A new restaurant in Churchgate promises to take discerning foodies on a seven-course discovery of vegetarian Thai cuisine
The seven-course menu at the restuarant. Pics courtesy/Toa 66
Take it from a Jain who grew up in Thailand — Thai cuisine has plenty to offer for the vegetarian palate. Ishaa Jogani Shah grew up in Bangkok. Unlike tourists who head straight to the street markets to savour skewered creepy crawlies, she knew where to find the best kway teow naam at Walee, pad krapow at Tien Sing, and a spread of vegetarian fare at Sutunthip.
Earlier this month, she along with hotelier husband, Deval Shah, a graduate from Les Roches, Switzerland, with stints at the Taj, Oberoi and Marriott groups — opened a 26-seater casual fine-dine, Toa 66 at Churchgate (Toa: table in Thai; 66 is Thailand’s country code). Down a flight of stairs, the entrance welcomes you with the sight of a Jim Thompson painting. Titled Jim’s Dream, it depicts village houses opposite the artist’s home.
Inside, a photo of Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), the much-loved late king of Thailand, greets patrons. Rust red walls, tall glass windows, and wooden décor give the feeling of a Thai home. The kitchen, seen as a glimpse in a rectangular stretch, adds to the drama. The interiors are splashed with memorabilia around the couple’s lives and their milestones, personal and professional.
Kra-pow!
Chef’s challenge
The duo took their time to find the right chefs, and plumbed for Kanchit and Natanong Vongvichai, who are familiar with India. While Natanong had spent nearly a decade here, Kanchit’s earlier Indian stint was at Vong Wong at Nariman Point. “The cuisine demands precision. It respects tradition and also allows for evolution,” says Kanchit, adding that it is often misunderstood as being meat and seafood-centric. “Thailand has a large Buddhist community that follows a vegetarian diet. There is more to Thai cuisine than coconut and lemongrass,” he adds. This is the first time we are executing an entirely vegetarian Thai tasting menu in 35 years of cooking together.
Kway teow lod
The kitchen sources coconut milk, coconut meat, sauces, rice sticks, sticky rice, jasmine rice, glutinous flour, chaplu leaves, bird eye chilli and makrut lime from Thailand. “Even our curry pastes are imported from Bangkok, prepared by a Buddhist woman who doesn’t include onion or garlic in it, making it ideal for strict vegetarians,” Kanchit reveals.
Sit down, and taste
Currently, the restaurant is offering a seven-course set menu to its patrons. One of the most delish local foods that we have relished while on visits to Thailand is miang kham. Call it a Thai version of paan, it is served on a colourful cane tray as our first course. We take a chaplu leaf and slather it with a sweet and sour house sauce, and top it with toasted coconut, peanuts, green chillies and raw onions. A drizzle of lemon juice turns it into a taste bomb. The beauty is that each time, depending on the choice of portion and toppings, the impact varies. The second course is lookchin protein, a Thai-style soy protein cutlet, served with a delicate tom yam sauce.
Larb tofu
The next course, larb tofu, reminds us of paneer bhurji, but with additions of Thai flavours such as lemongrass and ginger. We like the rice crisps, and the glutinous rice that comes wrapped in banana leaf. Kway teow lod are handmade rice noodle sheets stuffed with soy protein, cabbage and baby corn served in a dreamy spicy panang sauce. Fragrant notes of galangal, lemongrass and chillies marry the creamy nuttiness of peanuts.
Drizzled with coriander oil and topped with fried onion crisp. The coconut milky curry sauce is subtly spiced, warm and filling. That most dishes have tofu or soy protein to replace meats leads to a monotony that sets into our seven-course meal.
Drinks are zero-proof, and thoughtfully designed for food pairings. Bad Thai (Rs 450) is a savoury sip that packs in the chaos of chillies, tamarind, lime and clarified coconut cream. It comes with a side of flattened beans to munch on. Pink milk (Rs 450) is served with lychee, rose, strawberry and sala syrup, while the open sesame, I want my coffee (Rs 450) is a take on a caffeinated whisky, with the earthiness of rice syrup. Our favourite is Bangkok glory (Rs 450), which is prepared from elevated tonic water with citrusy kaffir lime leaves, spicy galangal (Thai ginger) and fragrant lemongrass. For the mains, we opt for khao pad krapow with tom kha.
Confession time: When we taste the Thai basil fried rice, we miss the chicken. The coconut-galangal soup is a warm hug. The citrusy notes of galangal and the milky creaminess of coconut are drool-worthy. The first dessert is a thap thim krop — water chestnuts coated in tapioca flour. Apart from the expected presence of water chestnuts and coconut milk, chefs have incorporated sala (snake fruit) syrup in the liquid as well as to colour the water chestnuts. It offers palate relief after the fiery flavours in the mains. The final course is kraw pow! an edible dark chocolate cup smoked with oakwood. It is filled to the rim with decadent Peruvian
chocolate mousse, layers of pandan cream and a pistachio praline, all cloaked in a dark chocolate crumble.
Toa 66
At Rehmat Manzil, Veer Nariman Road, Churchgate.
Call 9920820800
Cost Rs 3,795 (seven-course meal)
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