Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket features the flavors of the Mediterranean this autumn with its innovative ‘Pesto and Pistou’ menu

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El Gaucho Restaurant, Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket

September 2019

Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket features the flavors of the Mediterranean this autumn with its innovative ‘Pesto and Pistou’ menu

The culinary team brings a blast of fresh sea-inspired cuisine this October

Phuket, Thailand, 23rd September, 2019: Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket is inviting international guests and local residents to come savour the tastes and flavours of the Mediterranean this autumn with the launch of its latest global menu – ‘Pesto and Pistou’.

Marking another gastronomic triumph for a brand synonymous with culinary excellence for more than 70 years, the expert chefs at Mövenpick have perfected a new innovative range of pestos (Italian) and pistous (French) to create seven experimental dishes, available at El Gaucho Restaurant throughout October 2019.

Chef Pichet Kitkha, who heads the culinary team at Mövenpick Resort & Spa Karon Beach Phuket, will lead the kitchen in preparing the pesto and pistou based dishes. These two classic European sauces are both based on the aromatic herb, basil, which is harvested in late summer. Savoury favourites will include seared Ahi tuna with olive and eggplant pesto and seafood soup with tarragon pistou. For dessert, a sweet treat with a real difference – Bundt cake with chocolate-mint pesto, served alongside a frothy Mövenpick Espresso.

“Guests, visitors and foodies alike will surely revel in the luscious dishes with our ‘Pesto & Pistou’ menu,” said Chef Pichet, El Gaucho Restaurant. “The highlight of this exciting menu is not only its innovative use of fresh and aromatic flavours, but also its commitment to seasonality.”

Hermann Fiegl, Director of Food & Beverage added “While our guests and our local fans love to return for their favourite classic Mövenpick dishes, we always seek to surprise and delight with seasonal offerings or special food related events. We are certain that our Pesto & Pistou menu will excite the palates of even the most experimental foodies, while providing a fitting send-off to summer with a tribute to the flavours that conjure up Mediterranean sun and sea.”

Pesto and pistou are two versions of a flavourful sauce based on basil, olive oil and cheese. Italian pesto, which originates in Genoa, the capital city of Liguria, Italy, is blended from garlic, basil, pine nuts, grated pecorino cheese (or sometimes parmesan) and olive oil while its French cousin, pistou, is a Provençal cold sauce with similar ingredients, but without the pine nuts and with or without cheese.

Mövenpick’s versions add new surprising ingredients to the blend, while preserving the essence of both Mediterranean specialty sauces to create seven pesto/pistou-inspired dishes:

Ahi tuna with olive and eggplant pesto: pan-seared yellowfin tuna fillet with a modern interpretation of ratatouille, pine nuts and black tapenade;
seafood soup with tarragon pistou: a touch of tarragon and a unique blend of sweet aniseed and mild vanilla bring this specialty seafood dish to life;
tagliolini with walnut-basil pesto: walnuts replace pine nuts to create an imitable new pesto blend that is smooth, sweet and deliciously buttery;
black cod with pesto rosso: accompanied with risotto made from aged Acquerello rice to absorb every ingredient and flavour in full;
beef fillet with red cabbage pesto: a traditional winter vegetable with a sweet edge gives this pesto dish punch;
corn chicken breast with bell pepper pesto: with peas, snow peas, egg, a basmati rice galette and sublime bitter-sweet yellow-red pesto;
Bundt cake with chocolate-mint pesto: a timeless German cake with a cool mint and rich chocolate pesto twist, served with a Mövenpick Espresso.