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Published on August 12, 2007

Another possibility is an innovative, healthy - and delicious - promotion in their Lok Wah Hin Chinese restaurant. From now until the end of August, Chinese master chef Chan Kam Fai and senior sous chef Seksan Klaokatok are cooking up a special menu of bean curd dishes.

The offerings are tasty, as members of Bangkok's dining public have already discovered. The Chinese restaurant has been fully booked ever since the promotion was launched in early August.

Bean curd, baked or braised, appears in soups, sauces and dishes that Chan has developed from Hong Kong and Szechuan recipes.

The menu is short but the nine dishes available are filling, from bean curd soup with seafood and egg white (Bt250 per cup) to braised bean curd "Jea-Lo-Han" style, served either in a clay pot or on a plate (you can choose) (Bt250, Bt450, Bt650).

That braised bean-curd dish is as attractive as it is delicious, with brightly coloured vegetables and beans accompanying the bean curd and mushrooms.

Among the tastiest of the dishes is the baked bean curd with a Hong Kong style sauce full of salted fish and diced chicken (Bt200, Bt300, Bt550).

Chan seems to have enjoyed himself constructing the sauces for each dish. The braised bean curd with steamed scallops (Bt450, Bt650, Bt900) comes in a black bean sauce. Unlike chefs in other restaurants, Chan has produced a sauce that is not too salty, with just the right balance for the scallops.

The braised bean curd topped with three kinds of mushrooms (Bt200, Bt300, Bt550) is sure to prove amongst the most popular on the menu. Certainly a dish for sharing, this one is hearty, filling and nutritious.

Vegetarians can ask for alterations to a dish.

For the promotion, Seksan is in charge of making the bean curd. It takes a good 12 hours, he says, starting with boiling the beans up, then waiting for the mixture to settle and ferment.

The result is a very light product with a quality you cannot find on supermarket shelves.

Laurie Rosenthal

The Nation