Grappino is an Italian restaurant located in the Amari Watergate Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand. It has a modern, trendy interior designed to look like restaurants found in fashionable cities around the world, especially in Italy. The menu matches the elegant decor and features updated versions of traditional Italian dishes made with high quality ingredients. Examples include carpaccio topped with celery and walnuts and veal sauteed in truffle butter. Each month the restaurant also promotes the cuisine of a different Italian region.

1. Italian food comes in many different forms and styles as do Italian restaurants. What the Amari Watergate Hotel offers guests is an Italian restaurant with a style all its own in the form of Grappino, a modern, trendy¬looking space that took over eight million baht to achieve. Designed by Seven & Associates, in conjunction with the Amari Group, Grappino reflects the designers' aims with soft colors and varied interior effects. Mauve walls and hammered copper-top side tables combine with different wood and carpeted floor spaces to create a contrasting look throughout the room. Artificial trees, bronze sculptures and modern paintings, some imported from Italy, create a look that could be found in any number of fashionable cities in the world, especially, of course, Italy. A sort of cool elegance pervades the space, creating the perfect backdrop for the artfully constructed menu that’s served here. The food itself matches perfectly the decor of the restaurant: somewhat understated, elegant and very fashionable. The menu could be found in any number of trendy, upscale establishments in New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco as well as Italy. you won't find spaghetti and meatballs just as the decor is certainly not of the red and white checked tablecloth, Chianti bottle variety, either. The menu covers all of the bases of nouvelle-inspired Italian food from risottos to vegetarian dishes to made¬on-the-premises gelatos and sorbets, which by the way are quite delicious. Some traditional dishes, such as the beef carpaccio appetizer, are updated slightly, the carpaccio now topped with celery and walnuts as well as the traditional parmesan and virgin olive oil. Other appetizers include breast of duckling marinated with fresh rosemary and balsamic vinegar, air dried Parma ham, garlic and chili tiger prawns and several more enticing selections. The soup section contains tradition in the form of the ageless minestrone as well as a cream of porcini mushroom concoction that also uses borlotti beans and fresh basil. The pasta-risotto list is one of the more interesting sections to be found with a tantalizing number of entries that all look as if they should be tried. Again a traditional dish, gnocchi, is featured in an updated version, this time with a sauce of fontina cheese and white truffles. There's also spaghetti with thyme-flavored, creamed fresh crabmeat, and a thin pasta with smoked pancetta among a number of other tasty looking dishes. The common thread of updated versions of traditional dishes mixed with some unique creations continues on into the seafood portion of the menu with rock lobster, tiger prawns and silver pomfret heading the list, being steamed with olive oil, charcoal grilled with olive oil. and covered with porcini mushrooms and sundried tomatoes, respectively. Red snapper and seabass are also represented. Meat and poultry are represented by lamb cutlets, pan-fried chicken, medallions of pork, veal. sirloin and fillet steaks. The preparations range from a simple Florentine-style sirloin with sea salt to a thinly sliced veal dish sauteed in truffle butter, topped with fresh asparagus and pistachio nuts and oven-glazed with Reggiano Parmesan cheese. There's a wide spectrum of cooking styles here and the ingredients all look to be creatively assembled. As if all of this variety wasn't enough, each month the restaurant does a regional promotion that features one of Italy's many regions with food and wines for dinner being featured. Tuscany is the region for March's promotion and the set dinner at 1200 baht includes food and several wines by the glass. The form that Grappino's Italian style takes is varied and ever-changing, providing diners with many choices that span a wide range of cooking methods and ingredients that's sure to satisfy any diner time after time. The decor will relax you, the service will pamper you and the food will make you think you're in one of Italy's great restaurants. Of course, you'll have to do without the checked tablecloths and empty Chianti bottles, but it will be worth it..