The Blue Elephant and the Belgian princesses
Coming back to life - the old mansion, dark for so many years, was lit up for the special dinner.
Renovation of the old Phra Pitak Chinpracha Mansion on Krabi Rd in Phuket Town is still not complete, but a group of guests and press types got a sneak preview yesterday of how it will look when it is complete and is occupied by the Blue Elephant restaurant.
Blue Elephant founders Karl and Nooror Steppe not only managed to assemble all the ingredients for a fine gourmet evening in delightful surroundings, but also spendidly garnished it with 20 would-be beauty queens – the finalists in the Miss Belgium contest.
The 20 girls are in Phuket as part of the run-up to the finals of the beauty contest some three months hence, and with Karl being Belgian (though not exactly a beauty himself) they were a perfect fit for his preview.
Thumb's up for somtam.
Along with the beauties came some 30 people from the contest organisers – managers, chaperones, make-up artists and wardrobe types – as well as a crew from the German TV station RTL who, Karl explained, can put his restaurant in front of an audience of 60 million people in Europe.
To spice up the evening, Nooror, helped by daughter Sandra, gave the girls a lesson in making somtam (Thai-style papaya salad), before they all trooped out along the red-carpeted duck walk (the grounds were rather soggy for the spike heels the girls were all wearing) to a special area set up for their first foray into Thai cuisine.
Lit by oil lamps and a barrage of flashes from dozens of cameras, the beauties got to grips with their pestles (some evidently for the first time) and created somtam of their own, with advice from Nooror, Sandra and members of the Blue Elephant kitchen. Then, of course, they had to taste it. How was it? Some thought it was a little on the spicy side; others gave it the thumbs-up.
Getting to grips with those pestles.
Then it was back to the big house for cocktails on the newly-laid turf, and a huge buffet dinner in the rooms that had been opened for the evening.
The hardy girls had been up since 3:30 am to prepare for yet another photo shoot, yet managed to stay chatty and looking fresh, with only the occasional stifled yawn.
The genial Karl Steppe hopes the rest of the house – the other downstairs rooms, the upstairs, the kitchen and cookery school – will be open in three months or so. “We prayed for no rain tonight, and that worked. Now we are praying for an opening in three months,” he grinned.
