Nahm – The Metropolitan Hotel, Bangkok

When choosing where to stay in Bangkok, for us, there was only ever one real contender – The Metropolitan Hotel.

We prefer smaller boutique hotels and usually book through Mr & Mrs Smith (see here) mainly because they always seem to have a good selection of residences that look “up our alley” but the ‘Smith extra’ always goes down a treat as well.

On this occasion our Smith extra included a daily breakfast and a meal in The Metropolitan’s ‘other’ restaurant – Glow.  

I say ‘other’ because, of course, The Metroploitain is perhaps more well known as the location of David Thompson’s acclaimed Thai restaurant – Nahm. (Nahm in London, which was the first Thai restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star, is in the Halkin Hotel that belongs to the same luxury hotel group - COMO Hotels).

Friends who had visited Bangkok before told us that the location was not great as the hotel is on South Sathorn Road in the business district and away from much of the hustle and bustle… this actually suited us.

If you didn’t mind the heat, it was walking distance from Lumpini Park and MRT (subway) station and, of course, the hotel concierge would kindly arrange for a ‘Taxi meter’ (perhaps the best way of getting around the city, despite the traffic choked streets).

We found the rooms modern, light, clean and well equipped for our needs. All staff we met were friendly and helpful throughout our seven day stay. Complimentary Wi-Fi, water and fruit added another bonus.

The biggest plus was the pool – it was beautiful, the perfect temperature and, even on the occasions that we didn’t get it to ourselves, there always seemed to be a spare sun lounger. Sadly the surrounding tall buildings did block out some of the sun throughout the day.

We did not make full use of the ‘Shambhala Urban Escape’ and gym but did use steam rooms and wonderful hydro-pools in the changing rooms.

So far, our mornings in Bangkok had been pretty hectic - up early for breakfast and then off exploring the wonderful sights, sounds, smells and tastes of Thailand.

The morning of our lunch at Nahm felt more like what perhaps a holiday should be – a lie-in followed by a leisurely breakfast and then off to the pool to relax and read.

Having enjoyed dinner at Nahm just a couple of nights previously (see here) I was naturally super excited to return. Laying on the sunlounger looking towards the restaurant, my wife and I decided that we’d ask for a poolside table to enjoy the view from a different angle. To whet my appetite further I had a re-read of Cumbriafoodie’s blog and excellent pictures from his last visit to Nahm (see here).

There were two options for lunch - a set menu featuring a smaller but similar selection similar to the evening menu or a ‘kanom jin’ (kanom jeen) noodle set… naturally, I chose to have both.

Like dinner, we started with the ‘Ma hor’ canapés – we were glad when these little horses galloped back into our lives.

Southern grilled mussels – just as good as we remembered them from dinner: plumps, smoky and beautifully presented on the fluted pandan leaf and wooden plate.

Spicy pork with mint, peanuts and crunchy rice on betel leaves – we had had these before at dinner but somehow the fresh crunch of the betel leaves and fiery filling tasted even better overlooking the midday sunshine. Fortunately my wife had found these too spicy so, this time, I got to eat them all to myself. 

Red curry with duck – having found much of the food at dinner too spicy my wife asked our waiter to recommend dishes that were lower down the Scoville scale.  He suggested the stir-fried prawn dish and kindly said he’s ask the kitchen to prepare a milder version of a red curry with duck. It still had heat but this came from a few fresh chillies as opposed to loads of dried ones and it was tempered with good amount of coconut milk and cream, palm sugar and Thai basil.

Stir-fried prawn, chicken and egg with pickled garlic – another fairly mild dish by Nahm standards, my wife ate most of this dish too but I did manage to snaffle one of the sweet, juicy prawns, all of the fresh chillies and some of the fabulous pickled garlic.

Green curry of tiger prawns with apple eggplants and Thai basil – this was a good, deeply flavoured green curry bursting with all those wonderful Thai flavours of lemongrass, galangal, holy basil, kaffir lime leaves and, of course, chillies.

