Bangkok's Michelin KHAO@Ekkamai is extravagant (2/12/25)

 For our last night in Bangkok the world was not our oyster, but KHAO helped it be a superb night. We were greeted by the chef at the door, who seemed to disappear once the large room (which was pretty full) was all seated! The decor is all wood walls, ceilings, floors and tables with a large bar at one end of the room. The glass enclosed kitchen is behind this, and it all gave a very spacious feel even with lots of tables and numerous large groups. There were adorable hanging glass ornaments of tuk-tuks, toys and elephants on the wall near us. Once again, the wine prices were SKY HIGH so we settled on a Gruner Veltliner from Adelaide Hills, Australia by Pike & Joyce Separe which was more citrusy than usual with a hint of green apple and melo, some mineral taste and GREAT with the spice; basically indescribable. We asked for sparkling water which was oddly EIRA from Norway!!

We wanted to try the Thai Tacos with Crabmeat and Prawn and they were nice, but then

we asked our server PLA what was spicy and decided on the Southern Thai Rice Salad with Prawns which arrived with a pile of blue rice at the center surrounded by tons of various ingredients which she instructed us to mix up, There were chilis, dried fermented shrimp and veggies galore and Pla explained the rice was blue from a butterfly pea dye that is used in Thailand.  It was spicy and we loved it all. A little later Pla arrived with a bowl of dark blue dye and some flowers explaining these were the butterfly pea flowers and the dye used for the rice. We tasted the flowers and they were so sweet and truly the best flower I have ever eaten in my life and wanted more....we did get them later in the trip and in the meal, too.

Stir-fried Thai Basil with Chicken was last and it was okay, but we were so full it did not matter. We saw that there was a Steamed Butterfly Pea Rice Cake filled with Egg Yolk Custard and Coconut Ice Cream and could not resist our newfound favorite find. It was refreshing and delicious and we went home quite happy ready to head north.