Key Rainy-Season Ingredients on TAAN’s Wasan Ruduu Menu, and their Awesome Health Benefits

Locally sourced ingredients to prep your body for the wetter months ahead. 

TAAN’s brand new Wasan Ruduu tasting menu (six or nine courses) celebrates the ingredients, flavours and dishes of the Thai rainy season. Teaming up with the best local artisans, we’ve crafted a menu to warm the body and provide vital nutrients during the wetter months. To learn more about these key ingredients, we sat down with Chef Thep to get the lowdown. 

DEE PLEE (LONG PEPPER)

A little sprinkle goes a long way. Meet dee plee, or long pepper, one of Chef Thep’s secret weapons in the TAAN kitchen. “It’s half-way between chilli and pepper,” he says, “They use it in a lot of dishes up north such as laap and it’s like a party in your mouth.”

Try it: Dee plee is peppered (literally) across the Wasan Ruduu menu.

BAMBOO SHOOT

From Loei with love. Bamboo shoots sprout with the monsoon rains and are found throughout the rainy season. Northeastern Thai folk have long known of bamboo shoots’ heartwarming properties, enjoying it in pungent Isaan dishes like “soup nor mai.” Chef Thep takes this local know-how and makes it his own. 

Try it: Fried bamboo shoots feature in the starter of Crispy Scaled Gobi, Giant Catfish Roe and Seasonal Mushroom Sauce.

FROG LEGS

It’s raining frogs! When the heavy downpours hit, these croaky fellows come out to play. Not only do field frogs taste delicious, but they’re also a great lean source of protein, not to mention omega-3 fatty acids, potassium and Vitamin A. 

Try it: Think of frog legs, and your mind may jump to French cuisine. But, frog is an ingredient used in Thai cuisine as well, and we think we do it with a very Thai flavour. Try it in Chef Thep’s unique trio of Tamarind Pork, Frog Legs and Grilled Sticky Rice. 

YANANG LEAF

This is yanang leaf, one of Chef Thep’s rainy-season secret weapons in the TAAN kitchen. Or as he calls it, “One hell of an umami booster.” Yanang is often used to balance out and darken the broth of soup nor mai, an Isaan bamboo-salad staple. 

Try it: Yanang is part of the seasonal mushroom sauce that accompanies the dish of Crispy Scaled Gobi, Fried Bamboo Shoots and Giant Catfish Roe.

SANTOL

Equal parts sour, sweet, creamy and tart, santol is a tropical fruit that also goes by the names “kraton,” “wild mangosteen” or “cotton fruit.” The fruit was originally found only in the south of Thailand, but is now grown all over the country. 

Try it: We poach it to bring out some heat which balances out the coolness of authentic sago in the Coconut & Longan Caramel dessert.

SALACCA

Another rainy season favourite, salacca, or snake fruit, is a gem native to Southeast Asia. The outside may be scaly and prickly like a cactus, but the inside is sweet, acidic and incredibly juicy. The fruit is renowned for its cooling properties.

Try it: Salacca adds a refreshing edge to our umami-rich dish of Smoked Duck and Garcinia Broth. It’s all about balance. 

MANGOSTEEN

Ah, the “queen of fruits.” The sweet and tangy mangosteen–or mung-kod–is beloved throughout Thailand, where the intense heat between April and July, just as the rainy season begins, yields the finest crops. While the white, fleshy pulp has long been a mainstay of local desserts, Chef Thep goes even further, creating a rich, nut-like butter from the mangosteen.

Try it: Mangosteen seed butter makes a delicious cameo in the Coconut & Longan Caramel dessert.

NAMPHUNG DUGON HAA

We’re having wild, wild, wild thoughts about wild honey. Smooth and intense, the very best honey is collected in the fifth month of the year, right before the rainy season when the weather is at its hottest—hence the name “Namphung Dugon Haa” (literally “honey of the fifth month”). As the forest is so dry at this time, the honeycomb may pick up the aroma of what’s around it; think notes of coffee, orange, galangal… 

Try it: Namphung Dugon Haa features in the dessert of Coconut and Longan Caramel, which rounds out your Wasan Ruduu dining experience. 

TAAN’s Wasan Ruduu seasonal tasting menu is available now as 6 Courses (THB 1,600++/person) or 9 Courses (THB 2,500++). For reservations, head here.