Every so often, we need something new and exciting to enter our culinary dining experience. Same old, same old just gets boring after a while. Plus, with every new restaurant or café, there's always an element of surprise, some good, and admittedly some bad.
Tonight, I experienced some very lovely surprises at a relatively new kid in town, Paste. A small, but cosy restaurant, we were the first to arrive - as I like to eat early - and had the attentive service of Chef Bee all to ourselves.
Like all good restaurants, we were given a cocktail and a wine menu to begin with. We didn't want to rush our meal and Paste is the sort of place in which one can relax and take in the evening.
The food menu has enough to tickle anyone's tastebuds and while I really wanted to order the jelly fish and shredded chicken salad, Mr. P wasn't too keen. He hates jellyfish and only continued to point to the small literature at the top of the menu stating that their dishes are meant for sharing. OK, my fault for not reading through the whole menu properly!
We mutually agreed on the 'Crispy rice crackers with prawn, pork & peanut candy relish' and the 'Dry spiced chilli squid with a sweet vinegar & fresh tomato relish.'
The rice crackers were wonderfully light and non-greasy. The prawn, pork and peanut relish was absolutely delicious! The squid was yummy, but I found the tomato relish just a tad too tangy for my tastebuds, but Mr. P thought it was just right.
For the mains, we opted to share the 'Tamarind and caramel twice cooked-kurobuta pork belly with green mango, red okra, basil, & green chilli pickle,' and the 'Jasmine and cinnamon smoked wild sea bass with black vinegar, mint and crushed peanuts.'
The pork belly was beautifully cooked, the 'melt-in-the-mouth' fat was perfection. Yes, fat is not good. It was naughty but oh, sooo very nice. If I had one complaint to make about this dish - it would simply be - there was not enough pork to be had. It was seriously good and four slices between the two of us (gluttons), felt like a teaser.
The smoked wild sea bass was certainly smoked. Again, maybe just a tad slightly too smoked for me, but Mr. P didn't seem to mind it at all. It was a generous piece of fish and certainly enough for the two of us.
To finish off the meal, we perused the small dessert menu (three choices to be precise) and decided to share the hot brownie pie with coconut ice cream.
The brownie filling was deliciously stodgy and the crust had a nice texture, although it did taste a little salty towards the end. The ice cream was a great accompaniment but the small ping pong ball like serving just wasn't enough for the both of us.
Anna's Final Thoughts: Lovely place, good food, friendly service. I'll definitely be back and I've already told my friends to go check it out.
PASTE
120/6 Sukhumvit Soi 49, Bangkok, Thailand
Tel: 02-392-4313
Open Tues-Sun noon-2.30pm, 6pm-late
Nearest BTS: Thong Lor, take the exit at the end (past exit 1) and walk down to Sukhumvit soi 49. Take a taxi or motorsai down to Samitivej Hospital.
Or Phrom Phong, take the exit down to Sukhumvit Soi 35 (opposite side to Emporium shopping mall) and catch a taxi to take you down Sukhumvit Soi 49 to Samitivej Hospital.
Alight at Samitivej Hospital and cross to the other side of the road. Walk up a few meters until you see a little lane with a Thai restaurant on the corner. Paste is next door, on the right hand side.
