Buntanes “Pop” Direkrittikul, the Head Bartender of Eat Me Restaurant off Convent Road and a recipient of a Michelin Plate, clearly stands out. While other bartenders create cocktails that are merely inspired by Thai dishes, Pop is the first bartender who actually replicates the taste of Thai dishes in cocktails. His work has won him the title of Best Bartender at this year's Bangkok Bar Awards, a prize granted by industry peers in several Asian cities.
Pop has worked for ten years now at the three-story restaurant known for its vibrant fusion food and drinks. An approachable guy, Pop often finds himself in friendly conversation with his clients. One evening he asked a regular customer if she would like anything else and she tipsily asked for a Laab Moo, the northeastern dish of minced pork, dry chilli, sugar, fish sauce, mint, red onion, lime juice, shallot, cilantro and roasted rice. His cocktail version became a signature drink (left).
Photo credit: Courtesy of Eat Me
Other concoctions reproduce equally surprising tastes, like Gang Tai Pla, a southern curry made with fermented fish entrails. There are also Gaeng Keow Wan, or Green Curry and Som Tum Poo Pla Rah or Papaya Salad with Thai anchovy and pickled crab, another northeastern dish. Drinkers recognise the recipes, but copying the taste of each dish is never an easy job. Pop relies on his highly-trained taste buds and on unique techniques to extract flavour from ingredients.
One of the keys to his success is freshness. “Whether you use them as they are or press the juice, keeping the ingredients fresh is the thing. If they’re not good the result is not going to be good,” Pop simply states. “We use a cold press juicer because it’s fast and it preserves quality.”
For him it is crucial to find out the best way to put the right taste and aroma in his cocktails. Distinctive ingredients such as poo pla rah, curries, oyster sauce for Krapao Moo Krob Kai Dao May Sook or Stir-Fried Crispy Pork with Holy Basil and Sunny Side Eggs and jackfruit for Lod Chong, a traditional iced dessert, come in the form of homemade simple syrup infusions that he strains and bottles. He prefers infusions in syrup over alcohol that can overpower flavours, but in his Nahm Prik Noom, one of his latest creations, he transforms the northern dipping sauce of grilled bell pepper, garlic and shallot using infused vodka as its base. Variables like weather, temperature and humidity can change results, but time and quality of ingredients are crucial, so Pop has to monitor the infusions constantly.
Excellent drinks don't have to include all the original ingredients of the food they replicate. ”It’s a drink, not food, explains Pop. “In Gaeng Keow Wan, I substitute coconut milk with milk because coconut milk is part oil and becomes greasy when it comes in contact with ice.” He also adds lime juice not usually found in green curry that provides smoothness without curdling the milk. His novel recipes may wow new customers, but it's the fact that Pop produces playful, enjoyable drinks that keeps his fans asking for more.
Read what our inspectors said about Eat Me Restaurant
Hidden down on a side soi behind a jungle of foliage, Eat Me is worth seeking out. Start with a Thai food-inspired cocktail before moving to a table in the two-storey restaurant with a charming balcony terrace. The décor is minimalist, the atmosphere fun and the artwork edgy. With the guiding principles of simplicity, distinct fla-voursand careful cooking, the menu is divided by fish, vegetables and meat, and co-vers a broad spectrum of globally influenced dishes.
