Twisted Thai
Nothing is as it Seems!
A meal at the Imperial Samui's Twisted Thai is a sensory overload – in a good way.
Alice: This is impossible!
The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is.
A meal at the Imperial Samui's Twisted Thai restaurant can be compared to an adult version of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. The name is apt, as well-known dishes are literally twisted and contorted to create the bizarre.
Opened in January 2011, Twisted Thai is certainly one of the most memorable dining experience on the island. Chef Pornpirom Khunwong (Tom) takes the purest Thai food, with its famous flavours, combines these with modern cooking skills such as smoking, freezing, slow cooking and drying, and presents dishes as art. By adding new techniques and equipment to this combination, his kitchen has changed the look, sensation and feel of the classical and developed it into something parallel to the original.
Chef Tom is Samui's answer to Heston Blumethal, famous TV show chef, who brought molecular gastronomy to the public's eye. So what exactly is this? Well, it's is a sub-discipline of food science that involves understanding and utilising how ingredients transform during the cooking process. Some of the methods used are rather technical, and involve precision to get the desired effect. Chefs that practice this need to be showmen too, as presentation is paramount and often involves a dramatic effect when brought to the table, with the intent to wow the guests. Molecular gastronomy is a modern style of cooking, which is practiced by both scientists and chefs, turning many professional kitchens into laboratories. It takes advantage of innovations from the scientific world, which may not have been discovered decades ago. Some chefs choose to reject the term, preferring others such as 'culinary physics' and 'experimental cuisine'.
Whatever you choose to call it, Twisted Thai's style of cooking aims to impress diners, and incorporate all the senses. Now we're all for a pretty plate of food, but taste is important too. Chef Tom's team doesn't disappoint in this department – as long as you come with an open mind. Be prepared for your tastebuds to go into overdrive as flavours and textures one would not expect to be combined, are put together to confuse the mouth.
When the team designs a new dish, it may take months to perfect, and when they're finally happy, it becomes a fixture on the Twisted Thai menu. There're constantly dishes in the developmental process, mind-mapped on the kitchen blackboard. Serving staff are trained to deal with questions, which no doubt there'll be. They understand the processes and guide guests through the minefield of flavour explosions. Bland is banished from the Twisted Thai kitchen.
To make the most of the menu, ordering an assorted appetizer platter to share, from the degustation menu is recommended. A large tile of artistic creations is presented to the table, with Chef Tom beaming from ear to ear, as he watches the reactions of diners tucking in. There are 'oohs' and 'aahs' and 'What do you think of this?' and 'You HAVE to try this!' coming from tables.
What can you expect from these assorted appetizers? Here are a few examples:
Tom Yum Parmesan – The flavours resemble a normal tom yum or spicy hot-and-sour prawn soup. However, they don't put the prawns inside, but mix it with whipping cream and Parmesan cheese, and serve it with a Parmesan crisp. Who would have thought cheese goes with Tom Yum, but it does.
Tom Kha Gai, or chicken in coconut milk soup – Rather than chunky herbs and spices such as wedges of lemongrass and galangal, that usually flavour this soup, the flavours are infused with the broth, which is then put into a cream gun, and served resembling whipped cream, accompanied by crispy chicken skin.
Moo Kai Toile, or a Thai omelet with pork sausage, is traditionallly served with sweet chilli sauce. At Twisted Thai, the sauce is made into a jelly form, and then into tiny little balls resembling caviar; an interesting texture on the tongue.
That old Thai favourite of satay with peanut sauce takes on quite a different form with Chef Tom in the kitchen. Spicy peanut sauce comes as ice-cream, served with pickled cucumber and topped with either crispy chicken skin or prawn-cracker powder and a prawn tail. The mouth is pleasantly confused by the slightly sweet nutty ice-cream, with a chilli after-bite.
Yam Talay, or seafood salad, is made into a terrine with prawn and sea bass, topped with a seafood dressing and fruit jelly, and garnished with crispy salmon skin.
Twisted Thai's Kai Hin Nin at first glance, resembles a regular salted egg. However, the egg is slow cooked, coated with minced pork and deep-fried. It is served cut in half, with the hard yolk removed, and replaced with a soft filling.
Main courses are equally as unusual, with a distinct Italy-meets-Thailand feel. The kitchen is happy to oblige vegetarian guests – who would have thought that green curry could be served INSIDE calzone pizza? Here the vegetables are flavoured with green curry, served inside a bread dough, while the curry soup is served as a cappuccino, complete with foam on top. The idea is to dip the calzone into the soup. Twisted Thai's version of massaman is served as a risotto, flavoured with massaman curry paste, and topped with grilled chicken breast, crispy potato and peanut, and served with an onion and tamarind sauce.
One needs to have an adventurous palate, when visiting Twisted Thai, and there's nothing traditional about the desserts. Mango and sticky rice has been converted from the old classic, to a mango mousse, wrapped in a mango jelly, shaped like the fruit, sliced and served with a coconut and sesame sauce, topped with crispy rice.
If you're looking to impress guests and in need of dinner table conversation, Twisted Thai is the place to bring them. The conversation is sure to flow as senses are heightened and the norm is challenged.
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. If Alice came to Samui, Twisted Thai would surely be her restaurant of choice.
Rose-Anne Turner - As written for the Samui Holiday Magazine
Nothing is as it Seems!