Kanom jin: grilled catfish with yellow eggplants and southern ginger – this dish came in three parts: a fiery red curry with catfish; a side of fresh vegetables and herbs including lemon basil, banana blossom and feathery acacia shoots and a large bowl containing the fresh ‘kanom jeen’ noodles.

The noodles, made with fermented rice, were also accompanied by boiled eggs, dried chillies, grilled cuttlefish and the delectable ‘satoh beans; (Petai in Malaysian cuisine of ‘stink beans’ in English) which I had been enjoying from various street food stalls without knowing what they were.

A selection of Thai desserts featuring a wonderful array of local ingredients and flavours:

‘Lod chong’ green noodles flavoured with Pandan leaves served in a sweet, floral scented coconut milk ‘soup’ with black sticky rice, fresh longans, water chestnuts, caramelised taro and corn.

Alongside, wrapped in a Pandan leaf, came a ‘tapioca cake’ topped with a dense creamy coconut milk pudding and fresh longans.

Another plate, featured the popular street food ‘Khanom Buang’ or sweet Thai pancakes with coconut cream, persimmon, ‘golden duck egg noodles’ and raisins.

Accompanying the wafers we were also treated to the ‘Queen of fruits’ – the Mangosteen. I cannot describe this delicious fruit better than Jarrett Wrisley (chef / proprietor at Soul Food Mahanakorn): ”Imagine the best peach you've ever eaten, combined with a touch of passion fruit, a sliver of nectarine and a nip of lychee. Imagine a concord grape's sweet purple essence giving way to the clean leanness of a Granny Smith. Add a squeeze of lime, and a spoon of buttery brown sugar. Stir.”

Great hotel and an amazing restaurant worthy of its place at number 50 in the S.Pellegrino The World’s 50 Best Restaurant list.  

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Nahm by David Thompson at The Metropolitan, Bangkok

When, despite having never set foot in France, Englishman, Marco Pierre White, was lauded with three stars from Michelin, I’m sure a few ‘sourcils’ were raised across the Channel at this ‘rosbif’ taking them on at their own game.

When, Australian, David Thompson, opened Nahm at London’s Halkin Hotel - it became the first Thai restaurant in the world to be awarded a Michelin star. Upon opening Nahm in Bangkok –many Thais were naturally dubious of just how ‘authentic’ this ‘Farang’s’ food could be.

Whereas, Marco learnt his trade from French greats such as Raymond Blanc, Pierre Koffman and the Brothers Roux - Thompson learned from royal palace chefs and ‘old Thai women’, who, with a younger generation increasingly interested in westernised fast / snack food, are keen to share their knowledge before it is forgotten.

Years of travelling, living and working in Thailand and study of their food and its role in society and culture have resulted in David Thompson publishing books and becoming one of the world’s foremost authorities on Thai cuisine. The government even uses him as a consultant and to pass on his expertise to Thai chefs at the prestigious Suan Dusit College!

Celebrating our tenth anniversary with a second honeymoon, the main reason we selected Bangkok as a destination was to visit Nahm - largely, because of its inclusion on the S.Pellegrino list of the Top 50 Restaurants in the World, at number 50.

Expecting the meal to be an education as much as a dining experience, to say we were hoping for great things is a massive understatement - I was not disappointed.

With its red brick columns resembling the stepped chedis at the ancient Siamese city of Ayutthaya, gold leaf and Thai woven silk and dark lighting the décor was the perfect setting for a romantic meal.

Translating as ‘galloping horses’ our dinner got underway with an amuse bouche entitled Ma hor. Balanced on a ‘sour’ young pineapple base, these excellent little canapés featured a ‘sweet’ sticky mélange of minced pork, prawns and chicken simmered in palm sugar with peanuts, garlic and a topping of coriander and shards of red chilli. Sweet, sour, sticky goodness!

To get a traditional, balanced Thai style meal of sharing dishes, we decided to order from the ‘set menu’ which involved choosing a dish from each of the menu sections: Salad; Soup, Relish, Curry and Stir-fried, steamed and grilled. Before the main dishes arrived however we were served a series of Canapés. 

