Nahm Restaurant Bangkok

[fountainhall]

I’m not one who usually posts restaurant reviews. If they’re particularly good or bad, others have usually posted before me, so why bother? This time, though, my friends and I were so pissed off at one of Bangkok’s supposedly finest eateries that I felt a warning should be posted.

Nahm is, or used to be, one of the finest Thai restaurants in London. Until last year, it boasted one Michelin star. So its opening at the Metropolitan Hotel in Bangkok’s Sathorn Road was eagerly awaited by many gourmets. The restaurant boasts of serving authentic Thai cuisine by using the most ancient of recipes. Australian Chef David Thompson grounds his cuisine “in the finest traditions of the Thai culinary arts then adding his own interpretation—juxtaposing sweet and salty, hot and sour.”

Bangkok’s Nahm has a modern, elegant minimalist look. But from the moment you sit down, there are problems. The tables are too high off the floor for any sort of comfort (the maitre d' admitted they had screwed up!), they are too wide and the ambient noise in a rectangular room filled with straight hard surfaces means you have almost to shout to make yourself heard across the table.

The waiters spoke very little English and the service was generally surly – not even average. Since the dishes are rarely found in other Thai restaurants – even top of the line ones – we requested explanations but understood little of what was being said. So we chose the tasting menu at Bt. 1,700++ EACH! We would have liked wine, but the extensive and excellent list was vastly overpriced. We settled for beers.

We stressed that although residents of Thailand, we wanted dishes only medium-spiced. When the waiter then pointed out chilies in one dish and suggested we remove them from the food, we guessed our request had not reached the chef. It hadn’t! Almost every dish was very hot. Certainly they were full of flavour, but we got to the point where we simply could not eat them because our taste buds had been blown to pieces! Thank goodness we had not splashed out on a bottle of wine! Reading reviews elsewhere, it seems this is the type of spicy food you can get at certain street stalls - at a tiny fraction of the cost, though!

Overall, this was one of the least enjoyable meals we have had in many years. Over-priced, over-spiced - and vastly over-rated!

[Alex]

Thanks for the report, it looks like getting the level of spiciness right for each and every customer, with their different tastes, is a problem that isn't limited to the cheap places. Obviously, it's all the more disappointing when you've heard good things about a certain restaurant, therefor come with high expectations and hope for a pleasant experience matching the price tag. More often than not, in touristy restaurants, the Thai food ends up being too bland, even if you want it rather spicy. In your case, it went wrong reversely.

Having said that, I got the impression that you might have confused the wait staff unnecessarily by stressing that you don't want your food spicy, although residents of Thailand. Why is it relevant that you're residents of Thailand, especially when you don't want your food spicy? Lesson learnt: Take at least one Thai friend along to explain the menu to you, if your Thai isn't up for the task, although residents of Thailand.

[lvdkeyes]

Why is it relevant that you're residents of Thailand, especially when you don't want your food spicy?

It is completely irrelevant; my bf doesn't like very spicy food. His whole family make fun of him for it. When he orders food and tells them "not spicy" the servers usually giggle.

[Gaybutton]

His whole family make fun of him for it.

Good for him! I'm glad he orders his food the way he likes it instead of the way others have decided he's supposed to like it. And he's not alone. I've eaten with many Thai boys who also won't eat spicy food.

[fountainhall]

Why is it relevant that you're residents of Thailand, especially when you don't want your food spicy? Lesson learnt: Take at least one Thai friend along to explain the menu to you, if your Thai isn't up for the task, although residents of Thailand.

Your point is well taken, although I think to be fair, to us a 5-star restaurant in a 5-star hotel should not have trouble explaining its dishes in some detail in English even without a native Thai speaker in our party! I cannot think of any other similarly located restaurant in the city where the quality of English spoken by the staff was so incredibly poor.

Since our visit, I have checked up on some blogs. It is clear that Nahm has become one of the most controversial restaurants in the city, polarising opinions into lovers and haters. There seems to be little middle ground! It also doesn't seem to cater for individual tastes. You basically take what is offered or leave it. Quite unlike any other Thai restaurant I have visited!

[Alex]

Your point is well taken, although I think to be fair, to us a 5-star restaurant in a 5-star hotel should not have trouble explaining its dishes in some detail in English even without a native Thai speaker in our party! I cannot think of any other similarly located restaurant in the city where the quality of English spoken by the staff was so incredibly poor.

Sure, you're right about that, I cannot think of any such restaurant where this would cause a problem either. And it really shouldn't.

[Canadien]

I have eaten there once many months ago and thought the food was good. This is not a cheap restaurant. In fact, one of the most expensive in the city.