For the love of food

Who needs love when there’s food? Isn’t having a sublime, melt in the mouth gourmet meal about as good as it gets in life? Love and food have been intertwined in a passionate embrace since time began.

Cleopatra drank the asp’s blood and some Bankokians are still fond of a shot of cobra blood from Klong Toey Market to give the body what the Thais so assuredly refer to as ‘power’.

Yaa dong, a kind of lao khao or rice whisky mixed with herbs, is also believed to make you somewhat hot under the collar, in a good way. An aphrodisiac appetizer is not necessarily romantic but cooking up a bit of passion in an orgy of tantalising tastes will undoubtedly act as a complementary course to the already loved-up feelings.

One classic aphrodisiac that Bangkok diners have taken to their hearts has to be the oyster. Just as there is a fine line between love and hate, so too is there between an aphrodisiac and an illness. The Oyster Bar Bangkok on Narathiwat soi 24 orders in fresh, good quality oysters flown from the USA. Oysters farmed in the wrong conditions can serve up potential water borne diseases, which would certainly put the dampeners on any flames of passion.

The key to eating oysters is to not drink too much alcohol. Just like some star crossed lovers they simply don’t go together, or at least not in large doses. Asian cuisine, with its rich oyster sauce recipes, already has a fully fledged affair with the shellfish. Crispy oyster omelets are a real pearl in the crown of Thai cuisine.

The hungry of Bangkok cannot live without sushi either it seems. Talk to sushi-lovers in the city and they will enthuse with raw passion about their favorite sushi restaurant, one of them being Misaki on Sukhumvit 38, reached by a wooden bridge with koi carp swimming underfoot. Whilst the sashimi might seduce you, it is apparently the wasabi that really gives you the love bite. The Japanese believe the fiery sauce is an aphrodisiac. Sushi lovers might even go so far as to say that sushi-eating couples stick together.

When it comes to having a little sweetness in your life then chocolate has to be the real royal patron of passion anywhere in the world and Bangkok is no exception. Fondues with a fruity twist can be dipped into and there is no going back from chocolate mousse with grated chocolate at seductively Swiss eatery Chesa on Sukhumvit 20.

Rich, dark, velvety and mouth-watering, in a city as delicious as Bangkok it is not surprising there is a café Deli and shop called Choc! at the InterContinental on Phloenchit which shows guests and visitors at this up market hotel how these heavenly sweet things are made. To spice things up a little you could try drinking a hot chocolate with chilli at Vanilla on Thonglor. Standing out as a legend in decadent desserts has to be headline, super star rated Chocolate Afternoon Tea at the beautiful Mandarin Oriental’s Authors Lounge. It is hard not to fall head over heels, quite literally, into a white chocolate fountain.