I was looking forward to last night’s dinner at Nahm with a lot of anticipation. Not quite like Christmakah morning, but all things considered, pretty close. Nahm, located in the Halkin Hotel in Belgravia* is the only Michelin Star restaurant in all of Europe that serves Thai food. In anticipation of my evening meal out, I did a little Jessice Fletcher recognisance work earlier in the day. I learned that the chef, David Thompson, is a transplanted Australian who also owns Sailor’s Thai Canteen (STC) in Sydney. This felt like the ultimate stroke of good luck because not only have I been to STC on both occasions I was in Sydney, but I loved the food so much that when I was there this past February ARC and I ate there twice in one week.
STC is quite informal and not very expensive. It’s loud and hubbub-y, with a family-style table running the length of the restaurant. While I wasn’t expecting the same food at Nahm since it's a much more formal and posh place, I was still expecting something ridiculously delicious. Going into anything with uber high-expectations is always a recipe for disaster. No matter how good it is - it hardly ever hits the mark.
FM and I arrived at the Halkin hotel about 20 minutes late for our reservation due to our jibber jabbering over a couple glasses of Pinot Grigio at the Beauchamp Bar in Knightsbridge. I rang the restaurant to let them know and immediately I could tell from the hostess’s response that it didn’t make one lick of difference. Low and behold when we arrived at the restaurant at 8:20 it was nearly empty except for a table of 4 American business men.
Nahm felt very much like the hotel restaurant that it is. The room glowed in subtle yellow tones with unassuming Asian accents. While not really unappealing in any distinct way, I said to FM that the room felt as boring as the décor in a school cafeteria.
The traditional Thai nahm arharn meal chose us…meaning that FM had procured a coupon which allowed us a “free” bottle of wine if we ordered it. The menu consisted of a starter, a soup, and a salad, curry, and stir fry to share. To start we were served an amuse bouche of prawn, peanut and chili paste on mandarin orange and pineapple segments. It really whetted the appetite and hinted at wonderful things to come.
Our starter was kanom muang gai kem, salted chicken and longan wafers with Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. A longan is a Thai fruit similar to a lychee I discovered. The wafers were rolled cannoli style and stuffed with the chicken and longan concoction. I expected it to be hot, but was pleasantly surprised how good it was at room temperature.
Nahm’s biggest faux pas came shortly thereafter. We were served the soup, warmed salad, curry, stir-fry and rice all at the same time. As someone who enjoys hot food eaten hot – I knew that short of making a fuss – I was going to have to get down to business. Difficult when you have two big talkers like FM and me (e.g. during the course of the meal I got 300 years of Irish/British relations and history from FM). The soup was geng jeut bai dtamleung muu bachor, clear soup of minced pork dumplings with ivy gourd leaves. Most likely Thailand’s non-kosher take on matzo-ball soup, it was light and flavourful. However, the menu said “minced pork dumplings” (plural) and while I had a massive amount of ivy gourd leaves (sort of like kale) I only had 1 dumpling– so did feel a bit short change.
Needless to say the rest of the food was eaten room temperature. Green curry of braised salted beef with wild ginger, apple and pea aubergines was too spicy for my palate and filled with items that didn't look or taste anything like apples, peas, or aubergines (perhaps my lack of knowledge on authentic Thai vegetables being my down-fall here). Stir fried long aubergines with yellow beans and Thai basil weren’t long and didn’t have any yellow beans. Fortunately for me, it still tasted quite good. The best dish of the evening was the salad of crispy pork with squid and chili jam. The pork was sufficiently crispy and even though the dish was cold, it still managed to dance with the tender squid quite beautifully.
Desserts were included in our meal and while beautifully presented they didn't particularly suit my palate. I made a mental note to smuggle some chocolate in my backpack for when I go to Thailand in a few months – for if these desserts were any indication of Thai sweets - I'll probably need an emergency stash.
FM and I shared both the rice custard with longans, banana puree and young coconut with young coconut biscuits and rice dumplings in coconut cream with crunchy sesame seed cakes with peanuts, coconut, and palm sugar. Funny about not being too keen on these desserts because coconut is probably one of my favorite things ever, matched not far behind with a guilty pleasure love of rice custard. However, the first dessert had absolutely no flavor of banana whatsoever – and was reminiscent of what I might have eaten before I had teeth. The rice dumplings lacked dumplings – it was the same consistency as the rice pudding. The sesame seed cakes however, were quite good. They balanced the sweet, salty, nutty spectrum quite well.
This meal – OFFICIALLY wins the award for the most expensive dinner I’ve ever paid for. The set price itself was pretty steep at £55 per person, but our £13.50 ($27) glasses of champagne didn’t help either – or rather they did help - depending on one’s perspective! Plus water, tea etc…it made a big impact. I’m surprised by the Michelin Star – and can only attribute it to possibly ordering the wrong things.
Having not been to Thailand (October 2007, Ya Hoo!) I can’t claim the authenticity of the food either. Were the dishes something I’ll find when I visit? Or was the food some fandangled western-palate inspired Thai Cuisine? Either way, it probably doesn’t matter. I imagine that for the cost of the dinner I could a) come close to buying a beach hut in a remote Thai local (with staff) b) have enough money to travel through that part of the world for 2 weeks and eat and sleep quite well or c) make some serious inroads on a flight to Sydney so I can head back to STC for some kick-ass AND inexpensive pad-thai.
