food by phone newsletter march 2014
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Food by Phone offers a service to restaurants by providing an alternative sales channel as well as a service to customers by bringing to them the food that they could only get by braving the terrible Bangkok traffic.TRANSCRIPT
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SwiSS ChoiCe
FEATURED RESTAURANT
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F O O D B Y P H O N E ’ S M O N T H LY N E W S L E TT E R
DEALS ON WHEELS
KUppADELi
SUNRiSE TAcOS
ViA VAi
Receive 15% discount on
Sanwiches & Salad, Burgers & Salad
order over 599 baht and get a free slice of
apple or pumpkin pie
Order over 599 THB and get a FREE
pasta Arrabiata
iNDiAN HUT
OLiViE cAFE THE BLAcK SWAN
order any Two Curries
( Vegetarian or Non Vegetarian)
and get 2 FREE pieces of samosa
order over 499THB Baked Spinach With cheese (Small Size)
Order a Full Baguette Sandwich and
get a Half one for Free
AL NAFOORA
BANGKOK BURGER cOMpANY
order over 599 baht and get a free
Hummus
2 Regular Burgers + Shoestring Fries +
Chiken Wings * ONLY 599 THB! *
(Valid everyday from 6 PM)
LE LApiN
Order 1 Big Size sandwich or more
and get a Free Small chicken Mayo or Tuna Sandwich
*1 Free Sandwich per order only
LAST MONTH’S WINNERWAEO-RA-Wi won 2,000 THB
“Yoga Session” voucher with Pickaboo!
2 winners will receive complimentary vouchers at
MARCH 2014
daunting challenge,” says Michel. “The journey
started over five years ago. Having decided to im-
port Swiss cheese into Thailand it took nearly a
year to apply for the appropriate import license.
The bureaucracy involved was daunting as I was
required to have a separate license for each type
of cheese I wanted to import which is only valid
for two years.”
-I come from the French speaking part of Swit”
zerland where Gruyere is regarded as the King
of Swiss Cheese. A hard yellow cows cheese
that originated in the cantons of Fribourg, Vaud,
Neuchâtel, Jura, and Berne that gained Appella-
tion d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) in 2001. These
accreditation means that the cheese maker is
grazing the right cows in the right pastures of
the region. Every stage of the production is con-
trolled to ensure that what is promised on the la-
bel is delivered in its taste. I have tried importing
many different types of cheeses from my region
to determine what appeals to the tastes of our
Thai and expatriate customers both western and
Japanese. That experience enabled me to reduce
it to a choice of seven types of cheese made by
manufacturers I know personally and whose
quality I can guarantee. They are the best exam-
ples of their cheese type available in Thailand.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 >>
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I am the only importer of Tomme Vaudois” he”
says. “A raw cow’s cheese matured for 8 weeks,
intensely flavoured with the flora of the valley
where the milk is sourced. It is fresh, grassy and
aromatic with a gentle tang, the texture is rich,
oozy and yielding. At our grand opening at-
tended by the Swiss Ambassador we were both
proud that finally these cheese was legally im-
ported into the Kingdom of Thailand.”
When we started the business we were just”
a cheese importer,” he says.” Customer curios-
ity of our quality products inspired their passion
to learn more, what to do with cheese and the
best ways to cook them. This lead to us intro-
ducing a couple of tasting tables on the ground
floor driven by demand from the local Asian
community. We then went onto develop recipes
that as a child I had learnt from my mother and
grandmother. The evolution of our business was
FEATURED RESTAURANTSwiSS ChoiCe
driven exclusively by customer demand.”
-We are located close to Sukhumvit’s Japa”
nese community, “ he says. “For them Swit-
zerland is a trendy wedding destination or the
location for a two week holiday. They come to
the cheese shop to relive that emotion. As many
don’t know his to cook with Swiss cheeses we
started cooking classes. Our students came back
with their friends and we changed from the place to buy, to the meeting
place for those with a genuine passion for cheese.”
The next stage of our evolution was the opening our 24 seat chalet style”
restaurant serving simple meals with a real Swiss taste. Customer brought
their senior managers visiting from overseas to share the atmosphere they
experienced when travelling to Switzerland. That recognition is the biggest
compliment to me. Some days the restaurant is packed, others it empty but
such is the nature of the restaurant business in Bangkok.”
