THB Bistronome, Petaling Jaya

Fusing French sauce craft with Thai spice work, PJ’s new THB Bistronome is a culinary crossroads of rues and sois, where the Seine flows into the Chao Phraya and the Eiffel Tower shares the sky with King Power MahaNakhon.

Equally at ease with bechamel and basil, tartare and tamarind, poulet and pad Thai, THB Bistronome is steered in Section 19 by Malaysian chefs Andy Choy and Kuik Wei Han.

Bisque and bouillabaisse both find fresh flavours here. The soup is simmered with flower crab, coconut and Thai ginger, balancing smooth and sharp, forward in heat and herbs, charming with a crustacean cracker. The stew of red snapper is steeped in saffron aromatics and tomyam accents, a galangal-grained bridge between Marseille and the Mekong.

Soak up these scents and sensibilities with lemongrass-laced brioche, matched with massaman curry butter. Then swoon over the omelette soufflé, a thick, crisp-cloudy fantasy, fringed with frisée and ulam raja, relished with red and green chilli ferments.

Whether you prefer duck as Champs-Élysées confit or Chinatown roast, poultry is a THB pleasure: The roast is slick and succulent, punched up with pickled greens, pooled in classic jus that brings the fowl’s flavours into focus.

Orange-centred Thai milk tea canelés turn THB into a Phloen Chit patisserie, a Parisian plate for a Bangkok palate. Fun fact: THB stands for The Humble Beginning, reflecting how the French reached Siam in the 1600s before embarking into Indochina.