COCONUTS HOTSPOT — You’ll hear people say that Italian food is best when it’s home cooked and served by grandma, and while this is generally true, Enoteca brings a high-end Italian experience to Bangkok. This is Italian that’s a cut above the home-style joints Bangkok is familiar with. Less familiar to us however is its particularly stellar service.
Enoteca is tucked away in a small residential neighborhood between Phrom Pong and Asoke, and the restaurant exists inside of what was formerly a house. There’s no hustle and bustle here, instead the isolation allows for a quiet and intimate atmosphere. The interior is rustic Italian and similar to what you might find at any of the other Italian joints, but the neatly pressed uniforms of the service staff and their proper posture hint to the level of service and elegance that’s hard to find.
The breakdown of the menu is resolutely Italian as well, which can be hard to decipher if you’re not familiar with how the menu works. Start off with something from the antipasti section of the menu, which usually includes meats and cheeses, Enoteca has interesting offerings like crunchy veal tongue with saffron potatoes (THB340) and smoked scallops (THB690) in addition to the usual assortments of charcuterie (THB 690).
The first course, I Primi, usually means a selection of pasta, risotto. The ravioli filled with foie gras and black truffle (THB 690) is pungent, and explodes into a buttery mess of seared liver meat and truffle oil. This level of decadence is why Enoteca feels like the place you’d spot a Roman emperor, were they still around and in Bangkok. In fact, the clientele consists mostly of Italians. On the menu are interesting traditional entries with starters like risotto with cheese made from sheep and cow’s milk (THB 590) and ravioli filled with roasted pigeon breast in a port reduction (THB 690).
Although a dish of hearty pasta will fill most people up, the Italian way is to consume “I Secondi,” or second course, after the pasta. The antipasto preps you for the pasta, and the pasta warms you up for the main. Meals at Enoteca take some time to work through; don’t plan on dinner and a movie.
The second course focuses on game, and when we dined at Enoteca the special was horse. Nicola Bonazza, the proprietor behind the 28-seat restaurant promised us it wasn’t as odd as it sounds. “We eat horse in Italy,” she said. “It’s not strange.” Then there’s the lamb rack (THB990), a hearty serving of ribs over a bed of smoldering rosemary. The herbaceous platter can be detected the second it leaves the kitchen, the aroma filling the restaurant before it arrives at the table. Although we didn’t have the opportunity to try it, the whole roasted suckling pig (THB1,250) with mustard mousse may not impress a date, but it could feed a large Italian family.
Wine is a strong suit at Enoteca, and there’s an attached temperature-controlled, brick wine cellar where customers can browse through a moderately sized collection of Italian bottles. The priciest? A hefty THB27,000.
Photos: Richard W. Marks
FIND IT:
Enoteca
27 Sukhumvit Soi 39
