Edward Carter's TRAVELS: A Rant and a Rave

Bangkok, April 29, 2006

Part One – A Rant!

On Wednesday, April 26th, the following appeared in The Nation, one of the two English language daily newspapers published in Bangkok:
"
“Mysteries of Marrakesh

"Chef Eric of Sofitel Silom Bangkok’s Mistral Mediterranean invites you to savour the tastes of North Africa in the Moroccan Culinary Festival.

"A marriage of recipes from Africa, Europe and the Middle East with local ingredients, the festival features pastilla (sic), the richly-spiced pie made with either seafood or chicken, tangine lamb (sic) with apricot and tangine seafood. Both are served with fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits and flavoured with exotic herbs and spices.

"The Moroccan specialities are available for lunch and dinner.

Call (02) 238 1991 ext 1321 for reservations.”
[End of item]

Having visited Marrakech, the first time as a guest of the Duchess de la Rochefoucauld in Jean Paul Getty’s palace, and the second time as Robert Carrier’s guest in his fabulous home (see: link), I called and asked how much longer the "Moroccan Culinary Festival" would be held at the hotel? ”Until the end of the month;” I booked a table for two nights hence, Friday, April 28.

Now for the real mystery…

I arrived to find a tacky buffet, one small section of which had a crude sign hanging over it…something like “Moroccan Specialities.”

No “pastilla” (actually it's properly called B'stilla)…oh, how I had been looking forward to that!

I had also imagined earthenware tangines, overflowing with lamb, fresh vegetables, and couscous…WRONG!

I explained to the head waiter that I was familiar with Moroccan food and this feeble presentation was an insult to the cuisine. He obviously was equally unfamiliar with Moroccan cuisine as he was with spoken English.

As professor of Hospitality and Tourism at Bangkok University, I am getting tired of the amateur, if not downright false, promotion and presentation that is common in the industry here. My website, the oldest travel website on the internet, exists to “tell it as it is.” Tourists who travel thousands of miles at considerable cost in time and money deserve to know what to expect. Both The Nation and the Sofitel have done a disservice to all of us.

Part Two – A Rave!

Back into a taxi on clogged Silom Road—do you know that the traffic lights are controlled by policemen sitting in little glass boxes pushing buttons to their hearts’ content, and making some lanes wait for more than 3 minutes? Can’t someone simply hire a traffic control consultant from Singapore to install a computerized system? Can’t everyone just go to Singapore for a day and see how the real world operates without clogged streets, jammed sidewalks, and crooked taxi drivers?—the ten-minute ride to The Conrad Hotel took 25.

Well worth the effort, the Italianate restaurant really is a festival of frivolous design and absolutely delicious food.

The walls shimmer with silk draped…..ready for it? Egg cartons!
There is a shining cloud of spun silver wire curving across a ceiling twinkling with green stars, and the shiny black wall opposite my table was delineated by tall black and white cutout panels. The tablecloths are serenely, wavy-striped, and the napkins, a fabric in which any hi-so gal would love to be endraped. It’s all a fabulous fantasy-land of colors and textures and lighting that beautifully complement the smooth service and subtle flavors of really good food.

From handmade mozzarella to the most tender veal tenderloin I’ve ever eaten, this restaurant is a celebration of inventive as well as classic Italian cuisine. The new chef and wait staff are all Thai, and fluent in everything including English. A delightful and delicious evening.

(One caveat: remember it was Friday and after 10 pm, I could hear “87,” the wildly popular night club next door, start to fill up. But looking down from my tiramisu heaven, the happy noise didn’t bother me at all.)

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