• 
• 

Published on September 2, 2007

If you haven't visited Circle recently, you may not know that since April, the restaurant has been under new management. Rather, the management that first launched Circle some 10 years ago has now returned.

Gone is the California-style cuisine, replaced by a Thai cuisine with Western elements.

"I wouldn't call it 'fusion', though," says Panute Udom, who has returned along with the new-old management. Panute officiates over the cigars and wine on the first and third floors, but he also checks out the dishes, available in the dining room on the second floor.

Out of the kitchen come home-made bread and pasta, as well as dishes cleverly created to please Thai and non-Thai palates.

The seared tuna salad (Bt190), for instance, is served with a mustard sauce with onions. The tuna is slightly crispy, with the inside simply warmed by the heat. The sauce acts like a condiment - you take as much or as little as you wish, but sauce-lovers may just ask for more.

The deep-fried garoupa (Bt550) is memorable. The entire fish has been deep-fried, but each morsel, served inside the fish, has been deep-fried separately. This is a dish for sharing, but if there are more than two of you, do double your order. Accompanied by a dipping sauce of horseradish and ponzu, you can't stop at just a nibble.

For those of you who love garlic, try out the crispy chicken (Bt320). Okay, so the garlic is double-blanched, lessening its punch, but the aromatic half-chicken, served in a butter sauce on a bed of mashed potatoes, and already a Circle favourite, is another dish perfect for sharing.

Pasta favourites are also on the menu - a few with twists, such as the spaghetti vodka (Bt250), as well as a short section of Thai "fast foods", such as the fried rice with duck.

Circle produces a lovely range of pies and cakes, or you can relax with a glass of wine (Bt150/glass). "We have a French house wine," Panute says.

He's been building up the restaurant's wine list, full of good, reasonably-priced wines. Corkage is Bt400 per bottle.

In the coming weeks, Circle will be offering a set lunch menu, and Panute himself will be planning cigar and wine dinners.

"Just say we're back in action," he smiles.

Laurie Rosenthal

The Nation