Belgravia* - Neighborhood with a lot of embassies and really posh/rich people
STC is quite informal and not very expensive. It’s loud and hubbub-y, with a family-style table running the length of the restaurant. While I wasn’t expecting the same food at Nahm since it's a much more formal and posh place, I was still expecting something ridiculously delicious. Going into anything with uber high-expectations is always a recipe for disaster. No matter how good it is - it hardly ever hits the mark.
FM and I arrived at the Halkin hotel about 20 minutes late for our reservation due to our jibber jabbering over a couple glasses of Pinot Grigio at the Beauchamp Bar in Knightsbridge. I rang the restaurant to let them know and immediately I could tell from the hostess’s response that it didn’t make one lick of difference. Low and behold when we arrived at the restaurant at 8:20 it was nearly empty except for a table of 4 American business men.
Nahm felt very much like the hotel restaurant that it is. The room glowed in subtle yellow tones with unassuming Asian accents. While not really unappealing in any distinct way, I said to FM that the room felt as boring as the décor in a school cafeteria.
The traditional Thai nahm arharn meal chose us…meaning that FM had procured a coupon which allowed us a “free” bottle of wine if we ordered it. The menu consisted of a starter, a soup, and a salad, curry, and stir fry to share. To start we were served an amuse bouche of prawn, peanut and chili paste on mandarin orange and pineapple segments. It really whetted the appetite and hinted at wonderful things to come.
Our starter was kanom muang gai kem, salted chicken and longan wafers with Thai basil and kaffir lime leaves. A longan is a Thai fruit similar to a lychee I discovered. The wafers were rolled cannoli style and stuffed with the chicken and longan concoction. I expected it to be hot, but was pleasantly surprised how good it was at room temperature.
Nahm’s biggest faux pas came shortly thereafter. We were served the soup, warmed salad, curry, stir-fry and rice all at the same time. As someone who enjoys hot food eaten hot – I knew that short of making a fuss – I was going to have to get down to business. Difficult when you have two big talkers like FM and me (e.g. during the course of the meal I got 300 years of Irish/British relations and history from FM). The soup was geng jeut bai dtamleung muu bachor, clear soup of minced pork dumplings with ivy gourd leaves. Most likely Thailand’s non-kosher take on matzo-ball soup, it was light and flavourful. However, the menu said “minced pork dumplings” (plural) and while I had a massive amount of ivy gourd leaves (sort of like kale) I only had 1 dumpling– so did feel a bit short change.
Needless to say the rest of the food was eaten room temperature. Green curry of braised salted beef with wild ginger, apple and pea aubergines was too spicy for my palate and filled with items that didn't look or taste anything like apples, peas, or aubergines (perhaps my lack of knowledge on authentic Thai vegetables being my down-fall here). Stir fried long aubergines with yellow beans and Thai basil weren’t long and didn’t have any yellow beans. Fortunately for me, it still tasted quite good. The best dish of the evening was the salad of crispy pork with squid and chili jam. The pork was sufficiently crispy and even though the dish was cold, it still managed to dance with the tender squid quite beautifully.
Desserts were included in our meal and while beautifully presented they didn't particularly suit my palate. I made a mental note to smuggle some chocolate in my backpack for when I go to Thailand in a few months – for if these desserts were any indication of Thai sweets - I'll probably need an emergency stash.
FM and I shared both the rice custard with longans, banana puree and young coconut with young coconut biscuits and rice dumplings in coconut cream with crunchy sesame seed cakes with peanuts, coconut, and palm sugar. Funny about not being too keen on these desserts because coconut is probably one of my favorite things ever, matched not far behind with a guilty pleasure love of rice custard. However, the first dessert had absolutely no flavor of banana whatsoever – and was reminiscent of what I might have eaten before I had teeth. The rice dumplings lacked dumplings – it was the same consistency as the rice pudding. The sesame seed cakes however, were quite good. They balanced the sweet, salty, nutty spectrum quite well.
This meal – OFFICIALLY wins the award for the most expensive dinner I’ve ever paid for. The set price itself was pretty steep at £55 per person, but our £13.50 ($27) glasses of champagne didn’t help either – or rather they did help - depending on one’s perspective! Plus water, tea etc…it made a big impact. I’m surprised by the Michelin Star – and can only attribute it to possibly ordering the wrong things.
Having not been to Thailand (October 2007, Ya Hoo!) I can’t claim the authenticity of the food either. Were the dishes something I’ll find when I visit? Or was the food some fandangled western-palate inspired Thai Cuisine? Either way, it probably doesn’t matter. I imagine that for the cost of the dinner I could a) come close to buying a beach hut in a remote Thai local (with staff) b) have enough money to travel through that part of the world for 2 weeks and eat and sleep quite well or c) make some serious inroads on a flight to Sydney so I can head back to STC for some kick-ass AND inexpensive pad-thai.
Belgravia* - Neighborhood with a lot of embassies and really posh/rich people
1 comment:
Sounds disappointing, but over here it's just quite hard to get good Thai food. Next time try Blue Elephant, for me the closest to the real thing. Or even... just wait a few months and for about 50p, you'll be dining on the most excuisitely flavoured Thai you hard western currency can buy.
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