Above Eleven is a rooftop bar and restaurant located on the 33rd and 34th floor of the Fraser Suites. Overlooking Sukhumvit’s Soi 11, the New York Central Park-inspired restaurant serves Nikkei Peruvian-Japanese food, the first in Southeast Asia, and it is currently the only one in Bangkok doing so.
Opened in 2012, its urban park concept and culinary won the 2014 Bangkok’s Best Restaurant Awards.
Nibbles and Bites
Peruvian cuisine is influenced by various indigenous population and immigrants from Spain, Italy, Germany, China, Japanese and West Africa. The unique fusion forms interesting dishes, some of which Singaporeans might find familiar. After all, Singapore’s food is also a result of many different cultures.
Salmon Carpaccio with Ponsu Sauce is semi-raw salmon slices eaten with fried garlic, spring onions. It is served with a savoury-sweet citrus dip. It is an appetising starter that will make you want to go for more!
Next, sashimi lovers will love this Peru-version of tuna slices. Besides sesame oil, the highlight of the “Tiradito Tuna Nikkei” [380฿] dish is the mouth-watering sauce made from natural fish juices, lime juice, sliced onion, chilli, salt, and pepper. This sauce is called aji amarillo (chilli) leche de tigre (which means tiger’s milk). Besides that, we also sampled the Tiradito Octopus which is octopus slices in olive oil and kalamata olive mayonnaise.
Cebiche Above Eleven [470฿] is considered a “Peruvian National Dish”. Marinated in the delicious leche de tigre sauce, the Cebiche is a combination of fresh sea bass fish, prawns, deep fried calamari rings, sweet potatoes and sweet onions. For me, this is the oddest combination but it seemed to go perfectly well together with the savoury, tangy leche de tigre sauce.
Another one of my favourite dish is the Tuna Tartare [350฿]. Accompanied with deep fried wonton crisps, the raw tuna was diced and seasoned with sesame oil, red chilli, coriander and red chilli-wasabi dressing.
This is an interesting Spanish-inspired nibble. A scoop of mash potato with crab meat in togarashi mayo and avocado. Causa Kani [370฿] is also has half a quail egg as garnish and fragrant Huancaína cream sauce.
The Anticucho Beef Heart [250฿] is one of the star dishes in Above Eleven. An African influenced-Peruvian dish, the grilled beef heart chunks are marinated in red chilies, oregano, garlic, red vinegar and soy. Although I don’t eat beef, I tried the three brightly coloured sauces – aji amarillo, red chili criolla (salsa) and chimichurri (parsley garlic) sauce – they were spicy, sweet/tangy and fragrant. I love the spicy chilli most!
The Executive Chef Omar Frank Maruy is the brains behind the delectable cuisine at Above Eleven. Born and raised in Lima, Peru, he went to Toronto to study culinary arts at George Brown College before working at Astrid y Gaston for 10 years. Omar was then invited to Thailand in 2012 to create this first of its kind restaurant, introducing Nikkei cuisine to food lovers in Thailand.
Main Course
Arroz Con Pato [450฿] is fried rice with duck leg confit. The duck leg was tender and slightly salted. I love the coriander rice which was fried with seasonal vegetables, salsa criolla and drizzled with Huancaína Sauce. It was fragrant and I could easily just have that alone.
The Snow Fish Anticucho [750฿] is snow fish grilled in the Andean style. With yuca-bacon mash, olive mayo, cherry tomato salsa, this dish is somewhat similar to our usual western grilled fish.
Lomo Saltado [800฿] is a very homely dish of sautéed beef tenderloin slices. Cooked in soya sauce with onions, coriander, peppers, potato wedges and tomatoes, it resembles the typical Chinese tze-char dish we have in Singapore.
The Seco de Cordero [950฿] is my favourite main course of all. This peruvian dish is made up of tender lamb shank marinated with beer and aji amarillo chili, slow cooked in clay pot.
Best of all, the meaty lamb shank is accompanied with rice and soft baked white beans (I kept munching on the delicious beans!)
Desserts
For dessert, we had Tortas Tres Leches [230฿] which is a small bowl of vanilla sponge cake soaked in 3 types of milk. On top, fresh cream is sprayed, followed by a cherry and mint leaves. If you like sweetened milk soaked cake, this is something you should try!
If not, you can opt for the Traditional Crème Caramel [200฿], a dessert widely accepted by everyone.
Just next to the 34th floor of the Above Eleven, there is a secret (easily missed!) passageway to the Gramercy Park. There, you will have a even better view of the Bangkok skyline, where you can chill with your friends. Gramercy Park shares the same menu as Above Eleven but no reservation is allowed!
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