A meal at the Imperial Samui's Twisted Thai is a sensory overload – in a good way.
Alice: This is impossible!
The Mad Hatter: Only if you believe it is.
A meal at the Imperial Samui's Twisted Thai restaurant can be compared to an adult version of Alice's adventures in Wonderland. The name is apt, as well-known dishes are literally twisted and contorted to create the bizarre.
Opened in January 2011, Twisted Thai is certainly one of the most memorable dining experience on the island. Chef Pornpirom Khunwong (Tom) takes the purest Thai food, with its famous flavours, combines these with modern cooking skills such as smoking, freezing, slow cooking and drying, and presents dishes as art. By adding new techniques and equipment to this combination, his kitchen has changed the look, sensation and feel of the classical and developed it into something parallel to the original.
Chef Tom is Samui's answer to Heston Blumethal, famous TV show chef, who brought molecular gastronomy to the public's eye. So what exactly is this? Well, it's is a sub-discipline of food science that involves understanding and utilising how ingredients transform during the cooking process. Some of the methods used are rather technical, and involve precision to get the desired effect. Chefs that practice this need to be showmen too, as presentation is paramount and often involves a dramatic effect when brought to the table, with the intent to wow the guests. Molecular gastronomy is a modern style of cooking, which is practiced by both scientists and chefs, turning many professional kitchens into laboratories. It takes advantage of innovations from the scientific world, which may not have been discovered decades ago. Some chefs choose to reject the term, preferring others such as 'culinary physics' and 'experimental cuisine'.
Whatever you choose to call it, Twisted Thai's style of cooking aims to impress diners, and incorporate all the senses. Now we're all for a pretty plate of food, but taste is important too. Chef Tom's team doesn't disappoint in this department – as long as you come with an open mind. Be prepared for your tastebuds to go into overdrive as flavours and textures one would not expect to be combined, are put together to confuse the mouth.
When the team designs a new dish, it may take months to perfect, and when they're finally happy, it becomes a fixture on the Twisted Thai menu. There're constantly dishes in the developmental process, mind-mapped on the kitchen blackboard. Serving staff are trained to deal with questions, which no doubt there'll be. They understand the processes and guide guests through the minefield of flavour explosions. Bland is banished from the Twisted Thai kitchen.
To make the most of the menu, ordering an assorted appetizer platter to share, from the degustation menu is recommended. A large tile of artistic creations is presented to the table, with Chef Tom beaming from ear to ear, as he watches the reactions of diners tucking in. There are 'oohs' and 'aahs' and 'What do you think of this?' and 'You HAVE to try this!' coming from tables.
What can you expect from these assorted appetizers? Here are a few examples:
Tom Yum Parmesan – The flavours resemble a normal tom yum or spicy hot-and-sour prawn soup. However, they don't put the prawns inside, but mix it with whipping cream and Parmesan cheese, and serve it with a Parmesan crisp. Who would have thought cheese goes with Tom Yum, but it does.
Tom Kha Gai, or chicken in coconut milk soup – Rather than chunky herbs and spices such as wedges of lemongrass and galangal, that usually flavour this soup, the flavours are infused with the broth, which is then put into a cream gun, and served resembling whipped cream, accompanied by crispy chicken skin.
Moo Kai Toile, or a Thai omelet with pork sausage, is traditionallly served with sweet chilli sauce. At Twisted Thai, the sauce is made into a jelly form, and then into tiny little balls resembling caviar; an interesting texture on the tongue.
That old Thai favourite of satay with peanut sauce takes on quite a different form with Chef Tom in the kitchen. Spicy peanut sauce comes as ice-cream, served with pickled cucumber and topped with either crispy chicken skin or prawn-cracker powder and a prawn tail. The mouth is pleasantly confused by the slightly sweet nutty ice-cream, with a chilli after-bite.
Yam Talay, or seafood salad, is made into a terrine with prawn and sea bass, topped with a seafood dressing and fruit jelly, and garnished with crispy salmon skin.
Twisted Thai's Kai Hin Nin at first glance, resembles a regular salted egg. However, the egg is slow cooked, coated with minced pork and deep-fried. It is served cut in half, with the hard yolk removed, and replaced with a soft filling.
Main courses are equally as unusual, with a distinct Italy-meets-Thailand feel. The kitchen is happy to oblige vegetarian guests – who would have thought that green curry could be served INSIDE calzone pizza? Here the vegetables are flavoured with green curry, served inside a bread dough, while the curry soup is served as a cappuccino, complete with foam on top. The idea is to dip the calzone into the soup. Twisted Thai's version of massaman is served as a risotto, flavoured with massaman curry paste, and topped with grilled chicken breast, crispy potato and peanut, and served with an onion and tamarind sauce.
One needs to have an adventurous palate, when visiting Twisted Thai, and there's nothing traditional about the desserts. Mango and sticky rice has been converted from the old classic, to a mango mousse, wrapped in a mango jelly, shaped like the fruit, sliced and served with a coconut and sesame sauce, topped with crispy rice.
If you're looking to impress guests and in need of dinner table conversation, Twisted Thai is the place to bring them. The conversation is sure to flow as senses are heightened and the norm is challenged.
“Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” – Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland. If Alice came to Samui, Twisted Thai would surely be her restaurant of choice.
Rose-Anne Turner - As written for the Samui Holiday Magazine