Travelling is all about new sights and smells - but the tastes can be what stays in the memory longest



Memories of my vacations are always packed with the food I enjoyed along the way - even more so than the places I visited. For me, good food shared with close travelling companions is the best recipe for any holiday.

These same ingredients were behind the success of a recent visit to Hua Hin - the hip seaside town that I've munched my way through on countless previous trips. But this time was a bit different, thanks mainly to the culinary tour laid on by the team of chefs at Asara Villa & Suite - a new beachside resort that's a five-minute drive from Hua Hin town.

Asara sits on a vast 22-rai plot of land with pool villas and suites stretched across the beachfront. They have three restaurants and a large bar, but it's the room/beach service that makes the place a heaven for lazy vacationers whose idea of free time includes sea, sun and savouries. Yes, Asara is place to relax and unwind - but it's also serious about food.

After settling into a one-bedroom suite, we were ravenous, and decided to take it easy with a big Thai dinner at the Asara Thai Bistro. On the terrace overlooking a lotus pond we selected from a menu of familiar favourites and sat back, not knowing what to expect from our first taste of the holiday. We got a delicious surprise - it turned out to be one of the best Thai meals we had ever eaten.

Thai dishes are prepared traditionally at the Asara - that is, with lots of spice. The presentation is detailed but unpretentious, each plate decked out as a five-star treat of elaborate tastes and textures.

Our table groaned with large and delicious plates of pomelo salad with prawns, spicy lemongrass salad, fried fish with chilli sauce, stir-fried prawns with cashew nuts, and spicy chilli-shrimp dip with a big basket of assorted fresh and steamed vegetables. The restaurant even managed to make a memorable dish out of something as simple as a Thai omelette, serving the comfort food with a spicy green-mango sauce. Savouring the first mouthful, I immediately stored the flavour away in my memory, to be drawn on when I got the chance to imitate the recipe in my own kitchen back home.

Later at dinner, we met Asara's executive chef Christophe Maillard, a Frenchman from Brittany who's settled in Hua Hin with his Thai wife and baby boy. He came out of his busy kitchen at Asara by Choice and greeted us with the day's specials, offered according to what was fresh that day in the market. Asara by Choice is perched on an outdoor terrace on the second floor of a beachfront pavilion - great surroundings for a romantic dinner. The two of us decided on the three-course meal at Bt1,800 per person, which comes with a glass of Kir Royale cocktail. We shared a dish of sole in creamy, smoky morel sauce and a plate of grilled marinated rack of lamb with mint sauce. Both were lip-smackingly delicious.

Over a breakfast of scrumptious buttery croissants served with assorted home-baked breads the next morning, we learned that Maillard is from a family of chefs, and honed his skills in the Compagnon du Tour de France, France's most prestigious guild of artisans. Maillard's resumé runs from the Le Jules Verne on the Eiffel Tower, to the one-Michelin-star Le Cheval in Nime, the Martinez Palace in Cannes and a tour aboard a cruise ship, where he collected local flavours from ports around the world. His secret, he says, is in the combination of five-star presentations with home-cooked flavours.

"You're average well-presented restaurant meal doesn't come close to the kind of tasty dish many of us remember our grandmas cooked at home. I want to combine both without any compromises," says Maillard. If you have a sweet tooth, don't forget to ask for the dessert menu. Maillard is generous with his portions - our favourites included the smooth caramel mousse and the chocolate soufflé served with Thai pineapple chips.

Sirin P Wongpanit
Special to The Nation
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