“I Want a Bucket of That Soup Please!” @Banyan Lemongrass

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“I Want a Bucket of That Soup Please!” @Banyan Lemongrass



HUA HIN: -- We were excited to finally be invited to Banyan Resort Hua Hin’s Lemongrass Restaurant & Bar. We had been to Lemongrass before but only to watch other people eat during a business meeting and had never actually sampled their meals ourselves. This was a treat indeed.

We were greeted by Pitra Pathik, Public Relations Officer of Banyan and also Sirirat Murphy their spanking new Food & Beverage Manager (read more about her in New Faces in town section in this issue) as well as Melissa Tan Resort Manager of Banyan Resort. We knew with this crowd on hand we would be well taken care of and that turned out be an understatement.

The meal started with being seated outside at a beautifully laid out table at the patio side of Lemongrass. We were presented with a signature drink Banyan frozen blue for my colleague and a mocktail called Tong Tang made with cranberry juice & fresh mint lime top with soda for me. I am not crazy about mocktails normally but this was really refreshing, I would absolutely order it again. Before the meal we also managed to meet Executive Chef Wittawat Sornsomrith who promised us an exclusive Banyan experience. He lived up to his promise.

We started off our dinner with me basically gobbling up every piece of bread I could lay little chubby fingers on. To me the tastiness of the bread at the start of a meal is a good indication of what is to come and in this case it was very yummy indeed. The bread came with side servings of olive oil, vinegar, butter but also a bread dip. I was told the dip changes daily. I thought when I saw the dip and heap of bread “Now we are talking!”

We were offered a starter of Fresh Tuna Tartar which was served with freshly chopped yellow fin tuna served with celeriac wasabi cream seaweed pickles and fresh micro sprout. I really liked the addition of a hint of Wasabi to spice up the traditional way of serving Tuna Tartar. The starter was very fresh and a great start to the dinner.

Next up was my absolute favorite dish maybe because it’s such a long time since I have had a really delicious vegetable soup. In this case real Roast Pumpkin soup!

I loved the Roast pumpkin soup! It was done with real-deal fresh pumpkin with shallots & lime and foie grass on top. I liked it so much that although I had a generous portion I would happily have eaten a bucket and half more. Thick and creamy not due to some horrible thickening agent but due to use of fresh pumpkin as the main ingredient, what can better than that?

After the terrible bread gobbling the delicious tartar and THE Soup we were actually quit full at this point but when the Grilled lobster risotto arrived, I of course ate it all.

The main dish consists of Grilled Lobster Rice Risotto with parsley lime served with Duck breast. The lobster tail was fresh and the dish was refreshing and light and I love the duck slices. But I would not have been so hasty if I had known the “Pièce de résistance” was coming in form of the dessert. A modern twist on Mango Sticky Rice arrived which was delicious, with ice cream sticky rice and mango of course and I just had to eat everything again.

I had threatened to stay on until the kitchen ran out of supplies but at this point we were very full and very happy with our meal and there no way we could eat anymore. I loved the country club kind of atmosphere of Lemongrass restaurant & Bar, they have great service, great food and I even loved the mocktail. But I have to say I loved the Pumpkin soup only slightly less than I love my Mother which should tell you how happy I was to run into a place that makes great food and knows how to use fresh ingredients to its full potential.

Thank you Banyan’s Lemongrass. Keep a stock of pumpkin’s because I am coming back!
For more information please call: 032 538 889


-- Hua Hin Today 2013-12-27