6th-11th December
Lunch: 11.30am-2.30pm (1,688 baht net per person)
Dinner: 6pm-10pm (2,388 baht net per person)
You are in for a treat!
Chef Pasquale Palamaro, from the one star Regina Isabella Resort, Ischia, Italy, his own hometown, arrived in Chiang Mai a couple of days ago, and has been busy shopping for produce and working in the kitchen with the Shangri-La team. He is now ready to present!
We media got a lucky taste of what treats you have to come today by indulging in the entire seven course dinner which will be launched tonight at Shangri-La Hotels Dhala Restaurant.
If you haven’t booked, then we highly recommend you do so. This is a great gourmet opportunity for all food lovers without having to fly all the way to Italy!
So here goes:
We started off with aromatic charcoal-grilled French fines de Claire oysters, their rich flavours embedded in a pillow of creamy Jerusalem artichoke purée. The mellow bite is followed by a kick from the nduja sauce – spreadable spicy sausage – adding more surprise to the dish which also throws in fun crunches with a pretty brittle tuile and the richer bites of croutons.
The next little starter is a delight. What appears to be a spiky sea urchin sits on a lovely light sauce of buffalo mozzarella cream nestled in a cerulean blue dish which resembles a gentle wave. But upon closer inspection, this dish is a perfect trompe-l’oeil, with the spikes of the sea urchin instead being dried cannellini spaghetti, the crunchy texture covering a delicious bed of red tuna with drops of lemon and basil for added zest.
The next dish is a carnaroli risotto designed to showcase the citrus flavours the region is well known for. The rice is cooked in a sauce of European oranges and Thai lemons and limes. Butter is made from the zest of citrus with an added cream of beetroot and lemon leek powder as well as a jaunty sprinkle of colourful beetroot powder for drama! A fresh river prawn from our Thai seas adds another layer of flavour to the dish.
A classic carbonara is a rare thing! And the tastes and method used in making this creamy classic is on point. But Chef Pasquale doesn’t have a Michelin star for nothing and his carbonara has an intriguing twist in that it is served not with bacon, but with deliciously sweet spider crab.
The extraordinarily unique main dish serves up bite-sized chunks of seabass alternating with foie gras, a novel and very umami dish as rich in flavour as it is velvety in texture. There are bright bursts of acidity in the pineapple chutney and martini-dry-scented carrot cream. A jaunty carrot adds some freshness to the otherwise savoury dish.
A palate cleanser arrives looking like a very large pearl sitting on half an oyster shell. Pop it into your mouth and burst of tart passion fruit explodes in your mouth after biting into the ball coated with xylitol sugar powder.
The final dish arrives – the dessert. Almost too beautiful to eat, a seabed of red coral looking tuile sits next to a mock-rock chocolate which cracks and oozes caramel mousse. Mango purée scatter in images of seashells and a peanut crumble with cream sits like sand at the bottom of this oceanic seabed-scape.
There have been nearly ten Michelin starred chefs who have come to Dhala Restaurant’s kitchens over the past, but with the past pandemic having squashed this great initiative, Chef Pasquale Palamaro’s arrival marks the beginning of something truly exciting in the coming months and years.
“It is all about illusion and creativity,” said Chef Pasquale about his cuisine. The meal begins with the fresh oyster flesh and ends with the elegance of the oyster pearl.” There is a surprise in every single dish in this truly creative and magical experience.
For more information about this special experience please make sure you book at 053-253888, chiangmai@shangri-la.com.
