I have dined at Blackitch three times now and each experience has far outdone the last; with this week’s 12 course menu knocking it all well out of any park.
Chef Phanuphol ‘Black’ Bulsuwan and his wife ‘Dear’ who has been at the front of the small house since the restaurant’s inception, run this petite 16-seater restaurant which serves up a 10-12 course menu which changes bewilderingly often—about once a month or so, and or depending on Chef Black’s mood, inspiration or travels.
Set in the vibrant Nimmanhaemin Road area surrounded by bars, gelato shops, boutiques and clubs, this unassuming little spot seats its guests over two seatings—5pm and 7.30pm, with each serving takes around two hours.
The grey stone walls and wooden panelling with intimate lighting makes for a stark and minimalist backdrop to the burst of flavour and colour on each and every plate. The staff are superbly knowledgeable about each ingredient and points of interest of each dish, talking about where the produce has been sourced from, how it is cooked and what to expect as well as much needed advice on how to proceed with eating each of the unique dishes.
There is no point reviewing each dish as by the time you get round to visiting they may already have been replaced by Chef Black’s newest creations. Suffice to say my first experience at Blackitch was heavily Japanese-inspired with a seafood-forward omakase menu. My second visit was during Chef Black’s period of great experimentation with bugs and we were presented with some gateway bugs as well as some rather challenging looking creepy crawlies. The baked Parmasan crisps with ant eggs was one of the most memorable bites in memory, the savoury crunch of the Parmesan crisp bursting with the caviar umaminess of the ant eggs.
This visit was all about regional Thailand cuisine. Our menus showcased the region where each dish’s ingredients came from and we were wooed and wowed by such delightful dishes as the Isaan style croquette and red-finned pangasius rolled up Vietnamese-style and dipped in a vibrant wild almond and beetroot cream as well as my other favourite the complex buffalo broth poured onto tender buffalo shank served with rice and barley with perilla seeds.
Chef Black’s is well known for his creative use of kitchen detritus, walls of corridor lined with jars of picked and fermenting secrets to be turned into kimchis, served in soups or turned on their heads into creative masterpieces.
The cost without wine is 2,590 baht per person and worth every single baht if you are a true foodie.
Head on over but make sure you make your bookings as seats and limited and even with three weeks notice we had to do the early bird 5pm seating. Which was all good and fine. The staff were beyond delightful and we rolled home sated and satisfied.
