Transcending familiar boundaries with a dining journey like no other
Following the fame of Karmakamet Diner, Chef Som Jutamas Theantae is now gearing up to re-launch the KarmakametConveyance at a brand-spanking-new location on Sukhumvit Road before the end of this year.
As an extremely talented individual with a unique worldview, Chef Som is determined to present a new old food concept she’s always been working on at the Karmakamet Conveyance, where the focus is on the ‘journey’ rather than the presentation and flavours alone.
Since each person’s preference for tastes and flavours is very subjective, she stated that her food places the baseline at where quality meets happiness. She and her team consistently strive to introduce this borderless concept where food is offered in its truest form, as it should be.
“This is not a difficult thing for me. I’ve always cooked this way. I’ve always approached my food like this. I want to create happiness for people who taste and eat my food and I will always continue to do so until the day I die,” Chef Som said when asked about her particular approach to the Karmakamet Conveyance food concept.
Absolutely free from all fads, trends and speculations, she has brought the food concept to life, into a tangible, taste-able dishes to be served only at the soon-to-reopen branch.
Each step of the journey or each course derived purely from Chef Som’s personal journey through life, challenges she encountered, experiences she gathered along the way filtered, summed and shown through the composition of her dishes.
Tasting menu courses are philosophically named: ‘Grains’, ‘Warmth’, ‘Rainforest’, ‘Street’, ‘Village’, ‘Life’ to mention some. You will find no lists of ingredients on the menu, only the name with a short and simple ‘clue’ of what each course is about. They are supposed to be vague and mysterious as to not interfere with the experience of the impending journey. The rest is up to your interpretation. This perfectly portrays Chef Som’s personality while still strongly conveying her commitment and steadfast beliefs in the food served.
Without giving too much away, ‘Warmth’—made from a harmonious combination of boiled salted Whisker Sheaifishbones, chicken bones, tomato consomme together with an array of Chinese herb mixtures which resulted in a very comforting clear soup that one just can’t get enough of; and ‘Rainforest’—a selected blend of herbs and vegetables mixed with the mysterious green paste that surprisingly reminded one of the scents of refreshing green grass after the rain.
Each course of the tasting menu is paired with champagne. When asked why she decided to pair the menu with champagne rather than wine. “I feel like, at the end of the day, champagne is my favourite reward. So, I chose to pair my food with champagne instead.”
Among those who have experienced the tasting menu, most agreed that part of the excitement in the whole dining experience was the guessing game of what ingredients went into each menu, adding another layer of diner’s engagement into the overall atmosphere.
Personally, never before have I experienced the food that can evoke fond and heart-warming imageries and sensations and the feeling of nostalgia as this meal and that’s not an overstatement.
However, as Chef Som said about how subjective flavours can be to an individual, my only advice when approaching Chef Som’s tasting menu at Karmakamet Conveyance is to let go. Let go of all preconceived notions of how food should be presented, and just take it in as it is. One bite at a time.
“…Allow things to happen the way they are…”
Karmakamet Conveyance
1/1 Sukhumvit Soi 49