With such authentic Swiss tasting food it’s hard to believe that it is”
cooked by a Thai, Chef Nong,” he admits. “Although she has never travelled
to Switzerland she crafted her culinary art in her pervious Swiss restaurant,
mentored in her own restaurant by visiting Swiss customers. It’s amazing
but with certain dishes she cooks as well as my mother, which is a danger-
ous admission.”
FEATURED RESTAURANTSwiSS ChoiCe
-Our bread is supplied partly cook by a Swiss Baker that we finish in our ov”
ens to be used in our Swiss Fondue,” he reveals. “Raclette is both a semi hard
cows milk cheese and a dish where a large wheel of the cheese traditionally
I’d melted in front of an open fire, scrapped of and served with firm small
potatoes. Melting the right cheese was easy finding the right potato was
the challenge. Local potatoes are too sweet but after trying various types
from different supermarkets we recently found the right potato in Klong
Toey market. We serve a rustic Macaroni de Chalet which has been modi-
fied substituting bacon which is too strong with a locally sourced smoked
German ham.
-Recently a Swiss trading company in Bangkok commissioned us to pro
vide a full Swiss cheese buffet for 150 guests. It’s the first time that they
have been able to show their valued customers such a wide portfolio of our
country’s cheese.
The Swiss ChoiceTel +66-2259-0590
Email [email protected]
Sukhumvit Soi 43 Bangkok 10110
Cheese shop 11am-8pm Restaurant : Lunch 11am-2pm, Dinner 6-10pm
pERSONALiTYOF THE MONTH
My husband Ravi and I share a passion for good food, in particular
Tandoor cooked Kebabs. A popular misconception is that Indian food
is just hot & spicy curries which isn’t true. When we found it diffi-
cult to find a restaurant serving quality Northern Indian and Mughali
cuisine we were inspired to open Indian Host serving good quality
authentic cuisine at an affordable price.
Our hospitality training came from our collective experience of din-
ning in various restaurants around the world, our management back
grounds guided us to managing the restaurant business. As we want-
ed kebabs to be the signature of the restaurant we hired our chef
who specialises in Tandoor cooking. Ravi went to school in Lucknow,
the capital city of Uttar Pradesh state, in India, home of the best
Kabab recipes. There it was he his love affair with Mughlai and Royal
Nawabi style cuisines.
I am the face of Indian Host. From fine dining we ha expanded to
providing outside catering including five star hotels around Thailand.
I also look after the high level management, and delegate most of the
day to day work to the professional staffs.
As we are in the service industry, friendliness and putting are cus-
tomers is of utmost importance to us. As we want to send out the
message to all our existing and potential customers we are a friendly
place we adopted the motto “Aapka Dost Indian Host”
Mutton Authority was inspired by a famous dish from a road side
eatery near the Government Authority area that issues driving li-
censes in the walled city of Delhi. Ravi first tasted it in the 80’s and
worked with our Chef to tweek it to recreate his culinary memory.
Indian Host’s menu comes from northwestern India serving Punjabi
and Mughlai cuisines. Mughlai served to Indian Emperors five centu-
ries ago has a spicy royal taste, not overly hot rather a harmonious
balance of herbs and spices. It was these spices the inspired European
traders to find a sea route from continental Europe to India
Our signature Muglai dishes are Kabuli Raan, Tandoori Chicken, Ro-
gan Josh, Chicken Malai Tikka, Daal Makhani and Chicken Makhan-
wala while Mutton Authority, Methi Malai Muttor, Dal Tadka and
Paneer Pasanda represent Punjabi cuisine.
Our neighbourhood has a lot of Thai-Indians, Indian expats and In-
dian tourists all of who are familiar with the Chinese cuisine served
in India and prefer it to the quite different Chinese food served in
Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia. This is why we have hired
Chefs specialising in Indian Chinese cuisine to help us to expand our
menu.
For Thais who have never had Indian food it helps they try those
dishes they are more familiar with. From there they start to develop
a liking for other dishes we are serving. Of course, we already have
a lot of Thais as our customers, but the mass appeal is yet to kick in.
RENU BHATiA
Fresh, good quality Indian ingredients make the difference, most of
them have to imported as only a few are grown locally. Basmati the
rich long grain rice, grown in the waters of the Himalayas has it’s own
unique taste best appreciated in the royalty Basmati dish “Biriyani” .
Our society is becoming more Cosmopolitan, many Thai have been
educated overseas in particular in Britain where Indian food is popu-
lar and available on every street corner. When they return home to
Thailand, Indian Host is one of their favourite.