The Mrs. Saldo's x Resonance Bangkok Collab Makes a Case for Thai-Meets-Japanese Flavors

(SPOT.ph) You’d almost never catch this writer going to events (for work or otherwise) on a Monday—especially when it takes place all the way in Cavite, on a rainy night, some two and a half hours away from her home base of Quezon City. But the recent collab between private-dining spot Mrs. Saldo’s in Silang and Resonance from Bangkok was an exception. Worries about meeting deadlines that week aside, all worries vanished as the Resonance’s Kisu, Kamias (originally called Pla Sai in Thailand) arrived at the table.

Its main star: battered, fried kisu (Japanese whiting) not unlike Japanese furai, with a resounding crisp exterior that makes way to a moist, clean-tasting interior. It goes the zingy direction from there, with elements used in Thai (and other Asian) cuisines: a zippy kamias sauce using fruit from Mrs. Saldo’s backyard plus chili for a good amount of heat, and subtly herbaceous perilla leaves underneath that doubled as a vessel so you could hold it like a taco.

Part-sour, part-sweet, part-(very) spicy, a touch salty, and a touch bitter with succulent fish as the star, it was an eye-opening marriage of different cuisines—Japanese and Thai, in particular, which you don’t tend to see cross paths every day. At first glance they seem distant: whereas Japanese cuisine tends to go streamlined (but not boring!) in the flavor department, Thai cuisine generally goes for boldness and vibrancy. But that’s not to say they can’t make for one drool-worthy union, as we saw at the dinner held by chefs Rhea Rizzo and Shunsuke Shimomura of Mrs. Saldo’s and Resonance, respectively.

Also read: 
This Private Dining Spot in Cavite Highlights Global Flavors in a Lush Bohemian Setting 
The New Menu of Mrs. Saldos Showcases the Sprightly, Hearty Flavors of Southeast Asia

Here’s what went down at the collaboration dinner between Mrs. Saldo’s and Resonance Bangkok:

Originally from Sukhumvit Soi 65 in Bangkok, Thailand, Resonance prides itself on its “boundless cuisine”—that is, on serving plates that transcend borders in influence, as a way for Chef Shunsuke Shimomura to share tales about his travels. It’s noted, though, that it there heavy leanings on Japanese—unsurprisingly so, given Shimomura’s own background.

“My mom cooked only Japanese food when I was young,” the young chef shares in an exchange with SPOT.ph. It was when he moved to Italy after graduating culinary school that he began to delve deeper into other cuisines; safe to say he excelled at it, too, as he even went on to work as an R&D chef for then-open, acclaimed Bangkok spot Gaggan.

It was also at Gaggan that Shimomura became acquainted with Chef Rhea Rizzo. “I met [Chef Shun] at Gaggan when I was moved to his section [in R&D],” Rizzo tells us. “He was my boss in that section.” 

The two are similar in how they embrace gastronomy from around the world, as Rizzo’s known to explore global flavors herself at Mrs. Saldo’s. But they diverge in their exact manner of attack. “[Chef Shun] likes boundless cuisine, [whereas] I call mine borderless comfort food. He's such a minimalist… [and very restrained], while I'm a maximalist.”

Upon learning Shimomura would be traveling to the Philippines, they both knew they had to do a collaboration—and Chef Rhea knew exactly which cuisines to zoom into for the dinner. “Having worked together in Bangkok, I said, ‘Okay, let's go Japanese-Thai,’” Rizzo explains. She had also just come back from traveling around (and eating her way through) the Land of the Rising Sun, and was eager to dish up her own Japanese-Thai plates.

With the exception of the aforementioned Kisu, Kamias of Resonance, the rest of the small and big plates that night were completely new and fashioned exclusively for the dinner. To go with pours of sunny, just-a-touch-mineral tasting Soalheiro Alvarinho, Mrs. Saldo’s prepared three "Japanese-Thai snacks": Corn-Yaki, inspired by takoyaki but with corn plus a chili-mango mayo and cilantro (it works, haters and potaters); Scallops, Cucumber, a “reverse maki” of succulent fried scallops and pickled cukes (inspired by the Thai love of eating simply seasoned cucumbers as snacks) over a sushi roll; and Yakiniku, Nam Jim with smoky strips of grilled pork, an egg foam, and cured egg yolk plus Thai nam jim for dipping into.

The two were all about pitting together contrasting textures. Chef Rhea brings out the Hamachi Crudo—a small yet impactful bite that paired succulent chunks of raw fish with a base of puff pastry that broke into shards as we bit through. Rizzo shares how the use of a pastry base is her way of paying tribute to one of her former bosses in Bangkok: Chef Big of Yak Tam Te Mai Yak Gin (fun fact: that translates to “I want to cook, but I don’t want to eat,” and one of their signatures is a dish of scallops in a freshly baked pastry hat).

Similarly a textural wonderland was the Dill Candy, Salmon, which also happened to be the most collaborative dish of the lot. The dill candy—made by cooking pureed dill in “a few kinds of sugar” until it forms a crisp, sweet-herby sheet—goes way back to their Gaggan days, as Chef Shun was doing R&D for it at the time he met Chef Rhea. Taking a page from Nordic gravlax, they thought to pair it with salmon (flavored in the style of Thai laarb) care of Chef Rhea, plus cubes of sweet potatoes that are then torched for a smoky finish.

Shimomura lets out his unconventional side in the Tiger Prawn, Cacao—two elements you might not think to have together, but that he makes work so, so beautifully. Keeping a piece of peeled, perfectly cooked tiger prawn was an umami-rich sauce flavored with the juices from the prawn’s head, plus just a hint of cacao for rounded depth without making the dish taste like, well, dessert.

Things go even more decadent in Chef Shun’s Presa, Mango, featuring a cut of Iberico shoulder that’s so tender yet clean-tasting (there’s zero porcine stench here—take it from this pork hater), you could almost mistake it for beef. That yellow dot keeping it company is pureed mango with charcoal oil, and tiny dollops added pops of sweet-smokiness to the juicy meat.

We’re more than happy to circle back to a nostalgic place with the arrival of the Wagyu—which, by the way, a misleadingly simple name for quite the stellar Mrs. Saldo’s dish. Here, succulent cubes of seared Wagyu (a "cross between an Australian breed and Wagyu," says Rizzo) get a peppery uplift with the zippy condiment known as yuzukosho; an earthy, stick-to-your-ribs side of mushroom “kamameshi”—one that’s more ochazuke-like in consistency than a true kamameshi, Rizzo admits, but which satisfies nonetheless—transported us back to happier days. (What longform article due tomorrow??)

We'd gotten acquainted with Chef Rhea’s pillowy Sweet Potato Mochi (made from scratch all throughout—down to the use of glutinous rice that’s pounded manually) at the recent Cavite Fresh! event Mrs. Saldo's also participated in—and this time, they went the refreshing route by serving it over a strawberry-melon granita. And finally, Chef Shun’s Christmas-y Chestnut, Pear (amusingly taking after the idea of halo-halo with its frozen elements and multiple textures) rounded out the meal beautifuly and left us on a sweet high—all throughout the (well worth it) two-and-a-half hour trip home following the dinner.

It's always remarkable how food reflects and lets you explore the cultures of other people. And when you bring those flavors over to other parts of the world—as the two chefs did that night—you get to share that love and knowledge, plane ticket optional.

Hey, Spotters! Check us out on Viber to join our Community and subscribe to our Chatbot.