Most hotel basements are lackluster spaces used to house the buffet, meeting rooms or cheesy disco. Not so at Hotel Muse: in the bowels of this slick, early 20th century themed hotel is a new Italian restaurant that’s drawing suits and the hi-so in crowd with its Italian cuisine and grand, film-set perfect setting. Will the hype die down? Quite possibly, but currently Medici is going down a storm, reservations only on weekday lunch and dinnertimes as well as weekends.
Located at the bottom of a staircase lined with ornate wrought iron balustrades, Medici is of a different time and place – the luxurious underbelly of raffish, Prohibition-era New York perhaps.
Classy, button tufted black leather chairs and circular banquettes dot the elongated, cellar-like dining room. Wooden beer casks line the brick walls, wrought iron girders prop up the ceiling, and wine racks near the bar act as columns. Industrial overhead lamps cast a crepuscular light. The end result is very Boardwalk Empire: an opulent hidden space that conjures images of wise-talking American-Italian mobsters and cagey politicians forging big deals over lavish meals.
The food might not be as adventurous as the setting, but it’s certainly hitting the spot. And not outrageously pricey, either, given the quality on offer. Helming the kitchen is Tuscan-born Francesco Lenzi, a young chef who many will know from his tenure at local wine bar Opus, and who raves passionately about his artisanal produce, most of it imported from the motherland. Already popular is his good value lunchtime set menu, with its choice of antipasti, like arugula salad with grilled Tuscan sausage, a spaghetti, fish or meat-based main, plus optional dessert (B 379 for 2 courses, B 450 for 3). The à la carte menu ups the ante with starters like the cold cuts and cheese platter (B 490): a wooden rack arrives piled high with moist slices of palma ham, salami, biroldo and other hard to find imported cold cuts, plus a few rare soft cheeses.
As well as risottos and perfectly al dente pastas, Francesco’s signatures include foie gros ravioli doused in a rich, thick truffle sauce, and Filleto alla Rossini (grain-fed Australian beef tenderloin on a bed of spinach and sliced black truffle and topped with foie gros; B1,290). Both were excellent, immaculately plated and decadently delicious. Rotisserie dishes include roasted quail stuffed with prosciutto di parma and saffron risotto, and there are over 120 labels, over 75 % from Italy, the rest Old and New World, to choose from. Like a ruthless new mobster who’s just rolled up in town, Medici is still finding its feet, but looks destined to be a big-hitter: we’ll be back. Max Crosbie-Jones
รร.โฮเทล มิวส์ ซ.หลังสวน
WHERE Medici at Hotel Muse
55 / 555 Soi Lang Suan | Lumpini | BTS Chit Lom | 02-630-4000 | www.hotelmusebangkok.com | 12 am – 2:30 pm, 6:00 pm – late
