Friday, January 01, 2010

Nahm

The famous Nahm, opened, of course, by the equally famous David Thompson. Having never tried any of his restaurants before, I was really looking forward to this.

Food

We started with an Amuse – pineapple and mandarin with naim jim jam which I thought really told you something about the style of cooking here. Combining Thai flavour with modern techniques, these had a killer sauce and left us wanting more. We had:

  • Coconut Cup Cakes with red curry of crab and Thai basil - delicious crispy cakes with a not too fiery, but plenty tasty sauce.
  • Prawn and toasted coconut on Betel Leaves - a classic dish, and delivered as expected
  • Green curry of Crispy Royal Bream with Thai Aubergines and Wild Ginger - I was actually expecting a bit more, but at the end of the day, this is a green curry. Pleasant, I would like it a bit hotter, and the aubergines a bit more soft, but otherwise, it was just a bit boring.
  • Kanom Jin Noodles with Crab, Prawns and Chilli Jam - again, great sauce, this time quite strong and pungent in flavour, nice noodles
  • Mango and White Sticky Rice - you can’t go wrong here
and finished off an excellent meal with some Jasmine tea.

Rating - 8

Atmosphere

A grand ground floor space in a boutique hotel. The décor is of the modern variety, and probably costs a lot. The restaurant was definitely good looking, and had nothing to suggest it’s a Thai restaurant at all. Which I like. This is a place where you want to hear your designer gear to, but need to be seen as not trying too hard.

Rating - 2

Service

Very formal. There were lots of waiters floating around who all wanted to pour your wine for you. Each waiter brings out the food on a big platter, and makes a show of it.

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

Special Restaurant Week menu, 2 courses for £15, 3 courses for £20

Rating - 2

Brownie Points - 15.5

Info

Halkin Street
London
SW1X 7DJ
Phone +44 (0) 20 7333 1234
Website

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