without the tang of the sweet chili sauce to complement it. For those who enjoy a more hands-on experience, they can unwrap the carefully assembled pandan leaves to reveal the tender chicken inside which was especially delicious when drizzled with its smooth sauce. The prawn toast topped with plenty of sesame seeds delivered fine flavour with a slight crunch.
The soup of the day was the Thai chicken coconut soup. Rich and creamy yet tangy and salty, with plenty of chicken and slices of soft mushroom to spoon out of the bowl, this soup was light and fragrant with the subtle aroma of coconut.
This dish was followed by a popular salad at the restaurant, the spicy Thai papaya salad served with peanut and red chili – surprisingly fiery with a pleasant, lingering but not overwhelming spicy aftertaste.
In the mains, new additions include the Nuea Pad Prik King which is wok fried beef with ginger, chili paste and kaffir lime leaves, Poo Phad Pong Kali – a crab meat dish with yellow curry and more familiar Boulevard dishes such as the green curry chicken, grilled seabass with lemon and chili garlic sauce, chochee style wok-fried prawns with thai chili paste and stir-fried pak choy with garlic accompanied by either chicken phadthai noodles or steamed jasmine rice.
The crab meat in yellow Thai curry stands out visually with its vibrant colour and is not only flavourful but contains a hearty amount of crab meat. The green curry chicken is a favourite for a reason. Fresh and rich with gentle flavours, the curry is a well-balanced dish with a slight undertone of citrus and soft cuts of chicken soaked in the mild gravy with no one ingredient overpowering the other. The grilled sea bass was a personal favourite. Golden with a hint of char on the outside which provides a great crunch, it is accompanied with a lemon and chili garlic sauce. Grilled evenly all around, the fillets are just right in size and delicious. The wok fried prawns were large in size and evenly coated in the subtly sweet and punchy chili paste. The vegetarian option, the stir fried pak choy, was both crunchy and pleasantly salty.
The meal ended with a tempting dessert platter inspired by one particular ingredient- coconut: Mango sticky rice with coconut cream, Thai style coconut panna cotta with passionfruit coulis and coconut ice cream.
Thai Cuisine Boulevard has also introduced an executive lunch menu for busy executives seeking a quick weekday lunch. Diners have more to look forward to as the restaurant also plans to introduce a Thai inspired high tea and a Boulevard tasting menu showcasing some of the restaurant’s most popular dishes in the near future.
Setting the tone: Deep fried vegetable spring rolls with sweet chili sauce, chicken wrapped in pandan leaves and deep fried prawn toast
Sweet and sticky: Mango sticky rice with coconut cream, Thai style coconut panna cotta with passionfruit coulis and coconut ice cream. Pix by Sameera Weerasekera