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The Blue Elephant has long been Dine Online's favourite London Thai restaurant. Their food festivals are legendary. Read all about about it for sure, but go go go!

Throughout the month of August, the Blue Elephant will be hosting its annual gastronomic festival. Each year the Blue Elephant selects a specific theme on which to base their festival menu. This year, Blue Elephant Bangkok provides the inspiration with its award winning fusion cuisine that has never before been tasted outside of Thailand. To accompany the menu there will be specially choreographed traditional Thai dancing, music, and fruit and vegetable carving.

Since opening in the summer of 2002, Blue Elephant Bangkok has won the praise of everyone from Russia's President Putin to The New York Times and from Thailand's most popular newspaper, The Nation, to Conde Naste Traveller Magazine. The restaurant in Bangkok gave Blue Elephant the perfect opportunity to provide the people of Thailand with a menu that not only included typical Thai dishes but those with an European influence.

Bangkok's head chefs Chang and Chumpol have both worked extensively across Thailand and Europe and they absorbed the cooking styles and ingredients of the West which were then incorporated into their new menu. The idea behind this menu was not simply to put a trendy twist on traditional Thai dishes but to create something entirely different with specialities that are exotic even to Thai people. Chef Chumpol reassured us "I don't want to take pad thai and change it. That should stay the way it is - it's already great."

For the duration of this year's festival Chef Chompul will be leaving his post as Bangkok's head chef and installing himself firmly behind the stoves of London's Blue Elephant. Only the most authentic and highest quality ingredients will be used, and fresh produce will be flown directly from Thailand to London as well as foie gras from Landes in France and wild salmon from Scotland.

Specialities of Blue Elephant Bangkok will feature on two special three-course set menus available at £40 and £45, as well as separate vegetarian menus and the festival à la carte menu. Regulars hooked on certain favourites from the usual menu can choose from a selection of Blue Elephant's all time most popular dishes.

To whet your appetites here are some choices from the festival menu:

Bag of Gold Foie Gras 
Deep fried French foie gras wrapped in delicate rice paper with tamarind sauce

Salmon Yaang Takrai 
Grilled fillet of salmon marinated with lemongrass and served with spicy mint sauce

Emerald Crocodile 
Crocodile meat marinated in Thai whisky and herbs wrapped in papadanus leaves accompanied by a lemongrass sauce

Lamb Chop Kapraow British lamb chop napped in spicy Thai basil sauce

Spaghetti Khee Maow Spicy stir- fried black spaghetti with a Thai twist of seafood, garlic, tomato sauce and fried basil

Guava Salad with Smoked Duck Served with cherry tomatoes in a stream of red curry dressing

Accompaniments to the meal include sticky rice, "buab" stem & leaves stir fried in an aromatic sauce and morning glory with crushed garlic and oyster sauce.

Throughout the festival, cooking demonstrations will take place every weekday from 12.30pm - 1.30pm. One of Blue Elephant's chefs will explain and prepare three classic Thai dishes followed by a two course lunch for £19.90.

Clifford Mould August 2004

The Blue Elephant, 4-6 Fulham Broadway, London SW6 1AA
Tel: 020 7385 6595

There are other Blue Elephants in Brussels, Copenhagen, Paris, New Delhi, Dubai and Beirut.
Details on their website: http://www.blue-elephant.com

Click here for Dine Online's review of the Blue Elephant Fulham

Please note: Dine Online is an independent review magazine - we have no connection with hotels and restaurants we review, nor are we a reservation service!

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