An extraordinary meal generates good conversation. Others easily fade in memory. That is, unless they are made the subject of gastronomic debate, particularly when the subject involves stellar recognition.
I recently had an enjoyable lunch at Nahm at Como Metropolitan. It was my fifth visit there since the Thai restaurant opened in Bangkok in 2010, but the first since it's been awarded a Michelin star and also the first without David Thompson taking the helm of its culinary direction.
Back then, when the Australian chef led the kitchen, the dishes -- although they sounded and looked nothing but homespun -- tasted like they spoke devotedly of bygone cooking glory and crude piquancy rather than familiar complacency. And, much as some guests might disapprove the bold intensity, such an experience that opened one's palate to a new delight back in time was for me truly worth noticing.
Today, Nahm Bangkok is under the culinary command of Pim Techamuanvivit, the restaurant's newly appointed head chef.
The salad of fiddlehead fern with wild prawn and thawai dressing.
A Bangkok native who's lived in San Francisco for the past two decades, Pim gave up her Silicon Valley career to pursue her passion for cooking. Her blog Chez Pim, which she launched in 2003, was voted one of the most influential food blogs in the world by the Guardian. While Kin Khao, a Thai restaurant she opened in 2014 in the Bay Area, now holds a Michelin star.
At Nahm, which she joined nine months ago, Pim intends to uphold the restaurant's original roots in traditional Thai cuisine while injecting her personal style and flavours into the menu. She also develops closer relationships with farmers and artisan-food producers across Thailand to ensure authenticity.
The new menu, listing approximately 30 dishes, takes its cue from her personal repertoire of favourites, most of them garnered and adapted from her family's recipes.
Meals here start with a complimentary selection of amuse bouche. Served before me was a crispy black savoury crepe, the chef's rendition of classic khanom buang khem that's slightly modernised with a hue of charcoal.
There are two choices of canapes on the lunch menu. Pu son klin, a peppery salad of blue swimmer crab, coriander and pickled garlic on rice crackers (470 baht); and miang nop pha khao, a Thai-style bite-sized salad of lobster meat, shredded chicken, green mango, pomelo pulps, crispy shallots, snake fruit, pomegranate and fresh thong lang leaf (500 baht), were delectable.
Chef Pim's khanom jin nam phrik, or fermented rice noodles with sweet and nutty shrimp curry accompanied by deep-fried prawn and assortment of vegetables (720 baht), proved on-point. Meanwhile, her nam phrik mhak mad, described on the menu as a spicy relish of prickly ash served with grilled organic pork jowl and fresh vegetables (640 baht), was beyond criticism.
Thai-style fermented rice noodles with nutty shrimp curry, deep-fried prawn and assortment of vegetables.
The delicious thick-paste relish is prepared with roasted and pounded sun-dried fish seasoned with aromatic bark of the peppercorn-like prickly ash (or mhak mad in northern Thai dialect), red chillies and other herbs. The taste was uniquely peppery with a hint of floral and citrus scent. Perfectly complementing the relish were succulent slices of charcoal-grilled pork and fresh greens, namely spring onions, cucumber sticks and young tips of white leadtree (aka kra thin).
I also liked the ngob thalay, or grilled banana leaf packet of seafood curry pudding (840 baht); and salad of fiddlehead fern (aka phak kood) with wild prawn and thawai dressing (780 baht), both from the entrée selection.
The pudding, featuring morsels of blue swimmer crab, wild prawn and red grouper fish meat seasoned with wild ginger and red curry paste, provided a comfortingly subtle taste and mouthfeel. Meanwhile, the salad nicely offered an authentic flavour-profile of yum thawai thanks to its curry sauce made with broiled dried fish, coconut cream and shallots, but with the crunchy fern as the main green (as opposed to the conventional medley of seven vegetables) on the plate.
For soup, I found the wagyu beef cheek in mild herbaceous consomme (480 baht) overwhelmed by the cloying sweet tang of the broth.
And for main dishes to eat with rice, wok-tossed live river prawns with Thai samphire, garlic, shallots and peanut (880 baht) proved pleasant, though I had quite a few times eaten a more memorable recipe, and the massaman curry of lamb with longan (980 baht) tasted mediocre.
Of the current two dessert options, I recommend sweet pandanus dumplings in warm coconut milk (350 baht) and not fruit in scented syrup.
Chef Pim has definitely achieved her goal, as she says she would like diners at Nahm to feel as if they are invited to a Thai friend's home and experiencing "an authentic cuisine that's rich in flavours and cooked from the heart".
But for the restaurant's high accolades and five-star price tags, I wouldn't blame any paying guests believeing they should expect more.
Advance booking is required for dinner guests. Walk-ins are welcome at lunch time.
Grilled banana leaf packet of seafood curry pudding.
Bite-sized salad of lobster, chicken, green mango, snake fruit, pomegranate and fresh thong lang leaf.
