BANGKOK, BLOOMBERG --Thailand’s long been known for its street carts of deep-fried, heavily salted insects, often surrounded by tourists keen to crunch on a grasshopper for an Instagram hit. But bugs are going up in the world and being given a distinctly European makeover.
Insects in the Backyard is thought to be the country's first restaurant to look past the deep fryer and utilize the six-legged critters as fine-dining ingredients. Executive Chef Mai Thitiwat stuffs fresh ravioli with crab and water beetle meat, creates a beurre blanc sauce infused with ant eggs for its acid kick, and mixes powdered silk worm with mascarpone cheese for his creamy tiramisu. “I’m not making scary food,” he says.
For those entomophagists—insect eaters—craving something more obviously leggy, there are whole bugs to be found lurking in some dishes. But a number of menu items are insect-free altogether. “No one should feel pressured to consume something they don’t feel comfortable with,” explains Regan Suzuki Pairojmahakij, concept consultant and co-owner of the restaurant, located in Bangkok's new Chang Chui creative hub. “We do note, however, that a Western customer base prefers the insects not to be visible in insect form, whereas Asian customers are much more comfortable with seeing insect parts.” So, how would you eat yours?
For starters: Watermelon salad with herbed creme fraiche, chorizo, and bamboo caterpillars. The crunchy fried caterpillars that adorn this dish taste rather like squid, according to Mai Thitiwat, executive chef at Insects in the Backyard. They're among the most expensive creepy-crawlies on the menu, sourced from a farm in northern Thailand at a cost of 120 baht (US $3.60) a kilo.
Fresh pasta made with cricket flour, topped with fried crickets, black basil pesto, and chorizo. Grinding the insect into a flour gives a nutritional kick absent from regular pasta, while the crickets can be deep-fried or sautéed whole to offer a nutty flavor—and a crunch.
Ingredients used in some of the dishes (clockwise from top left): ant, grasshopper, ant eggs, white cricket, giant water beetle, bamboo caterpillar, and silkworm.
Most of the insects used in the restaurant are sourced from family-run farms around Thailand and raised in chemical-free environments, says co-owner Regan Suzuki Pairojmahakij.
Insects in the Backyard draws on American, French, Italian, and Mediterranean influences, while incorporating Thai and regional flavors.
High in protein, minerals, and healthy fats and hugely abundant, some 1,900 species of insect supplement the diets of 2 billion people worldwide, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.