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Bangkok is famous for its amazing street food culture, so Thai food in a fine dining restaurant may not be the first thing foodies flock to when visiting the city.

Bo.lan Restaurant makes a good argument for taking a break from the hawker stalls to enjoy classic, family-style Thai cuisine in an upscale setting.

Owned and run by two former proteges of Michelin-starred chef David Thompson of award-winning Nahm, Bo.lan is a combination of their names: Duangporn “Bo” Songvisava and Dylan Jones.

The husband-and-wife chefs have earned the industry’s respect for their authentic Thai food. San Pellegrino’s 2013 list of Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants placed Bo.lan in the no. 36 spot and named Chef Bo the year’s Best Female Chef. She appreciates the honor and hopes to encourage others to preserve traditional ways of Thai cooking.

The chefs find inspiration from various sources, including antique recipe books and modern-day street food. The results are flavorful dishes made with fresh ingredients, such as the Korat-style beef curry and stir-fried pork ribs with Southern-style curry paste.

Hidden on a quiet street, the restaurant offers guests a peaceful retreat and culinary adventure amid the chaos of Thailand’s bustling city.

Bo.lan Restaurant
42 Soi Pichai Ronnarong
Songkram Sukhumvit 26
Klongteoy, Bangkok 10110
Tel. +66 (2) 260-2962

Editor’s Note: This video was featured by Epicure magazine

Amongst the hip offerings in the beach party paradise of Seminyak in Bali is Mozaic Beach Club, sister restaurant of the award-winning Mozaic restaurant in Ubud. Overlooking Batu Belig beach, the spacious poolside bistro serves gourmet tapas and innovative tropical cocktails amid a laid-back lounge atmosphere.

Co-owner and executive chef James Ephraim (his partner is renowned chef Chris Salans) gives us an exclusive tour and invites us into his kitchen to demonstrate one of his unique Balinese-inspired French dishes — chilled foie gras with mangosteen.

Mozaic Beach Club
Jl. Pantai Batu Belig
Kerobokan – Bali 80361
Indonesia
Tel. +62 361 4735796

 

I don’t cook at home at all. …. I don’t even boil water.

This is just one of the fascinating things I learned about Andre Chiang, chef/owner of the award-winning Restaurant Andre in Singapore.

He also opens up about the dish that changed his life, what’s in his refrigerator at home and what kitchen gadget he finds sexy.

Read my full article in The Wall Street Journal this weekend and online here: http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2013/06/27/in-my-kitchen-andre-chiang

Photo courtesy of Restaurant Andre
Chef Andre Chiang with the Restaurant Andre brigade (Photo courtesy of Restaurant Andre)

Street food, once thought of as poverty food, has reached cult status, thanks to a value-minded public coping with a global economic downtown and an empowered chef class that has made celebrities out of food enthusiasts like Anthony Bourdain.

Singapore, for one, has positioned itself as the poster child for affordable gastro-tourism, successfully promoting its street food and hawker center culture and drawing millions of tourism dollars each year.

Case in point, local street food ambassador KF Seetoh is hosting the inaugural World Street Food Congress in Singapore now through June 9, featuring a street food carnival, 2-day summit with speakers like Bourdain and China’s Johnny Chan, and master chef classes from renowned chefs like NY’s Anthony Ricco of Spice Market and LA’s Bryant Ng of The Spice Table.

While chefs in culinary capitals like France struggle with high food costs, hawkers in Asian countries like Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia with vibrant street food cultures have begun capitalizing on this increased awareness and demand for cheap hawker fare, building brands around family recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation.

On the flip side of that is what Bourdain calls the “hipster hawker,” young entrepreneurial chefs serving affordable gourmet dishes from a food cart or truck, a way of breaking into the food business with flexibility and minimal costs.

But experts say street food culture is dying. As more governments try to regulate the industry and move the vendors indoors into hawker centers or food courts, the challenge is preserving a culture that has made its name on the streets.