There are very few places in the world where one can have a truly fine buffet. There should be a display and array of well thought of and well chosen dishes, not a crowded cacophony of obviously movable inventory that the banquet department needs to get rid of.

This is the very reason why the Sunday Jazz Brunch at the Four Seasons has always been a must whenever I am in Bangkok, Thailand. Many colleagues consider this as my saner side, my balance to my street food exploits. This is because of the Hawker areas that I have pinpointed to some Pinoys. I can only think of their horror when they find out where I eat authentic Thai cuisine.

Yet, true to the tradition of the Four Seasons, one cannot really dine unless it is an experience offered by my favorite “luxury” Thai restaurant – The Spice Market. (I had to say luxury because a lot of the luxury Thai restaurants I’ve been to have chefs that need to take lessons from the scruffy hawkers I go back to year after year.)

Anyway, one of the main reasons is award winning chef Supanut Khanarak who has upheld Spice Market, as voted by the locals, as the “most delicious Thai restaurant in Bangkok”. The setting truly resembles a rustic spice market with teak shelves, bottles, jars, and sacks all around the room. Equipment such as mortars and spice related cookware are also abound as curios to the diners.

Not wasting anytime, an order of old favorites, given classic care, got us Khao Tang Na Tang (Puff Rice Crackers with Pork and Tuna Dip). The Pork and Tuna both cooked in coconut crème gave richness to this dish that seemed to blend with the puff crisp texture of the rice crackers. The dips were not Thai hot, but I wished it were since I was a “farang” or foreigner.

Chef Supanuts kitchen the night I was there brought out two amuse bouche type of appetizers as complimentary dishes to customers. These were a Prawn Salad with mint and slivers of hair like strands of kaffir leaves which was so fragrantly upfront with the tartness and fragrance of lime balanced by the cool smoothness of mint. The other appetizer was the complimentary Moengkam or betel leaf which is a highly aromatic and fruity leaf that grows as a ground cover. Every leaf is wrapped around little sprinkles of coconut, dried shrimp, and lemongrass with a sweet, thick tamarind sauce.

By this time our starter plates had also arrived. One choice was their classic Poo Num Phad Prik Thai Orn, a crispy, fried soft-shell crab with a batter coating tossed in green peppercorn sauce and chili. As always, even in the Sunday Jazz Brunch, this dish is very popular with its seeming unripe rush of green peppercorns as well as light whiff of chili topped generously with crispy, fried basil leaves.

Our Yam Som–O Gub Goong, a pomelo salad with dried shrimps, is wonderful with pieces of homemade pork chicharon and prawns as toppings. Another salad is the Yam Pla Duk Foo. This catfish salad is made of well mashed steamed catfish meat that is fried to a very crisp but still lightly colored state. The Mamuang Salad or mango salad to go with this fried, fluffy catfish made for a good mix. A fragrant base of strong, aromatic lime juice, fish sauce syrup, chilies, and shallots completed this wonderfully tasty salad dressing cum topping and complemented well with the toasted cashews.

As I was enjoying this with Khao Suey translated to “beautiful rice” or literally steamed, innocent, and beautiful, I left the last course all to the chef. I wanted something that would work well with the plain steamed rice. The dish from the kitchen was a green curry called Gaeng Keow Wan, which includes fish dumplings with miniature wild eggplants and lots of basil that had a bitter but appetizing finish that stimulated one’s appetite and tempted you to keep on going with the rice (Khao Suey).

To end the meal, I would have ordered my classic Mango with Sweet Sticky Rice which has always been a sure winner in this restaurant. This time, I ordered the Durian Butter Cake topped with Durian Ice Cream, Vanilla Sauce, and Coconut Sauce. The vanilla sauce seemed to put moisture instantaneously into a conservative and dry looking cake, while all the flavors seemed to mingle into each other, knowing how complex the back notes of this dessert is.

Anyway, after a meal like this, a long walk into a night market would be recommend, since I could hardly move with what I had eaten. In fact, I did see a friend there who pops in from time to time to look after the guests in the person of the very charming Annabelle Daokaew (a Filipina married to a Thai and is the Public Relations Manager of the Four Seasons) who invited me to dinner on my way out.

It was a pity I had just finished with my dinner. But one day, I’ll probably take her up on her titillating offer and discover the single-malt offerings of the Madison, their steak place right beside the Spice Market. That would be a great duo, steak and scotch, a few more of the scotches of course.