“Why haven’t you written a blog about the Thai restaurant I took you to yet?” the boyfriend asked me as we were driving home from a more satisfying dining experience last Sunday.
“Umm... because the photos didn’t come out very well.”
“But you took loads (not true, he just gets very embarrassed about it). You must have got a few good ones.”
“It was really dark in there and the flash makes the food look unappetising and colourless.”
“So a fairly accurate representation then.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just didn’t think it was that great, that’s all. I liked the trout salad and the relish thing you wrote about, but overall it was nothing special and, to be honest, I felt a bit ripped off at the end of it.”
And so it came about that I was able to admit the real reason why I had not written about our experience.
The restaurant in question was Nahm, David Thompson’s Michelin starred restaurant in Mayfair. I have long been a fan of Thompson’s book, Thai Food, and more recently, Thai Street Food, but had never been to one of his restaurants. I told myself afterwards that perhaps my expectations had been too high, but now I am not so sure.
Having difficulty choosing, I suggested that we do the Nahm Arharn or traditional Thai menu (£60pp) where you select a dish from each of the five sections on the menu for the table to share. What I had not understood was that everything would arrive at once:
Crispy smoked trout salad with corn peppers and green starfruit
Double steamed oxtail soup with mooli and asian celery
Grilled chiang mai chilli relish served with trout and lemongrass, pork crackling and herbs
Green curry of partridge with shampoo ginger and holy basil
Stir fried pork belly with shrimp paste, wild ginger and sadtor beans
I am in no doubt that this is the way things happen in Thailand, but I am equally sure that there such a meal would cost a fraction of what this did. When you are paying Michelin star prices you want your meal to arrive in stages with some thought on the chef’s part as to the best order in which it should do so. Nothing could logically follow the partridge curry, which was so hot that there was no tasting the bird or anything after it, but ignoring (or better removing) that the sequence could have been lifted straight from the sections of the menu, as listed above.
The crispy smoked trout salad was flawless, a perfect lesson in the Thai flavours – sweet, sour, salty and spicy. The sweet red peppers, smooth and slippery, were well contrasted with the salty flakes of crispy trout flesh and tangy starfruit and there was just enough chilli in the nam pla dressing to lift the dish without overwhelming the other flavours. We wolfed it down so fast that I didn’t get a chance to take a photo.
Regular readers will already know how I felt about the chiang mai chilli relish – fantastic! But the wow stopped there.
Green curry of patridgeThe oxtail soup was pleasant, but plain; the double steaming had done wonders for the meat, which was as tender as it could ever be, but the broth was uninteresting and decidedly un-Thai (not a hint of any of the four elements that were so prominent in the trout salad). Nonetheless, I was grateful I had ordered it if only because it provided much needed relief from the partridge curry.
The curry was the boyfriend’s choice. I had doubts about it – even if it hadn’t been so spicy the flavour of the partridge was still likely to be lost in it – but in this instance I kept my opinion to myself. He finds me rather domineering when it comes to shared menu choices and it was evident from the tone of his voice that he wanted me to know he would not be swayed.
As for the pork belly, I think the photo says it all:
Does that look like fine dining to you? Does it even look like pork belly? I rest my case.
On a positive note, the waiting staff were knowledgeable, gracious and efficient. Our sommelier, in particular, was extremely helpful, finding an exact match for the flavours and style of wine I had requested. I knew he was genuine because the bottle he chose was cheaper than the one I had enquired about; always a good sign in a top-end restaurant and a rare occurrence in my experience. So full marks for service, but one expects that in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
One also expects to be wowed by the food, but one flawless dish, one that was halfway there and three that could’ve, should’ve, would’ve is not a great hit rate in my book.
That sums up the experience really; it could’ve, should’ve, would’ve been wonderful. But it was a let down. And at £100 a head that’s not something you take lightly.
Nahm: The Halkin, Halkin St, London, SW1X 7DJ; 020 7333 1234; res@nahm.como.bz.