Da Vinci Italian Restaurant In Bangkok, Thailand

Da Vinci Italian restaurant in the Rembrandt hotel in Bangkok, Thailand serves a mixture of classical Italian favorites along with updated dishes and innovative interpretations of Italian food. The regular menu here is supplemented by monthly specials and the entire gamut of ingredients and Italian cooking styles is represented.

At a recent lunch I was able to again sample some dishes from Da Vinci after not visiting the restaurant for about three years and I was pleased to find that the quality here is even better than I had remembered. I tried three dishes – an appetizer, a soup and a main course – that were all extremely well prepared and presented and tasted delicious.

I started with pan-fried foie gras and the chef must have read my mind because he cooked it just the way I like it – a little firmer than most restaurants prepare it – and it made for quite an enjoyable experience. This was followed by a pumpkin cream soup that included a small piece of sole in the middle of the bowl wrapped in bacon. The overall result was delicious again and the chef was now batting two for two.

He made it to three for three when I tasted the prawns with truffle oil and porcini mushrooms that was served on a base of beets and potatoes. The potatoes and beets were perfectly cooked and very tasty and the broth that resulted from the mixture of juices from all these ingredients was so good I had to finish it with a spoon, I have to admit. The prawns were firm and flavorful and done just right and the truffle oil added just the right element of richness to this very healthy seafood and vegetable dish.

The restaurant’s promotional literature describes the menu as traditional and Tuscan in nature and the décor as being similar to a Tuscan farmhouse. The décor is a bit more upscale than an ordinary Tuscan farmhouse I would guess but the menu is quite traditional overall. The dishes that I ordered were a bit outside the mainstream of traditional – which is why I ordered them – but most of the rest of the menu is not.

As an example, the appetizer list contains calamari, sautéed prawns, beef carpaccio and tuna tartare, certainly none of which could be described as out of the ordinary. The salads, pizzas, pastas and risottos (this, by the way, is a big menu) are all fairly common as are most items from the fish, meat, poultry and seafood main dishes but a few items stuck out from the rest. A Mediterranean seabass with black rice risotto, broad bean butter and saffron cream looked rather interesting as did the honey duck breast on mashed potatoes with a shallot compote and brown sauce.

In the final analysis, it probably doesn’t matter what dish you order from this varied menu. Judging from the meal I ate here, the chef’s attention to detail and the quality of ingredients used are always going to shine through. Mark this classy place as another excellent example of an Italian restaurant in Bangkok.

See http://bangkokdining.ning.com/profiles/blog/list for info on restaurants in Bangkok.