Food and sex are, in fact, two sides of the same coin. The eggplant and peach emojis are the new birds and bees. Images of glorious food have been hash-tagged with #foodporn 127.2 million times on Instagram. Orgasm and foodgasm? Same thing, says Spoon University: eating and having sex “engages your brain”, “uses your senses”, are “basic need(s), and “starts with an attraction”.
While food is innately sexual, we can all agree that not all restaurants are deemed sexy. Except Eat Me. Eat Me in Bangkok is one of those restaurants that oozes sex appeal – from its brilliant (ok, cheeky) title and dark, sultry interiors to the oh-so pleasurable dishes. Located along Phiphat Soi 2 on Convent Road, the three-storey dining temple has a sleek, resort feel, thanks to the earth colour palette with black industrial finishing, clean lines, and the lush greenery scattered around the space.
If you’re here for some darn-good drinks and nibbles, make yourselves comfortable at the ground floor’s outdoor courtyard if it’s not too warm out. For dinner, you’ll be escorted to the alluring, dimly-lit dining room on the second floor, where tables are set in beige tablecloth, white napkins, and luxurious tableware and walls are decorated with provocative artworks by Bangkok’s leading contemporary art gallery H Gallery. On our visit, one wall was lined with intriguing photographs of half-naked Asian women to add to the chilled-out, seductive vibe. Go on, linger a while longer if you want: the kitchen and bar run ‘til 1am every day.
Before our food arrived at the table, we readied our tastebuds with a couple of new-ish cocktails – launched in March this year – from the “Sip Some Thai” section of the drinks menu. Mixologist Buntanes “Pop” Direkrittikul uses actual Thai ingredients such as shallots, ginger, green chilli paste, and, of course, lime, in these cocktails, so they taste almost like the real thing. And no, there’s not a tom yum-inspired drink in sight. Our spicy and delicious Laab-Moo, a Isaan minced pork dish originating from Northeastern Thailand, is made with vodka, mint, shallot, cilantro, roasted rice and comes topped with a crispy, fragrant strip of Serrano ham. The Mieng Khum, served with a snack comprising of a betel leaf filled with roasted coconut shavings and tamarind paste, is another must-try.
With regards to chef Tim Butler’s food, they’re modern, bold and fresh. The ingredients are top-notch, and, even better, sourced with sustainability in mind. Natural flavours are elevated – not masked – with just-right seasonings. We started with some tangy, palette-opening pan-seared sea scallops with green mango and shima aji tartar and heirloom tomato salad, followed by an amazing bowl of sea urchin rice, and a double spicy lemongrass chicken cooked to perfection. From the dessert menu, we had a heart-stoppingly good passionfruit pavlova with banana and whipped cream, and a rich, smooth flourless dark chocolate cake that’s to die for.
There are a lot more sexy-sounding dishes on the menu we’d love to try, like the duck confit, wagyu short rib and the Austalian salt bush lamb rack, but our stomachs were full and our lives, pretty much complete. Eat Me is the kind of restaurant that you’ll return again and again for your favourites, but also come back for when you’re keen for something to shake up tastebuds. Succulent meats, fresh seafood, heirloom vegetables, satisfying sweets and ace cocktails – they’ve got everything. And you’ll leave this hot spot of a restaurant feeling quite contented.
Eat Me, 1/6 Soi Phiphat 2, Convent Rd., Bangkok, Thailand, +66 022 3809 31.
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