A Taste of South East Asia

Executive Chef
Joanna Perel

Executive Chef, Joanna Perel has traveled extensively through South East Asia admiring the enthusiastic use of fresh herbs and spices and the diverse balance of five fundamental flavors hot (spicy), sour, sweet, salty and bitter.

For the Regional Menu highlighting South East Asia, Joanna created a menu influenced specifically by the mainland section of South East Asia, Thailand and Vietnam, and an island off the gulf of Thailand, Koh Samui.

Joanna's South East Asian experience starts with Thai Style Mussels in a lemongrass and ginger broth, served with French bread points. Vietnamese meals are heavily influenced by French cuisine, especially in the South, where it is common to see such items as asparagus, white potato and French bread on menus.

The entrée, Koh Samui Fish Dinner, is grilled sea bass with green curry sauce, coconut rice cakes, Asian eggplant and a spicy green mango and mint salad. Koh Samui, an island in the Gulf of Thailand is well known for its coconuts, which are full of flavor and found in numerous local dishes. Being an island, seafood is generally a good choice, although demand often exceeds local supply during peak seasons.

The dessert is a Cardamom Bread Pudding with vanilla ice cream and Vietnamese coffee sauce. Cardamom is an herb from the ginger family. It has a strong, unique taste, with an intensely aromatic fragrance. Black cardamom has a distinctly more astringent aroma, though not bitter, with coolness similar to mint, which compliments the vanilla ice cream and coffee sauce.