stumbling upon the good life – savoring food, discovering wine, and exploring places
Posts tagged as:
Hey all,
It’s no secret that we love Kamalaya here – a wonderful combo of relaxing space, great doctors, and inventive food. We’ve previously featured our personal experiences cooking with Kai, but now thanks to the internet you can have a virtual class with Kai yourself. In the video (hopefully more will soon follow) Kai teaches a Detox Garden Salad with Wasabe Dressing. A great salad that, like most of Kai’s food, belies its health-food status.
Paul
{ 0 comments }
A wonderful little cooking course in a Thai-style outdoor kitchen
Thai food has become one of my favourite international cuisines. And unlike French or Italian where there are many competent executions in various cities around the world, I find Thai food a bit lackluster when not in Thailand. Don’t get me wrong, some places outside of Thailand do get it right, but they are few and far between. So we’ve decided to take matters into our own hands and make Thai food at home. I myself am a very comfortable and accomplished Western cook but I am unaccustomed to how to build the Thai flavour profiles. This is why whenever we go back to Thailand, I try to take a Thai cooking course to supplement my knowledge of Thai cooking. On our most recent trip, this was Baipai Cooking School in the Chongnonsee area of Bangkok. [keep reading…]
{ 1 comment }
It’s easy to envy Chef Bastian Mantey. He gets to live, play, and practice his passion in one of the most beautiful parts of the world – as head chef at the Alila Villas Hadahaa, Maldives. How many people get to work in a on a luxurious tropical island that attracts visitors from all over the world? But he’s put in the time to earn such a coveted spot… working his way up the ranks of some of Germany’s top Michelin-starred restaurants. Eventually he decided to travel outside his home country to continue to push himself as a chef and see the world. Choosing to do so by entering into the hotel world, first at the Laguna Resort & Spa in Nusa Dua, Bali and then more recently at the Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
It’s his latest post though that has him continually smiling (seriously, in a week on the island I don’t know if I ever saw the guy without at least a grin on his face). [keep reading…]
{ 4 comments }
Any chef that can have me actually dreaming of eating crocodile again is a chef of note in my book. Hong Kong Chef Liu Ching Hai of Summer Palace in the Regent Hotel is that chef. You might remember our recent review of Summer Palace. We were treated to a special Sunday lunch of traditional Asian dishes and ones with a more modern twist… every dish as tasty as the next. After the meal we were gifted another treat – a chance to sit down and talk (via translator) to Chef Liu about his life & approach to food… and we even got a signature recipe!
{ 2 comments }
“Fa cosi caldo qui o e la tua presenza?”
For those of you who don’t know, I’ll be entering a full-time culinary diploma program starting in April. I’m using my remaining months to continue to eat at great restaurants, travel, and take all the short-term cooking courses I can find. One of the more exciting courses I found while searching for classes in Singapore was offered out of Basilico’s at the Regent Hotel, Singapore. Each month they are focusing on a different Italian food region and teaching signature plates from said region. Having previously gorged ourselves enjoyed the sprawling Italian brunch, I knew that the chefs knew their regional foods and had the fresh ingredients required to pull something like this off. For February they went with a theme instead of a region… teaching a 3-course romantic meal that was every bit as indulgent as it was sensual. And as you prepare for your Valentine’s Day, you might consider cooking this rich, romance inspiring meal at home, rather than going out. [keep reading…]
{ 0 comments }
Healthy Spa Recipes from our favourite holistic spa
As part of our Health & Wellness 2010 Series
From the age of 5, Kai had a passion for cooking. He started early with his first job in the kitchen at an Austrian ski resort at the age of 16 and from there moved on to London where he worked at Mossimann’s who pioneered healthier cooking through Cuisine Naturelle, healthy foods which do not sacrifice on taste. From there, Kai went to Thailand in 2006 to take the position as Executive chef at Kamalaya. Evolving his approach to healthy cuisine by blending it with Thai culinary traditions, Kai worked with Kamalaya to develop a healthy, spa cuisine menu that is shockingly good and good for you. [keep reading…]
{ 2 comments }
The Epicurean Concept of the Week is back from holiday vacation 
This week I was reading a Mark Bittman recipe for tri-tip steak. It called for an ingredient in the sauce I’d never heard of – pimentón. I wondered at first if it was an interesting spelling of pimento or something else entirely. It’s actually the world for Spanish paprika, an essential ingredient to many classic Spanish dishes. [keep reading…]
{ 0 comments }
Signature dish “Surf & Turf Indiana” recipe after the jump.
When working for Lookeast Magazine I had the chance to sit and talk with many Bangkok chefs. One of these was Arijit Ghosh, then new Executive Chef at Café 11. He’s a soft-spoken, gentle chef in an age of increasingly more exaggerated “personality chefs”. [keep reading…]
{ 0 comments }
While the flavors of Sri Lanka may not yet be as widely known as those from Thailand, Sri Lankan cuisine has a lot to offer the world. Take this Rambutan Chutney Recipe from The Sun House. This recipe takes a fresh, regional ingredient and adapts it to make a wonderful condiment for any meal. [keep reading…]
{ 0 comments }
This will be the last of my recipes from the Blue Elephant Cooking School in Bangkok, Thailand. This recipe blew me away, and completing this dish gave me new confidence in the kitchen. It seems difficult due to the number of steps and for some reason fish has always seemed harder to me… but the finished product is a complex fish that would wow any dinner party guest who ever visited your home. [keep reading…]
{ 1 comment }
