Harvey

There’s still some work to be done at Harvey. The first thing they should do is drop the misleading “California-inspired” label. If it weren’t for the inclusion of Caesar salad and clam chowder on the menu, Harvey would be a “European” restaurant—more French than anything else, with a few Italian dishes added to the mix. So call it “international,” if you have to call it anything. The next thing they need to do is raise the food to the level of the service and setting. The Belgian chef and his crew are doing a good job, but at the prices they’re charging you’re right to expect better—better quality ingredients and a higher level of skill in the kitchen. Having said this, though only a few months old, Harvey is doing brisk business even during the week, the upstairs private rooms often fully booked by the rich and famous and the downstairs dining room and bar buzzing with beautiful people and bossa nova. Tending to the diners are beautiful waitresses who glide between tables in the sightly minimalist glass and concrete dining room parroting phrases like “Excuse me sir may I take your plate?”, “Excuse me sir may I crumb your table?” and “My pleasure” immediately after and every time you say thank you. As for the food, overall we’ve enjoyed our meals at Harvey, but too many dishes seem to suffer from at least one small flaw. The abovementioned “American” dishes are interesting interpretations that will disappoint connoisseurs of the originals. The “deconstructed” (the ingredients stacked but not tossed together) Harvey Caesar salad is safe (hard-boiled egg, no anchovies) but boring and made with the limp dark outer lettuce leaves instead of the crisp hearts. Harvey Clam Chowder is fancy and comes with fat clams but lacks the heartiness of a true chowder. Both are tiny portions. A better choice is the delicious Double Chicken Consomme, which is poured out of a teapot into a bowl containing foie gras-stuffed ravioli at your table. Another winner is the foie gras terrine. Fettuccini with a lamb ragu is also good but on the sweet side and too small to be a main course. Beef cheeks are tasty but slightly chewy; supposedly “giant” scallops are merely big, overcooked and not as fresh as you would expect in such a swanky place. Finally, for dessert a chocolate fondant cake tastes right but is cooked through. So some fine-tuning is necessary to justify these prices—it may be the young chef just needs a more time with his cooks. Also, though we’ve complained about the prices of the food, this is offset by very reasonable wine prices at Harvey. You won’t find better deals on wine in Bangkok at a restaurant of this caliber.