Antonio's--my first visit

I've heard so much about Antonio's. A friend claimed that it's the best Italian eatery in Southeast Asia, and my bro said that it has the best grilled steak in Bangkok. How could I not give it a try, right?

J and I finally made the trip to Antonio's tonight. It's a small restaurant, half-filled with expats, with a very simple and cozy decor. (I like Rossano's decor and ambience much better...and I'll show that in another post.) The service though, was superb. The staff were so enthusiastic and just seemed genuinely happy to serve. If there's anything to give credit to Antonio's, I'd say it provided the best service I've experienced in Bangkok. We were impressed by the staff's huge grin and friendly yet unintrusive chat, as well as their speedy service. For example, we were served with a plate of warm homemade focaccia in less than 5 minutes after being seated.

Homemade focaccia with basil-tomato topping on the side

After that, the waiter brought us a huge plate of the day's special--fresh (as in alive and still kicking on the plate) mud crab from Phuket, scallops from Japan, mushrooms from Chiangmai, clams from the US, etc. Then he went on to recommend how each item should be cooked. We went with his recommendations of:

Mixed salad in truffle-gorgonzola dressing (see the black specks?) topped with mushrooms stir fried with garlic, olive oil and chilli

This salad was really, really yummy. One of the best salads I've had (my other favorite is the tuna nicoise salad at Vanilla). I'd never expected truffle and gorgonzola to go together so well, because I'd thought that the gorgonzola would be too overpowering. But it was just right. The fragrance from the truffle was the first thing I noticed, followed by the slightly salty and creamy gorgonzola. The mushrooms were really flavorful as well, and I think it was made to suit Thai people's taste because typical Italian food I've had tend to be a lot blander than this.

Porcini ravioli with black and white truffle cream sauce

Our second dish was the famous ravioli--the signature dish that was often featured in the restaurant's reviews. The sauce was good, but I guess it lost the 'wow' factor a little bit because I've had something similar before in the salad. The porcini-ricotta filling was ok. I couldn't smell the porcini as much because the truffle scent was quite strong. But I've heard that the ravioli with foie gras filling is to-die-for, so the next time I might order that instead.

The waiter also served us some pieces of bread to mop up the sauce, and I must say that the bread went better with the sauce than the ravioli (oops sorry chef). Our plates were mopped clean.

J mopping up his sauce even before tackling the ravioli

Our main course was again, another famous dish here: angel hair pasta with olive oil, garlic, and chilli, as well as one whole mud crab (that I saw moving its legs earlier)! While this dish was good, it reminded both J and I of stir-fried Chinese noodles (mee sua with crab meat) that we could get at Ah Yat at half the price. We both prefer tomato-based sauces much better, so next time we'll give this a pass and try something else.

The mud crab pasta came with lots of crab roe, all of which I gave to J. The massive amount of cholesterol irked me

J and I will definitely come back here to try other dishes. The chefs here flavor their food well, so we just need to experiment with the rest of the menu to find our own favorites. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the best Italian eatery in Bangkok though. Three dishes are barely representative of a restaurant, right?

Antonio's

59/1 Sukhumvit 31

Tel: 02-258-4247