Thai cuisine goes South

The Mumbai cousin of New York’s Kittichai, Barcelona’s Murmuri and Bangkok’s Hyde And Seek restaurants serves traditional Thai cuisine.

Celebrity Thai chef Ian Chalermkittichai, recently launched Koh by Ian Kittichai, at Marine Drive’s Intercontinental. The Mumbai cousin of New York’s Kittichai, Barcelona’s Murmuri and Bangkok’s Hyde And Seek restaurants serves traditional Thai cuisine.

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The interiors are tastefully designed by Satomi Hatanaka and Quentin Danté of Studio Q. The restaurant is split into two areas — the Koh bar and the dining area. The latter has wooden furniture and flooring in contrast to the hand crafted champagne gold-leafed curved ceiling panels.

The Thai menu is more about the experience than the food. The best part about the food is the emphasis on enhancing the taste of the meats and vegetables and not killing it with overpowering spices. The Yellowfin Tuna Ceviche (Rs 895) is a case in point. The Chocolat Baby Back Ribs (Rs 695), also a chef’s special, are pork ribs coated with chocolate. It’s a weird combination, but not repelling. At the same time, one has to have an acquired taste to truly enjoy the dish.

The seafood at Koh also deserves a mention. Fresh and succulent, the meat is a must-try. The Crispy Fillet of Whole Red Snapper (Rs 895; with Thai tempura batter, melting daikon and sweet chilli sauce) and Mediterranean Striped Prawns (Rs 925; wok-seared with asparagus and garlic-black pepper) are some of the items that a fish lover should treat themselves to. Among the desserts, we opted for the Chilled Bittersweet Lindt Chocolate Lava (Rs 395; with orange salad, dragon fruit sauce and chocolate crumbs) and let’s just say, it was satiating all right!

The service is perfect, though some of the food did arrive cold. In case you don’t know what’s landed at your table, the manger will help you out.

A perfect place for a romantic date. In fact, we were told that Deepika Padulone and Siddharth Mallya frequent here
often.