What isn’t common knowledge in Thailand is that in April 2022, Minor International won a £60m auction of the famed Corbin & King, and along with it ownership of The Wolseley in Piccadilly, London. What is common knowledge is that Café Wolseley is doing a three-month pop-up in Bangkok.
Café Wolseley, is the group’s first international venture and opens in the European grand café tradition to replace Madison Restaurant at Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel until July 18… for now.
The restaurant combines British heritage with European grandeur and serves Wolseley classics with contemporary additions. “We did a lot of recipe testing and tasting here and a lot of staff training, front of house and in the kitchen,” says chef David Stevens, group executive chef at The Wolseley Hospitality Group. Chef Stevens also helms the kitchen in Bangkok, though he will be going back and forth from London during the three-month stint. Fear not though, two kitchens and three front-of-house members from Café Wolseley London will be serving the Bangkok pop-up.
Diners can expect a menu with quintessential European classics, with specials offered every other day. “Café Wolseley is for anybody and everybody; you don’t have to spend a lot of money. The prix fix is a major part of the menu and you can have a two-course [B750] or three-course menu [B1,100] from this menu during the day or evening. If you just want coffee and cake, you can have that, too,” says the chef.
“We morphed the Café Wolseley menus from London and Oxford and took the best of both to serve at the Bangkok pop-up," adds chef Stevens. Start with the Petit plateau de fruits de mer, a selection of oysters and shellfish from Rungis Market in Paris served on crushed ice with lemon and shallot vinegar (B3,300). The Dressed Dorset crab (B650), which is brown crab, mayonnaise and lemon. The Prawn and avocado cocktail (B580) is a classic British dish and is served with shelled tiger prawns, avocado, shredded lettuce tower with a Marie Rose sauce. “We go back to the 70s and think that dishes like this are a bit of a nightmare. But when done right, with the right produce, it is an amazing dish. People love it,” adds chef Stevens.
A lot of the dishes on the menu are big brasserie dishes, like the Steak tartare (B650). Chopped rump steak is enhanced with a spicy relish, cornichons and capers. Do order it with a raw egg ontop, though I think more toast is needed with this dish. The two pieces just don’t do it for me. Escargots à la Bourguignonne, a staple on any French menu, are escargots served in the shell with garlic and parsley butter, finished with Pernod.
A Wolseley menu staple of egg dishes include Omelette Arnold Bennett (B390), a Parmesan-glazed flat omelette with smoked haddock and cream. Though it is the Soufflé Suisse (B500) that needs to be ordered. A twice-cooked cheese soufflé with mushroom and Parmesan cream sauce and chives… need I say more?
Mains feature classics from France to England and from Germany to Hungary. Fillets of lemon sole Grenobloise (B1,700) is a pan-roasted salmon fillet with wilted spinach and Nantua sauce. Whole native lobster (B2,500) is a steamed English lobster with sea vegetables, parsley butter and medium cut chips. The Wiener Holstein (B900) is a pork schnitzel with a fried egg, anchovies and a lemon and caper butter; and the Hungarian goulash and spätzle (B1,400) is a diced beef casserole with pancetta, peppers, tomato and hot paprika, finished with sour cream and gherkins. The Wolseley’s Coq au vin (B900) of is a five-day marinated, red wine braised chicken served with pancetta, pearl onions and button mushrooms.
Desserts feature the Classic apple strudel (B320) of spiced apples and dried fruits encased in filo pastry with a Calvados cream; Mixed berry pavlova (B380), a light and chewy meringue filled with fresh seasonal berries with a strawberry compote, strawberry purée and whipped cream; and Coupe Lucian (B300) of decadent pistachio, hazelnut and almond nougatine ice creams, whipped cream and butterscotch sauce. The Crème brûlée (B290), a Muscovado caramelised set vanilla custard competes with the Baked vanilla cheesecake (B330) and the Manjari chocolate tart (B350), which uses 68% Valrhona.
The restaurant’s private dining room serves groups of up to 18 where a five-course private menu is on offer. The cocktail menu takes its cue from some of Café Wolseley’s favourites, with an added playful twist, including the Mai O’ Mai Tai (B480) of light rum, aged Jamaican rum, lime juice, pistachio orgeat, milk and orange Curaçao; and Whiskey velvet (B480) with rye whiskey, lemon juice, milk liqueur, and egg white.
“It’s not just about the food or service at The Wolseley; it's about the experience,” says chef Stevens emphatically.
Café Wolseley is in Parichart Court at Anantara Siam Bangkok Hotel and is open from Monday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. Call 02-431-9497 or email dining.asia@anantara.com.
