Parkroyal venue for big Thai festival

Press, 26 October 1989, Page 31

Parkroyal venue for big Thai festival

Chefs from Bangkok, an umbrella painter from Chiang Mai, and a vegetable carver from Bangkok are being flown specially to Christchurch by Thai International Airways to demonstrate their skills at a week-long Thai food and culture festival in the Parkroyal Hotel beginning on Saturday. Thai dishes, which are among the tastiest in Asia, will be highlighted in the hotel’s Victoria Street Cafe and Rumpole’s Bar. Canterbury Tales will also have Thai options on both its lunch and dinner menus.

The Atrium Lounge and First Edition nightspot will offer special cocktails with a Thai flavour, as well as Thailand’s popular Singha beer and with a taste much closer to home, Giesen wines.

Chefs Visan Suapoo and Plai Noiklin will be working with fresh New Zealand produce, including meat from the Fortex Group and seafood from Continental Distributors. Vegetables used in the carving displays will be provided by the Canterbury Produce Company. Sampling Thai cuisine is a prime reason why New Zealanders are travelling to Thailand in increasing numbers. Many of the dishes are exotic; indeed, unrivalled elsewhere in

South-East Asia. Visitors to the festival will be able to try Yam Nua (a spicy roast beef salad, Ton Kha Kung (spicy prawns in coconut milk and lime and flavoured with galingale, lemongrass, and kaffir leaves), and Gaenge Mussaman. Nuea (a beef curry cooked with peanuts, onions, and potatoes, and served with vinegared cucumber). Cocktails will include Sawasdee (which, depending on the context, can mean “hello,” “greetings,” “goodbye” or “welcome”), Chao Pa (“Lord of the jungle elephants’), Yoey Dance (a dance of flirtation and fun), Bangkok Sunset, and Chiang Mai Cooler. The artistic talents of Yaowadee Srikwan, a vegetable carver, and Walee Theppanya, an umbrella painter, will be displayed during morning and afternoon teas in the Atrium lounge. Vegetable carving, an art form in Thailand for centuries, transforms otherwise prosaic vegetables into delicate shapes such as flowers, birds and butterflies. Umbrella painting is a tradition of the northern region of Thailand around the city of Chiang Mai. Umbrellas painted during the festival will be offered for sale. The festival will open on Saturday and end on November 5.