Bo.Lan, Soi Sukhumvit 53, Bangkok – An essentially Thai Christmas dinner story

Merry Christmas Garmanvsfood family! Were you good this year? Did Santa visit? Are your Christmas stockings filled with goodies?😊 I truly hope so. Our Christmas morning started with some pool time. At breakfast, we relived our Jay Fai experience. I mean the best Christmas eve yet and I am so excited about Christmas dinner.

For our Christmas dinner[1] we are going to BO.LAN!!!! As with Jay Fai, Bolan is also another reason we are in Bangkok. After we saw the episode on Netflix, we were on it boi! Folks, we only here for the food and we are luvin it 😉! Bo.lan a one-star Michelin restaurant that prides itself in creating dishes that are core to Thai culture and traditions. Our table was booked for 1pm and of course we rocked up early because, well, it’s what we do 🤷‍♂️. However, I was not ready for any of it! From the fabulous welcoming party who is Paul, to the hosting team, first bite, the food, deserts! Nope, not R E A D Y!!! First off, Paul? He was fly AF with his coiffed hair, Iris Apfel glasses, kaftan top and E N E R G Y! Honestly, he was literally a breath of fresh air!

With his megawatt smile he showed us to the seating area where we were offered the most refreshing tea and shelled peanuts. The shelled peanuts had me smiling so hard as it reminded me of the shelled peanuts I had as a child in Nigeria. The only difference is instead of roasting with the shells on, the shelled peanuts were boiled and slightly flavoured with salt. Plus, I still get a kick out of educating Neal on some culture tings!

Before being taken to our table, we were invited to participate in a Bo.lan custom called ‘first bite’. This is the only time you get to go into the kitchen, yasssss! You know I will never tire of seeing the kitchens, ever!

First bite is when you take first bite of food in the kitchen with the chef, I mean how cool is that. Here we were, stood in the Bo.lan Kitchen with the chef presenting us with a pair of tasting spoons filled with Gaba rice and topped with some mixture of sweet and savoury type thingy magig. Apologies, I really was just caught up in the moment of being in the kitchen and I was not paying as much attention as I should have, my bad folks! After tasting my first bite, I could not wait to have our meal. I was like, let’s go! Ha! in hindsight, I should have known better because like I mentioned, I so was not R E A D Y!

When your meal starts with 40% herb infused whiskey also known as Yadong Ma Kratueb Rong served with local sour fruits, you know your meal about to be LIT!

how cool eh? and yes, it is a spray bottle

We had the Bo.lan festive menu, tis Christmas and boi! Team Bo.lan not here to play at all. Our starters had not one but two sets of amuse bouche and all I am saying is 😏. Each set consisted of three morsels of pure delight – rice (Thailand has the best rice, do not @ me) wrapped in banana leaf, half a boiled egg; the second three set had dim sum, salad leaves, delish! The third starter called single plate of the day which Neal dubbed the Thai gnocchi. At this point, I was like, what and how many dishes are in the mains? we were already 7 dishes in!

Our mains consisted of salad of grilled crayfish, shrimp paste and minced chicken, spicy soup of beef shank, penang–peanuts and duck, stir fry pork belly and as an accompaniment crab omelette inspired by Jay Fai with a choice of either jasmine rice or organic Gaba rice😋. It was a flipping feast!!! The menu is called Bo.lan festive for a reason folks, every bite was a subtle attack on the senses. An explosion of texture, flavour and spice – it was just Brilliant. The wines paired with the courses were the right accompaniment to the dishes, huge s/o to Jasmine and her hosting team!

Whilst basking in the afterglow, yes, I said after glow and sipping on the last dredges of fab wine, Jasmine (our hostess with the mostest) invited us to yet another seating area within the restaurant for desert and petit-four. I honestly thought dessert would be simple, ha! I really should have known considering the mains, like 🙄? Desert started with tea served in the best-looking tea set – clay / ceramic woven handle tea pot and hand painted teacup, I mean hello! Details people, D E T A I L S! you know the tea served was equally fantastic! Yes, I get hyped about tea, what can I say, I am a tea drinker and there is no shame in my game lol!

tea cup outchea looking like chip from beauty and the beast 😍

Chef then came through with a collection of sweet and savoury delights and said to us, pick your selection. I was like 🤔? everything looked enticing. We ended up with a selection recommended by Jasmine, her team and chef. It was a collective effort of confectionery delights and it was darn good.