Southern grilled mussels – perfectly plump, smoky, spicy mussels served on sticks with slices of cucumber.  

Smoked fish, peanut and tapioca dumplings – usually called saku sai (saku = tapioca, sai = stuffed) these dumplings were delightfully formed from peals of tapioca with a rich pungent, nutty and smoky filling.

Prawn and coconut wafers with pickled ginger – the pancakes or ‘wafers’ were wonderfully light but it was the pickled gingers that I particularly enjoyed. 

Spicy pork with mint, peanuts and crunchy rice on betel leaves – a dish reminiscent of the scene in Star Wars when Lord Vader throttles Admiral Motti! This, for me, was what I had been hoping for – ballsy food which grabbed you by the throat with its relentless spiciness. A delightful dish and quite unlike any I’ve ever been served in Thai restaurant at home. Wonderful textures and flavours: salty pork; dried chillies, mint; lemongrass; palm sugar; sweet onions with bitter, young, fresh betel leaves! (It’s worth checking out the Wikipedia page in Betel leaves – see here.)

Placing a heap of the sticky crunchy mixture (ensuring to include some dried chilli) on a betel leaf, rolling it and popping them in my mouth and the ensuing explosion of flavours will, I’m sure, remain one of my most enduring and endearing food experiences ever.

Salad: Salad of deep fried soft shell crab with pomelo, chillies and coriander – another dish liberally bejeweled with blistering red, fried chillies. This time, tempered by bursts of tartly sweet juice from the plumpest pomelo cells I have ever seen! 

Soup: Clear soup of roast duck with Thai basil and young coconut – this was my wife’s favourite dish. More of an umami hit than most of the dishes with a terrific tropical undertone from the coconut water used in the broth.

Relish: Fermented fish simmered with minced prawns and pork with chillies, galangal and green peppercorns served with fresh herbs – this dish came in three parts: the fermented fish, which had been simmered and lightly grilled were served on one plate with fresh herbs and vegetables; another plate featured the fiery mixture of fresh chillies, green peppercorns and galangal. The trio was completed by a bowl of sweet, sticky pork ‘relish’ with a liberal sprinkling of caramelised roasted garlic – a wonderful synergy of flavours.

Curry: Grilled wagyu beef curry with sour tomatoes – most of Nahm’s ingredients are sourced fresh from the best markets and suppliers in the area. Certain ‘prime ingredients’ are supplied from outside, including the wondrous wagyu beef whose flavour stood up to the fiery red curry. The sour tomatoes added a burst of freshness balanced by salty chunks of pickled, fermented snakehead fish called ‘pla rah’.   

Stir-fried, steamed and grilled: Stir fried venison with cumin and onions – to my mind, this was the weakest dish on the menu and was outshone by the exceptional Jasmine Rice (adding to the natural Jasmine scent here, they apparently infuse the rice water overnight with Jasmine flowers). The expected rich flavour of the venison seemed lost amongst the spice. The dish did not seem to have the same depth and complexity as many of the others and it was not as texturally interesting.

As a pre dessert we were served a ‘palate cleanser’ of Sour Mango with a mixture of sugar, salt and chilli – seemingly so simple yet so utterly scrumptious.

Lychees and salak in scented syrup with Thai cup cakes – I enjoyed the contract between the firm salak ‘snake fruit’ and the juicy lychees and the soft pillow-like Thai cup cakes.

Pistachio pudding and golden tear drops with perfumed mung beans – the pistachio pudding was sweet and sticky; the perfumed mung bean creamy and fresh but it was the rich egg dumpling formed into a ‘teardrop’ shape and set into oranges with the unmistakable scent of pandanus, jasmine and ylang ylang which really wowed!

A top meal and experience well worthy of its place on the S.Pellegrino World’s 50 Best Restaurants list – it will be interesting to see where it places when the inaugural Asia’s 50 Best is published next year.  

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