Prime Hunting For Carnivores Steaks

The Hog's Breath Cafe, part of an Australian steakhouse chain, brings its popular fizzle to

Bangkok, making beef aficionados an offer they can't refuse.

Taking over the second floor of the still-incomplete shopping plaza-cum-residence Eight Thonglor, the 100-seat restaurant looks like a saloon with wooden benches and

walls lined with vintage posters and photographs and licence plates.

Australian expat James McEwin owns this second outlet for Thailand, the first opened in Phuket two years ago. All the beef, of course, comes from Australia and is, of course,

prime quality.

There's a wide selection of steaks, burgers, sandwiches, barbecued ribs, snacks and salads, but at some point you inevitably have to order the prime rib. It's cooked for 18 hours in

a special oven at 65 degrees, then charred on a grill.

Have it rare or well done, but medium rare ensures a moist and tender steak.

Customising your steak is a great option. There are three sizes of beef:

The "lite" cut is 200 grams, "traditional" 300 and "mega" 400. Go for the lite if you definitely want to try other dishes.

The steak is served with your choice of mashed or baked potatoes or the curly chips they call Hog's Tail Fries. Boiled or house salad is also available.

Steak connoisseurs might prefer natural rib, but there are four sauces on tap - mushroom, pepper, tomato salsa and traditional gravy.

Chef Chalard Chumnuan whipped us up a blackened lite-cut prime rib for Bt650. That would be Bt850 for a "traditional" and Bt1,030 for a "mega".

It came dressed in blackening seasonings for a light Cajun flavour, with boiled corn, carrot and broccoli and curly fries on the side.

The potatoes are imported from Canada and the salad vegetables from Australia, so everything tastes great.

Among the appetisers, the finger-food combo for Bt380 is a sampler of buffalo wings, crumbled chicken tenders, salt-and-pepper-dusted calamari and potato skins served with

lime-sweet-chilli sauce and honey mustard.

The Bt180 calamari balsamic salad is great with fresh lettuce, carrots, onion rings and an Italian balsamic balsamic vinaigrette.Beyond the beef, the main courses include chicken and salmon - but don't ask for lamb.

"In Australia, lamb is regularly eaten at home, so when we dine out we always order something else," says the owner's dad, Dr Ian McEwin.

"That's why there's no lamb on our menu. But it does surprise me that so many Thais love lamb and frequently ask for it."

The marinated, grilled chicken breasts topped with avocado and a Dijon mustard sauce and served with mashed potato and curly fries are a good option for Bt360.

Three slabs of chicken, each 100 grams, can fill you up quickly.

You can also have the Bt425 marinated Atlantic salmon, 200 grams with lime and hollandaise sauce and served with salad and a baked potato.

Every dish is large and priced right. Dining alone is not recommended - come with a crowd and have some real fun.

Nor do the desserts compromise in scale. Try to save room for the Bt160 Mississippi mud cake, a river of chocolate in the form of cake and topping that's served with vanilla ice

cream and whipped cream.

The apple crumble with caramel cream and vanilla ice cream, by comparison, was just too sweet for me!

Hog's Breath Cafeis on the 2nd floor of Thongkor Residence Soi Thonglor 8Open from 4pm to 11pm on weekdaysand noon to 11pm on weekends

Call: 02 713 8350