Chiang Mai may be landlocked, but we do love our seafood – just look at the sheer number of seafood buffets around town. Yet, in spite of daily catches being transported to our kitchens pulsing-fresh, we have got to admit that we have not quite mastered the seafood cuisine yet and most buffets around town are, frankly, rather disappointing.
And that is why Seafood Master Chef Carlo, who hails from the famous Puglia region of Italy, world renowned for its delicious seafood cuisine, took all of one second after arriving in Chiang Mai recently to create what we think is by far the most ambitious, generous, lavish and delicious seafood extravaganza in our city. On the last Friday of each month, for the past three months now, a Seafood Market pops up for one night at Shangri-La’s Kad Kafe – next catch, 25th November.
“In my first two months in Chiang Mai, I have been in several places advertising seafood buffets at very low prices, but with equally low quality. As a seafood master, I truly believe we owe great respect to such delights the sea gives us every day, and I could not accept that such produce could be mistreated and sold for something else. I felt therefore compelled to share my experience and to elevate the culinary landscape, by putting together a proposition I am sure discerning seafood lovers will never forget, and which they will possibly ask to experience again in the future,” Chef Carlo told Citylife during late October’s Seafood Market extravaganza, as we were shoving oyster and lobsters into our eager mouths.
Walk into the spacious Kad Kafe and your own pulse will start to quicken at the opulent seafood market vibe where everywhere you look there is some enticing station beckoning further exploration.
The first thing you see when you walk in is the haul on ice, on display, featuring all manner of sea creatures. You can get as many oysters shucked as you can dream of and then wander the seas, picking and choosing such quality items as Canadian lobster, Norwegian salmon, French seabass or sea bream, Atlantic cod or mackerel, razor shells from Netherlands, yellow fin tuna from the Maldives, turbot or mussels from Spain and whatever quality catch from Thailand Chef Carlo can gather together.
But we get ahead of ourselves. Before you take your haul to the open-planned kitchen and ask the chefs to cook it to your preference, it’s imperative to visit the various stations for some appetisers first.
Cold appetisers include the sushi and sashimi station, a poke salad bar with loads of condiments and goodies to pile up on, a generous salad bar with all sorts of fun seafood salads, a carpaccio station where you can get slithers of your favourite shrimp, octopus, seabass or salmon served as gravlax, marinated, cured or lightly flavoured. Then there are the hot appetisers which we can’t even begin to count. Here are a few highlight dishes; stewed baby octopus Luciana style, oven baked local seabass, scallops au gratin, sardines millefeuille with potatoes, stuffed squid Spanish style and seafood parmigiana.
With over 20 species of sea creatures to be chosen from and over 50 freshly cooked dishes, this is THE destination for all seafood lovers, as there is guaranteed to be more than plenty to please all palates.
Take a break, then dive back into some more substantial dishes. There is a paella station, soup station with French bouillabaisse and Boston seafood chowder and the hot station boasts at least 15 Italian-inspired seafood recipes, showcasing Chef Carlo’s repertoire.
We could go on, but frankly there is too much to crow about. There is also a tempting looking desserts station, but we were unable to go there, having filled ourselves to stuffing over the many happy hours of peeling prawns, prying open clams, slipping a lither of cuttlefish or squid down our throats, slicing into a tender piece of fish, bashing a crab, swallowing a scallop and doing our best to sample as many of the multitude of delicious dishes as possible. Oh and all washed down with a lovely light Sauvignon blanc!
Friday 25 November 2022 from 6:30pm to 10pm
THB 2,950 nett per person
50% off for children from 6 to 11 years old
For more information and for reservations, please call (053) 253 888
or email: restaurants.slcm@shangri-la.com
