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My Shoe

What were this year’s World Gourmet Festival chefs doing when they weren’t serving up 5-course dinners or teaching sold-out classes at the Four Seasons Bangkok?  After the whites came off on the first day, the chefs set out to get a taste of Bangkok’s nightlife, led by Reza Jafari, the elegant and affable manager of Aqua Bar and Madison at the hotel.  First up was Tapas on Silom Soi 4, but before we got up the street Glen Ballis (Nedal’nij Vostek, Moscow) spotted a night stall selling a variety of fried insects and swiped up bags of grasshoppers and worms.  Looking at each other nervously, we all popped a grasshopper in our mouth.  “Not bad,” was the general consensus on the grasshoppers, which were mostly crunch with little flavor beyond fried oil.  The worms, however, were left untouched.

Once inside, David Britton (Springwater Bistro, Saratoga Springs, NY), a drummer as well as a chef, and Michael Ginor (Owner, Hudson Valley Foie Gras) hit up the drums and Siggi Hall (Siggi Hall, Reykjavik) grooved along.  I’m not usually one for documenting anyone else’s personal time, especially as an interloper, but, as we were working grasshopper legs out of our back teeth, Celina Tio (Julia(n), USA) leaned over and whispered that I should take a few shots of our chef-musicians for this blog.  Ballis, who counts photography as one of his great passions, was happy to relieve me of camera duties and took off snapping pictures with my Nikon D40, stopping only occasionally to lecture me on getting a better lens or work on his mojito.  In the meantime, the generous and energetic Robin Leigh (Partner at Kittichai, Town and Bond St, New York) stopped in to buy a bottle of vodka for the group.  And that’s when the night got started.

Glen Ballis and Celina Tio

Reza Jafari and Siggi Hall

Michael Ginor and David Britton hit up the drums

Reza Jafari, Mark Hehr and Celina Tio take a moment out

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