It's a great despair to be at Kyo Bar without an infinitude of time, imagination and mindful appreciation. Or phone for foodie photos.
A highbrow spin-off of the Kyo Roll En ice cream café, Kyo Bar, which opened a few months ago, is the only dessert-centric eatery in Thailand to present its signature specialities in a haute-cuisine style.
Diners sit at the 13-seat chef's-table counter to enjoy the Japanese-themed sweet delicacies offered in a series of set menus.
Differentiated by the number of courses served, the sets are priced at 300 baht for a main course and beverage; 350 baht for an appetiser and main; and 400 baht for appetiser, main and beverage. Guests can custom-make their set by choosing one option from each category.
'Cacao Story' is inspired by the journey of a cacao bean.
The appetiser category mockingly lists Egg, BBQ, Soba and Parfait. Each dish proved a tasty bewilderment (of course, I won't spoil the surprise by telling you the details), and is original, having taken the creator an admirably long time to concoct and perfect.
The bar offers eight selections for main course. Each looks like an art installation, scrumptiously and discreetly exhibiting various shapes, colours, textures, tastes and, sometimes, temperatures.
Among them, Cacao Story, inspired by the journey of a cacao bean, promises to indulge chocoholics with a dimensional display -- in terms of sight as well as depth of flavours -- of chocolate.
Parfait lovers will cry tears (of gastronomic joy) over a collapsed glass of yoghurt ice cream, strawberry granita, jelly and white chocolate. The dish is named Oops!
But if tranquillity and neatness are what you look for, the edible Zen Garden will give you bliss. On a pitch-black platter you'll find, for example, a creamy landscape and large black "rock" that reveals inside a cream-cheese and black-sesame paste.
Pantone is the name of Kyo Bar's other signature dish created upon the season's trending colours and harvests.
With Greenery (No.15-0343) officially named as Pantone's colour of 2017, the dessert displays several different hues of green through a perfect match of ingredients, including melon, cream, pandanus and mint. The dish was one of my favourites.
'Oops!' is wonderful accidental strawberry parfait.
Should you find it hard to choose between black and green indulgences, go for Kyoto Spring, a subtle-tasting, two-toned option that centres on matcha green tea and bamboo charcoal.
Sweet-potato aficionados will reach cloud nine through the bar's elevated rendition of Mont Blanc. It's a unification of freshly baked Satsuma-imo, the creme de la creme of potato from Shizuoka prefecture, chestnut purée cake and blackcurrant ice cream.
Designed to please connoisseurs of traditional Japanese desserts is Hassun (Japanese for "to present"), a kaiseki set of warabimochi (toasted soy-bean-flour-coated glutinous rice cake), dango (rice flour balls), fresh cream roll, nama chocolate and more.
It would be an underestimation to think that this dessert bar attracts only young and whimsical, innocuous clients.
There's an adult-only option, called Onsen, to cater to those who're in for the profound heat of Japanese hot springs and, well, sake rice wine.
The pleasant experience for the eyes, brain and taste buds is enhanced by a heartfelt hospitality by Kyo Bar's team of super cordial chefs-cum-hosts. Due to limited seating, reservations are recommended.
Kyo Bar
Siam Paragon, G floor Rama I Call 02-610-7583 Open daily 10am-10pm Most credit cards accepted
'BBQ' appetiser.
Kyo Bar's owner and dessert wunderkind, Dej Kewkacha.
