tongue thai’d
A classical Thai village in the heart of Moscow? International chain The Blue Elephant brings gourmet cuisine and over-the-top Thai hospitality to Novinsky Passage. Their aim is to show all the imposters just how spiciness is done.
PHOTO ALEXEI VIKTOROV/TEXT STEVE ROBERTS feedback
According to Thai legend and myth, dreams involving a blue elephant bring luck to the sleeping visionary. Although my preferred dreams tend along different lines, I certainly feel lucky to have experienced the Blue Elephant during a great night out. Another in the slow trickle of international restaurant franchises to set up shop in Moscow, The Blue Elephant prides itself on top-quality traditional “Royal Thai” food, and an eating experience enhanced by its opulent interior. The Blue Elephant, first spotted in Brussels back in 1980, has a dozen or so restaurants around the world. With 25 years of culinary and cultural experience, the chain is well on its way to perfecting high-class Thai dining. Moscow is no cinch for restaurants with an Eastern bent, but this venue has the advantage of a great location in the prestigious Novinsky Passage business center, and the legacy of its existing global presence. It doesn’t pull any punches here, with the Blue Elephant spices and merchandising for sale, and branded tableware should the diner not get the message. Even more impressive, the senior staff have the Blue Elephant know-how, be it from training at the cooking school in Bangkok, or from working in franchises in other cities. The expensive interior design — a beautifully exaggerated Thai village interior, with the central waterfall and bridge surrounded by polished wooden furniture, rich ornamentation, and plush table settings — must be universally effective With Thai music piping in the background, the whole set-up initially seems quite over-the-top. However, that’s the charm of the Blue Elephant — the place doesn’t hide that it’s Thai with a royal prefix. And the edibles are the best and most authentic that I’ve eaten of all the capital’s Thai food offerings. In fact, their only hint of pandering to the anti-spice lobby of Russia is by rating the dishes with elephant icons to indicate spiciness. A Dumbo hat-trick reflects the spiciest stampede. My biggest problem was that the newly-opened restaurant is still in test mode, and offers only a 60 euro fixed price menu and a limited selection of wines. However, as this test menu didn’t to preclude unlimited house Mai Tai cocktails, I was unduly concerned. Satisfaction came along with the food. Sumptuous starters included wonderfully tender chicken satay, spring rolls filled with suckling pig, shrimp and crab dim sim, a vermicelli seafood salad, and sarika, a shrimp and corn cake. After all that, we were served chiang mai, a light soup of vegetables and vermicelli. Main courses, another range of fantastic fare, came out on a golden platter. My top pick would have to be the massaman, a Southern Thai dish of lamb in a spicy gravy, though the shrimp pad thai was also tremendous, and the coconut curry with shrimp was a feisty little number. Even the rice selection was classy — jasmine boiled rice on the side and Royal fried rice, which features crab and shrimp. Following the pattern of the rest of the meal, we were presented with a wide selection of desserts, the best of which was kaster, a sticky rice with coconut milk. Following this feast, the wife and I needed a while to find our feet. We took this time to polish off our umpteenth Mai Tai, which went surprisingly well with the house red, a Belleruche Cote du Rhone (29 euros). The Blue Elephant is obligatory destination for any discerning diner, especially those crying out for some authentic Eastern spice. The full menu is supposed to up and running by November. Though you’re unlikely to be disappointed by the trial menu, it’s worth getting an idea of the prices, which undoubtedly are high. But one should expect to pay good money to turn spicy Thai dreams into a fabulous reality. |
