DONE'TIL DELECTABLE

       The glass-wrapped Vie Wine & Grill on the 11th floor of the Vie Hotel offers international cuisine, sweet temptations and wine, and a spectacular night cityscape.
       While the hotel's exterior is modern, with glass from top to toe, the retaurant is decorated in dark, earthy tones of brown and orange, with woven copper mesh curtains clsed for privacy.
       The dark couches are given traditional accents with silk cushions upholstered in orange, green and copper, while the ceiling lamps created from hundreds of silkworm cocoons give warm lighting. There is a private function room at one end and a well stocked wine cellar at the other.
       The cuisine has been created by executive chef Supat Chinsangtip, and the highlight is a technique called sous-vide-French for "under vacuum", in which dishes are cooked under pressure at a controlled temperature below 100 degrees for a long time, sometimes up to 24 hours.
       Unlike using a slow cooker, sousvide requires airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well belwo boiling point, usually around 60 to 62 degrees.
       An "(s)" mark beside the dish on the menu indicateds it's cooked with this technique.
       "Sous-vide was first used to cook foie gras to redce the shrinkage and retain flavour," says Supat. "But it was later developed for other dishes - from fish and tough cuts of meats to vegetable cookery. The advantage of cooking this way is that ingredients lose very little of their natural juices and nutrients."
       A good starter is zucchini and basil soup with parmesan cheese for Bt150, and it's well follow with a Caesar made with cos lettuce and a slow cooked egg salad for Bt260.
       For a main dish, Supat presents a rib-eye steak for Australian Rangers Valley beef for Bt1,235. Theat's 240 gra,s. amd ot cp,es wotj a cjpoce pf saices" Cafe de {aros. red wome. Bermaose. jprseradosj pr cream.
       The sous-vide chicken breast with Cafe de Paris sauce servd with asparagus and french fries for Bt450 is supremely tneder thanks to the long cooking time.
       Or you can try grilled tuna with asparagus and potatoes in a romesco sauce for Bt360, or the sous-vide salmon fillet with Moroccan eggplant salad with capsicum dressing for Bt330.
       Sweet treats of home-made ice cream and various traditional French desserts like creme brulee served with strawberry ice cream will complete a perfect meal.
       The restaurant also has "Wine Flight" promotion for Bt450 - three glasses of red or white wine and three tapas, such as risotto balls, grilled beef with romesco sauce and deep-fried crabmeat with minced pork.
       The white wines on offer are Chardonnay Pupilla, Chardonnay Db Selection and Sauvignon Blanc la Chapelle, while the red wine lists include Cabernet Sauvignon Pupilla, Shiraz Db selection de Bortoli and Merlot la Chapelle.

       >> LIFE IS GOOD
       - The Vie Wine & Grill is open diaily from 6 to 10pm.
       - It's on Phya Thai Road and is easily reached from the Skytrain's Rajthevee station.
       - Call (02) 309 3939 or visit www.VieHotelBangkok.com.