World Gourmet Festival 2012 – Fours Seasons Hotel Bangkok: Buffet Lunch

Other than the World Gourmet Summit in Singapore this year, I flew to Bangkok in September to catch the The 13th Annual World Gourmet Festival, hosted by Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok.

The gastronomic affair showcased a sizzling selection of award-winning international chefs including chefs from Michelin star restaurants, such as Shiqin Chen, Diego Irrera, Galvin Lim, Igor Macchia, Michael Mina, Víctor Quintillà Imbernón, Masa Shimakawa and Frédéric Vardon who prepared delicious food paired with premium wines, wine tastings, and cooking demonstrations plus the world’s finest culinary purveyors such as Jeannie Cho Lee, Jean-Francois Antony and Robert Schinkel.

Unlike the World Gourmet Summit 2012 in Singapore, the opening night for WGF 2012 BKK was rather exclusive and attended by HRH Princess Soamsawali together with the participating chefs, principal sponsors and official partners. I didn’t managed to secure a seat.
Moreover, I got to know about this a bit late and had problems scheduling my work. But I was lucky to have made it there for the last few days.

On one day, I caught Chef Michael Mina (San Francisco, USA) for his demonstration of Roasted Foie Gras with Pineapple Confit, Macadamia Crunch, Green Cardamom Glaze and Chef Frédéric Vardon (Le 39V, Paris, France) for his Argenteuil line-caught Sea Bass with Cooked and Raw asparagus. The next day I watched Robert Schinkel; an award-winning bartender and mixologist and Dilmah’s ambassador pulled tea and learnt about tea mixology.

There’s nothing like gourmet summits/festivals like this to learn and mingle with the best! 🙂

To top everything off, buffet lunch was served during the demonstration and I had my fill of the salt baked salmon, best cold cuts and thinly sliced Hamachi Sashimi with Gaspachio Nori Truffle Dressing.

Hamachi Sashimi with Gaspachio Nori Truffle Dressing – I couldn’t get enough of these!

And free flow of wines too. :DD

Here’s the rest of the spread, all from the capable kitchen team of the Four Season Bangkok.

Appetisers.

Hot and cold starters.

Dainty bites prepared upon order.

Tree Pepper Gravlax and Baked Whole Salmon with Salt Crusted.

Salads.

Freshly baked breads, perfect with the Prosciutto.

Roast of Lamb Rack and Leg.

Chinese.

In Thailand, pork is served everywhere.

These crispy duck skin were crackling delicious!

Hot Food – Grilled Half Tomatoes with Coriander Crumble, Sauted Mushrooms with Red Capsicum & Thyme , Potato Gratin Parmentier, Carrot Vichyssoise, Green Asparagus Tip with Hollandaise Sauce, Cream Spinach.

But it was the desserts that really shone! Pastry Chef Stéphane Calvet of Four Seasons Bangkok creations were excellent, from his macarons to cakes and puffs and chocolates.

Thai Tea Rocks.

Romance Cake – berry gelee.

Lingo D’Or cake – caramel, hazelnut.

Grey = sesame? No, apparently not. It’s Thai Tea Macaron!

The ubiquitous Fruit Tartlets.

Fig Tart, Longan Honey.

Vanilla Curd, Rhubarb Gelee.

Raspberry Poppy Seed Macaron.

Slowly but surely over the course of 3 hours I sampled everything from the buffet. There were breaks in between as I watched and took notes from the cooking demonstrations by Chef Michael Mina & Chef Frédéric Vardon. More on that in the next post! 😀

It was my first time stepping into Four Seasons Bangkok and I loved the colours, decor and ornate furnishings. The service team were very helpful throughout the event and for WGF 2013, I hope to experience staying here as this trip I was hosted at the St Regis instead. You can view my pictures and video of my suite in St. Regis HERE.

Next, Chef Michael Mina & Chef Frédéric Vardon cooking demonstration and their recipes shared!

Four Seasons Hotel Bangkok
155 Rajadamri Road, 10330 Bangkok, Thailand
Tel. +66 2 126-8866 Fax. +66 2 253-9195
Website: http://www.fourseasons.com/bangkok/