In the Four Seasons Bangkok, this bright, modern Italian restaurant with wooden tables and burnt orange & cream decor offers an open kitchen where diners can watch chefs perform their expertise. My dining partner and I started off the evening by selecting a bottle of the house white wine.

From an irresistible selection of Italian appetisers, we tried the soft-shell crab salad. Mixed with green leaves, potatoes, fennel, and an herb dressing. While the crab, in its lightly seasoned batter, enjoys a Caesar sauce and mustard dressing. Next up was the Fritto misto, which includes crispy calamari, shrimps & zucchini, and fresh tomato and herbs. Prepared in a crispy Japanese-type batter, the dish is served with a creamy tomato and olive oil blended dipping sauce while our rocket salad lays thin shavings of parmesan cheese atop lots of leaves with taggiasche olives, cherry tomatoes, artichokes, and pieces of sun-dried tomatoes. Our main courses were starting to arrive along with a favorite house specialty, the focaccia with mascarpone and truffle oil with it's cheesy, pizza-style thin crust. I selected the braised veal shank and it was superb. This very tender meat was covered in a red wine gravy and served with mashed potato, spinach, baby carrot, fresh tomato and green beans. We also chose to share a dish of risotto. The exact name of the dish escapes me at the moment. However, it had saffron, asparagus and pan-seared duck liver and was prepared with a superior grade of rice called vialoni.

The main course chosen by my dining partner was the grilled yellow tail with ragout of artichokes, olives, oregano and oil. It was accompanied by a traditional Italian sauce of garlic, olive oil, artichoke, tomato, black olives and a blast of chilli and was equally delicious. We both felt like we couldn't eat another bit but how can you dine Italian and skip the opportunity to enjoy dessert? It was too tempting to pass up and sharing the frozen caramel cappuccino was the best way to end the evening as we enjoyed every morsel.

Not a member of the VIP Club.