Spices: Nahm - Dining at Asia's Best Restaurant for 2014

For the past couple of years I've always used the Miele Guide as my basis for the best restaurants in Asia but sadly the publishing body has ceased operation. Before going to Bangkok, I researched on good restaurants that we can eat at. Nahm appeared as the best restaurant in Asia for that year, 2014 in S.Pelligrino Worlds 50 best website Upon reading that the restaurant serves Thai cuisine, I purposely scheduled our meal there on our last day in Bangkok to be able to compare it with our street food experience.

Nahm - Asia's Best Restaurant for 2014

It was a choice between going ala carte or having their set lunch menu. We would usually go for different set menus but the server told us that we could only choose one set menu for the three of us. This is because the resto serves the dishes in family sytle bowls and plates meant for sharing. Diners can also have as much rice as they want. We decided to have one set meal and just order two other ala carte dishes in order to try out more.

Dishes are meant for sharing

To start we were given a triangular piece of Pineapple topped Minced Pork and Peanuts as our amuse bouche.
It looks really simple and it was just perfect to excite our paletes, refreshingly sweet and savory salty.

Pineapple topped with Minced Pork and Peanuts

We wanted something to cool us down, we asked the server for his recommendations and we ended up having the Thai Sabai and the Tom Yumtini. Among the two cocktails, we favored the Tom Yumtini more because of its uniqueness. It tasted weird at first cause it exactly taste like the tom yum soup. But the more we took little sips, the more we grew fonder of it.

Tom Yumtini and Thai Sabai

I would start off with the set menu, its a 6 course meal that consist of canape, salad, soup, curry, 'stirfried, steamed & grilled' and dessert. The lunch set cost 1,300 Baht (price has increased to 1,500 Baht as of the moment.) There were two choices for the Canape course but I the resto was generous to us because they served us both. Prawn and Coconut Wafer with Ginger and Blue Swimmer Crab with Peanuts and Pickled Garlic on Rice Cakes.

Prawn and Coconut Wafer with Ginger & Blue Swimmer Crab with Peanuts and Pickled Garlic on Rice Cake

The ingredients that were used for the Salad of Fresh River Prawn and Pork with Asian Pennyworth was so fresh but I found the dressing lacking in flavor.

Salad of Fresh River Prawn and Pork with Asian Pennyworth

All of us didn't like the Hot and Sour Soup with Chicken, Prawn and Wild Mushroom. The soup has a strong fishy scent and taste. It seems that they put too much fish sauce in the soup, it was totally off putting.

Hot and Sour Soup with Chicken, Prawn and Wild Mushroom

The Jungle Curry of Chicken with Wild Ginger, Green Peppercorn, Madan and Thai Basil tasted good but I it was missing a certain flavor that I tasted in the curries of the streets stalls in Bangkok.

Jungle Curry of Chicken with Wild Ginger, Green Peppercorn, Madan and Thai Basil

I enjoyed the Stir Fried Pork with Dried Prawns, Apple, Eggplant and Chillies the most. The combination of the textures and flavors are really interesting, I just wished this was spicier.

Stir Fried Pork with Dried Prawns, Apple, Eggplant and Chillies

For dessert, we were served Sweet Thai Wafer with Poached Persimmon and golden duck egg noodles. Simple and really refreshing.

Sweet Thai Wafer with Poached Persimmon and Golden Duck Egg Noodles

We had two additional Ala Carte dishes, the first one was Green Curry of Beef with Thai Basil and Eggplants. The beef was exceptionally tender but again there was something missing in the curry.

Green Curry of Beef with Thai Basil and Eggplants

The other dish we had was the Pak Warn Stir Fried with Garlic and Mushrooms. Pak Warn is a kind of green leafy vegetables that translates to sweet leaves in Thai. The vegetables was stir fried with  light soy sauce and it had the beautiful scent and flavors of garlic. A dish that tasted very familiar, it reminded me of the local dish of Adobong Kangkong.

Pak Warn Stir Fried with Garlic and Mushrooms

As I've mentioned before, we ate here at our last day in Bangkok. We've already tasted and experienced the amazing flavors of Thai food in the streets and in restaurants. Nahm uses top notch ingredients, the way they prepare and cook each dish is exceptional. But taste wise, I felt that they down play the flavors a bit. All of the dishes were good but lacks the oomph and umami goodness compared to local dishes that we've tried. If we've dined here on our first day in Bangkok, I might have a different opinion. If asked if dining here is worth it, it's still a yes. Will I come back? Maybe not because I'll head to the streets of Bangkok to eat, Soi 38 specifically.

Nahm
Address: Inside Hotel Metropolitan,  27 Sathorn Road, Thung Maha Mek, Sathon, Bangkok
Tel No.:  +662 625 3333
Webpage: http://www.comohotels.com/metropolitanbangkok/dining/nahm/reservations