THE NATION: Tuesday, August 20, 2002:13A

A triumphant homecoming

Judging from the overflowing crowd at its glittering launch last week, the Blue Elephant is a welcome addition to the capital's gustatory landscape.

A HUGE THRONG heralded the homecoming of the Blue Elephant.

FOIE GRAS with tamarind sauce proved to be a
clever combination between east and west.

After living in Brussels for 22 years and settling in cities such London, Paris and New Delhi, the Bleu Elephant has finally come home to Bangkok.
 The world famous Thai restaurant made its exciting debut here last Thursday with a launch at the old Thai Chin Building. Now standing proudly on Sathorn Road, the Blue Elephant Cooking School and Restaurant received a warm welcome from a huge throng of distinguished guest and media who made the three-story colonial style building, which will celebrate its century next year, look suddenly small.

Today there are nine Blue Elephant restaurants serving Royal Thai cuisine throughout Europe and the Middle East, but the Bangkok restaurant is the first outlet with a cooking school attached, to capitalise on the well-established reputation of the restaurant.

Among the noted guests were PM's Office Minister Somsak Thapsutin, who arrived early at the opening to "attend" a short cooking lesson on the third floor; Siam City Hotels & Resorts

Chairman Kamala Sukosol and daughter Marisa Sukosol Nunbhakdi, SCHR's vice president; Sueb Bunarataphan; Bangkok  MP  Issara  Sunthornwat; and  former Miss Thailand Panadda Wongpudee. Although Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his family were big fans of the restaurant when they tasted the royal cuisine in Europe, the Shinawatra family did not join the opening ceremony last week.

At the entrance, guests were warmly greeted by Karl Steppe and Nooror Somany Steppe, the founders of the franchise. The couple married and started the first Blue Elephant in 1980.
After making a success of the restaurant in Brussels, they decided to expand the franchise throughout Europe, eventually opening outlets in Paris and Copenhagen, and then moving into the Middle East.
At the Bangkok launch, the owners said they plan to open a restaurant in Chicago soon but did not specify exactly when.
On Thursday night, partygoers enjoyed themselves in Blue Elephant style, washing down the world-renowned Thai food with drinks at tables nicely adorned with purple Thai orchids.

THAI STAPLE SOMTAM, as anywhere in the country, proved  a popular choice for the diners.

Blue Elephant International invested Bt30 million to turn the historical Thai Chine building into the coolest restaurant in town.
The highlight of the party, of course, was the Blue Elephant cuisine. The exquisite Thai menu, which prompted non-stop refills by several partygoers, included everything from standard shrimp spring rolls to the rare cho muang, and smart menu items like banana spring rolls, larb salmon, spaghetti khee mao, and foie gras with tamarind sauce. As well. dozen of guests were quickly seduced by the incredible buffalo satay. Of course, our so-called "national food" som tam was not to be excluded from the menu. Some Thai diners might find the food a bit mild and sweet.

However, the Blue Elephant's established taste was unanimous hit with the fifty per cent of partygoers who were expats. Along with the food, cocktails and house-brand wine were provided non-stop. Blue Elephant also took the opportunity to introduce its new cocktail, a drink  so  new the bartender couldn't remember its name. The drink was a cool combination of healthy herbal syrup made from either lemongrass, chili or pepper and somewhat less healthful volda. Was it popular? Well, if the number of empty vodka bottles behind the bar and happy, red-faced guys around the room were any indication, we'd say so.
And the party overall?
At 10pm. it was still going strong and the night seemed very young indeed.

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