Osha belongs to a famous chain of Thai restaurants from San Francisco with nearly 17 years of history and this is their first branch in Bangkok. With the hope of establishing themselves as one of the best fine dining Thai restaurant in the city, they decide to team up with Thailand's Iron Chef Thaninthorn Chantrawan (Chef Noom) to deliver an exciting and innovative brand of modern Thai cuisine.
Having worked at Pierre Gagnaire's Sketch in London, Chef Noom is certainly no stranger to exquisite fine dining and at Osha, he strives to combine authentic Thai flavors with modern French cooking and molecular gastronomy techniques.
We were running a little late after a 3-hour spa treatment near Asok and had to rush to Wireless Road. While we were still catching our breath, we found this temple-like architecture near the Lumpini Park and that's exactly what it was - a culinary temple!
Osha's dining room is designed in style with red, purple and silver as its main colors.
There's a small bar towards the end of the dining room that serves all kinds of liquors and non-alcoholic beverages.
I don't know whether it's a coincidence or not but every time I finished a long spa treatment, I found myself starving for food. Perhaps, Osha's innovative Thai cuisine could come to my rescue quickly.
Dinner started in rapid fire. Once we placed our orders, our amuse bouche quickly arrived and it was a plate of chilled water melon with sun dried fish and tapioca. That was very refreshing.
Our first starter was one of Chef Noom's many signature dishes, poached "Andaman" oyster (฿250). It was nicely complemented by some mha-noi leaf jelly and a Kaffier lime foam.
I wasn't sure whether this was the molecular twist but it was definitely an encouraging start to our evening. The mha-noi leaf jelly and light lime foam provided the poached oysters with a unique grassy and earthy flavor.
Pan seared Hokkaido sea scallops (฿790) had wonderful texture but I thought the sweetness was not up to par with what we were used to with Hokkaido scallops. I did like the aubergine chutney and Jerusalem Artichoke purée with salsa plakem; both were enjoyable additions to the dish.
I thought I would never order pad thai (฿450) here simply because it's just not cool to order this at such a hip place. But fortunately I did.
The pad Thai noodles were moist and flavorful with the river king prawns, "Chai-Ya" salted egg and banana-blossom-spiced peanuts all contributing to the lovely bite. The sauce was a very tangy one with a perfect balance of savory, sweet and sour flavors.
Our last dish was our lone main course of the night - braised Kurobuta pork belly (฿550) with caramel peanut, sour mustard greens and secret five-spice reduction.
From my first bite, I knew it had the shadows of the Chinese "five-flower pork belly" (五花腩). I must admit that I was slightly disappointed with the lack of Thai influence on this dish but who could shy away from a fatty and layered pork with such a sweet five-spiced sauce?
Just when we were almost finishing up our pork belly, we suddenly realized that one of our starters, "Sousvide" egg (฿280), had yet to come. When we called our server over and told her that one dish was missing, she offered no apology and continued to claim that it's still being prepared in the kitchen. Perhaps I was being "old school" but I always thought my starters should come before my main courses. Maybe that's just me.
At the end of the day, the "Sousvide" egg did arrive just in the nick of time. Not the best presentation I have seen from an onsen egg though.
The free range egg was 63° cooked for 60 minutes before topped with some salmon caviar and white truffle oil. It was a decent dish but definitely not the best sousvide egg I've tried.
This dinner at Osha was a bit of a mixed bag for me. While I liked the "clubbing" feel and sophisticated cuisine, the "molecular twist" (which has been widely advertised) was nowhere to be found.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: ฿฿฿
Address: 99 Wireless Road, Royal Residence Park Soi Ruam Ruedi, Bangkok, Thailand
Closest BTS Station: Phloen Chit
Tel: +66 (0) 2256-6555
Website: www.oshabangkok.com
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