Daring Art
by Rachel Lim
@ 27 Jul 2016
Coming from a humble beginning, Chef Tim Butler started off at a small Italian restaurant at the tender age of 14 as a dishwasher. Taking an interest in culinary arts, he then moved on to study at Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and graduated in 1998. Through sheer hard work, the young Butler was made the executive pastry chef of Aquavit, working under Chef Marcus Sammuelson. All his efforts in bettering his skill paid off, and in 2007, he was named New York rising star chef.
In 2010, Chef Butler joined Eat Me, Bangkok, Thailand, as the executive chef, infusing some Asian-influence and modern touches, presenting bold flavours to ingredients hailing from far and wide. With almost 17 years of experience under its belt, Eat Me is known as a veteran in the Bangkok dining scene. Designed like an art gallery with a cosy bar at the ground floor, Eat Me is known as the perfect place to relax after a hard day of work or to just enjoy a romantic dinner for two. This laid back restaurant has been showered with many awards, with the latest being 23rd on the 2016 Asia’s 50 Best restaurants sponsored by S.Pellegrino & Acqua Panna.
Together with Chef Jimi Tegerdine from LeVeL33, both chefs created a dinner menu featuring tributes and signatures from both their restaurants, showcasing bold flavours and their craftsmanship. Chef Butler relayed, “The food we have chosen for Sanpellegrino’s Fine Dining Lovers Series is a clean representation of Eat Me’s menu – it is all products driven dishes that showcases the finest available ingredients accented by interesting flavour combinations”.
Chef Tegerdine presented a confit Iberico pork cheek together with an organic New Zealand egg cooked for four minutes, served with hops hollandaise sauce and burnt onions. “Chef Butler has a four minutes egg in his menu back at Eat Me, so I thought I would do a version of this dish in my way”, Chef Tegerdine explained. Chef Butler served up a wagyu tataki from Japanese Miyazaki wagyu A5 sirloin which melts in the mouth, topped with sea urchin and caviar, and served with ponzu miso. Both chefs shared desserts with diners, Chef Tegerdine presented a floral and sweet dish call jasmine and bee pollen. Chef Butler showcased his dessert called poached pineapple, simply comprising a choux bun cut into half, pandanus white chocolate ganache fills the bottom of the choux bun, topped with cubes of poached pineapple, served with sake granite, giving this dessert the crunch and sweetness to end a meal.
LeVeL33 I 8 Marina Boulevard #33-01 Marina Bay Financial Centre Tower 1 Singapore 018981I
Eat Me I 20 metres off Convent Road. (in Soi Pipat 2), 10500, Bangkok Thailand
Erratum
This article was published in Cuisine & Wine Asia July August 2016 under Chef + Visit Segment. In our Print edition, we spelled LeVeL33 wrongly. In the article “LeVeL3” should be LeVeL33.
