Australian David Thompson is easily one of the most iconic non-Thai Thai food restaurateur internationally. Books published. 2. Restaurants owned. 3. Lives influenced. Infinity. It's not everyday that I find myself in Bangkok so I might as well give one of his aforementioned restaurants: Nahm, a try.
For those terrible with directions (me), their address on Sathorn road is also called Sathom road. I'm not sure why. We got lost for a while but in the end we took refuge under the blistering heat and finally found the restaurant past the metropolitan hotel entrance. It's sleek and sophisticated with its dimmed lighting, plush chairs and hard timbers, geared towards a more Western audience but there's bits of Thai influences with the uneven textured columns and flourishes of flowers giving it a little life.
It's 1100 Thai baht (roughly 36-37 aud depending on whether you find a good exchange rate) for the lunch set menu which seemingly is an okay value and it still remains some what so even with the additional compulsory 10 percent, 7 percent Vat (Value-added tax) and 50 baht still water fee (tap should be made available) that's added in the end. It can be quite overwhelming all these surcharges so be prepared but what can you do? The set consists of 2 appetizers, a choice of 3 mains to share and a dessert.
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| 'amuse' |
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| southern grilled mussels |
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| spicy pork with mint, peanut and crunchy rice on betel leaves |
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| salad of deep fried soft shelled crab with pomelo, chillies and coriander |
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| deep fried grouper with fish sauce |
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| grilled duck breast curry with sour tomatoes |
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| thai desserts no. 1 |
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| thai desserts no. 2 |
This is no molecular gastronomy what-not which would absolutely feel out of place. This is real banging Thai food. Its intensity. Its authenticity. Is it top 50 material? Hmmmm... questionable. I can't really say not, being much of a globe trotter myself. Service is efficient yet heavily drilled, lifeless and stone cold. You won't see a warm smile here that even the spicy cuisine can make up for.
The prices are cheap for fine dining, but not cheap compared to the rest of its Bangkok surroundings. I can rave on about the food, at the close-to-perfect-but-not-quite-there-yet stage, but in the end, it's about the complete experience. Flavours were spot on and explosive and yet there were no wowing moments oddly enough. I suppose I'm still a sucker for the glitz and glammer of theatrics and a bit of heart overall. Australia still takes it for me.
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