laocook

As with any team, it is always sad to see people leave.

The Lao Cook Team say farewell to Kenji, our Japanese Teppanyaki Chef and to Megumi, his Wife. Kenji has spent the last year training and encouraging King in the art of Teppan Cuisine.

In “Lao Cook Team” fashion, King has taken the training and nurtured and melded it to become a particular style. And as in true Lao culture, we remain always thankful to the ones that teach us. 

We wish them the best in their future careers.

“Service” is the term we use to define the hours in which the restaurant is open for the clients. Our restaurant opens at 20.00hrs and will accept reservations until 22.00hrs. Service normally finishes when the last Desert has left the kitchen, that is normally around midnight. Though we are in Service for 4 hours, we spend the rest of the day preparing for Service.

Lao Cook Team normally start work around 10.00hrs, and sometimes will have a”Break” of about 2 hours between 16.30hrs and 18.30hrs, and will arrive home between 01.30 and 02.30.

During Service, each person has a specific task to do when the orders come in. An order is divided in to sections, normally Starters, Mains (and then later) Desert. Each kitchen section prepares his dishes to order, and the dishes cannot leave the kitchen until all components have come together.

Perhaps Sen is working on the Soups, and Toon is working on the Cold Starters and Kham is in charge of the Fried starters, if the order demands one of each section (say a table for 3 persons), then all the sections must complete their dish at the same time.

This runs extremely smoothly when you have the first table seated, but as the night continues, you find that you are calling out orders at the same time for table numbers 4,8,2 Starters as well as 5,7,3,1´s Main Courses and 9, 10´s Deserts. Then in 15 minutes time you will be wanting tables 4,8,2´s Main courses as well as newly arrived tables 15,18´s Starters for 8 persons….etc..

It is all to do with timing and coordination, and above all, good food. :)

Sometimes on busy days we like to call those 4 hours of Service “Organised Chaos” because all you can hear is shouting and the clanking of Woks, Pans, Pestle & Mortar, Oven Doors closing and opening, Fridges being slammed and Waitresses and Cooks being verbally abused (its not all gold at the end of the rainbow) ;)

Music to our ears….

Food is about presentation, the use of vivid appealing colours really do add an “Extra” to a dish. Perhaps it has to do with St. Patrick’s Day being in March, but the colour of the month has to be Green.

Green Tea Soba noodles feature a lot on our menus, we are forever thinking of new ways to use this versatile ingredient, which is best served cold.

I love Sashimi, but I also love what we call “Lao Sashimi”, that is slivers of fresh raw fish served with a sauce that is made with a pestle and mortar.

Garlic, Ginger, Fish Sauce, Lime Juice and a few more ingredients are pounded together and finished off with chopped Coriander leaves, I also add a little Sesame Oil to add an aroma, and I also add some homemade Orange Oil to give the sauce a lighter tang in contrast to the sharp Lime Juice.

Continuing the “Green” theme, King show off his new presentation of a favourite desert called “Kanom Suhn”, or Layered Desert. Made with Pandan Juice, extracted from the leaves and Coconut Milk, its colours offer a bright and interesting finale to a meal. Below it is served with Toasted Sesame Seeds, and Crispy Rice Puffs, we also added some Whipped Green Tea Cream, its good to spoil yourself sometimes… :)

We have been a little short staffed in the Lao Kitchen because Peng & Toon took two weeks off to visit friends in Madrid, however, they should be back in a few days which will give me time to take a long weekend off. I don’t know where I am going, but for sure it will be some place relaxing with good food…