For those with a jaded palate, there’s an exciting collaboration coming up at The Little Chartroom that might awaken those tired taste buds.
John and Desiree Chantarasak from London restaurant, AngloThai, which is due to open this summer, will be joining chef Roberta Hall-McCarron in the kitchen of her Leith restaurant, which recently moved from Albert Place down to Bonnington Road.
They’ll be cooking six courses for £85, available on the evening of Wednesday March 9 for one night only, with bookings from 6.30pm to 7.30pm.
“We’re all really excited about John and Desiree joining us at The Little Chartroom. John’s food style is educated and unique, with Thai fine dining using British ingredients and he'll be using predominantly Scottish produce”, says Hall-McCarron. “ I’m going to really enjoy seeing what he does with the produce I use in such a different style of cooking”.
John, who has also written a book, Kin Thai: Modern Thai Recipes to Cook at Home (Hardie Grant, £22), which is out in May, and, like Hall-McCarron, appeared on the Great British Menu, has also been influenced by his recent travels in Southern Thailand, where the food is known for being spicier and saltier.
Thus, the menu highlights include miang - neua dip aged sirloin with chilli jam, wild ramsons and nasturtium. There’s also dtok - jok bpu gati coconut ash cracker, celeriac, crab caviar; the hoi chaehm satay Orkney scallop, sunflower seed satay and chicken skin. Pudding will be kanom bulu charcoal grilled fig leaf cake. Apparently, kanom bulu is a Thai dessert made from eggs and sugar.
Desiree will be curating a low intervention and natural wine list for the evening, while Roberta’s husband, Shaun McCarron, will, as always, be looking after the front of house.
Hopefully this will be the first of similar events for The Little Chartroom team, who opened restaurant Eleanore, with its focus on small plates and wine, on Edinburgh’s Albert Place at the beginning of 2022. To book your spot at the AngloThai dinner, see the website below.
