COCONUTS CRITIC’S TABLE — Pizza occupies that crucial bottom layer of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, along with fast broadband, strong coffee and quality US TV series with compelling season-length story arcs. If I remember rightly, a decade ago it was pretty hard to get ahold of good pizza in Bangkok. In the main, you’d find the style I’ve taken to calling The Sea of Cheese. It might be covered in cocktail sausages, or have tom yam kung injected into the crusts. Probably.
Today things are much better. Obviously, the world increasingly resembles a terrifying cyberpunk dystopia, the kind of global scenario even the most paranoid 20th century sci-fi author would have dismissed as pessimistic. But the pizza situation – globally as well as locally – is just super. Here in Bangkok, new joints serving Authentic Italian Pizza™ are sprouting all over the place. Where once you might categorise a Bangkokian pizza’s provenance as “Italian,” “American” or “SET-listed conglomerate,” we are now seeing specific, regional styles: the Roman pizza al taglio at Asok’s Pala, Peppina’s filling Neapolitan offering and so forth.
Thanks to the efforts of those ever-diligent chaps at BK magazine, this week I headed to Il Bolognese, a lesser-known trattoria on a leafy soi in the Sathon area. Frankly, if I had walked past the place by chance, there is no way I would have gone in. The signage, with its oddly positioned Comic Sans lettering and bizarre wonky building motif, literally looks like it was designed by a 5-year-old. I’m unsure if this is supposed to serve as a siren call to your inner child, or simply to put off those that aren’t in the know. But first impressions count: This is the restaurant equivalent of introducing yourself at a party using the “pull my finger” routine.
Let’s all work toward a world sans Comic Sans
Anyhow, I did go in, as the existence of this article attests, and I’m glad I did. Although the signage had me braced for something resembling a children’s play area, this is a rather adult space. There are hefty hardwood tables and black beams and sexy crimsons here and there. There are wine racks and vases sprouting bamboo cane. The lighting makes you look way better than you have any business looking.
The place isn’t cheap, but the menu is graced with the kind of imported items that justify the prices. The caprese salad (THB420), for example, is based around gorgeous splodges of glacial burrata and sweet confit tomatoes and black olives, with dollops of rich pesto and strips of basil artfully strewn across the plate. There are some hearty homemade pastas on the menu, too: raviolis of spinach and foie gras and porcini; a workmanlike gnocchi with lamb ragu (THB430).
But we came for pizza. While the restaurant offers a selection of common-or-garden thin-base pizzas – the capricciosa, quattro stagioni et al. – it’s the “artisanal” section of the menu you’ll want to head for. It was hard to choose; things would normally be go-tos, like salami and egg plant (THB520) and speck and gorgonzola (THB590) fell by the wayside. But we were suckered by the promise of other Italian imports. The nduja (THB480) was a rich, fiery blend of the Calabrian spreadable sausage and onions and roasted tomatoes. The sardine and burrata (THB520) was as dreamy as the former was fiesty. The billowing Neapolitan-style base, the “special dough” as its referred to on the menu, is excellent: crisp, slightly charred, not too heavy.
I asked the attentive Italian manager what variety of pizza he considered his rather excellent product to be. Bolognese? Neapolitan? “No,” he said. “Neapolitan bases use a lot of yeast. They’re heavy. Mine are lighter. They’re my own thing.” It was refreshing to hear a restaurateur eschewing the easy option of claiming the authority of “authenticity.” The guy was just doing what he feels works best. And for another short night, this terrifying world did not seem so bad.
Coconut’s Critics Table reviews are written based on unannounced visits by our writers and paid for by Coconuts Bangkok. No freebies here.
FIND IT:
139/3 Soi Sathorn 7, Moo 3
Dan Waites is the author of Culture Shock! Bangkok, a guide to the culture, customs and expat life in the Thai capital. Follow him on Twitter: @danwaites
