First a quick note on my tastes; I've eaten many of the biggies, from French Laundry to Trois Gros. Recently I've grown bored with fine dining, including recent bites with Chef Mavro in Hawaii and John Besh in New Orleans. Ok, I'm a spoiled brat, because they are all delicious. But all kind of the same-- french influenced in season tiny bites of perfect... yeah. It's good. It's all the same.
And I also adore Thai food; so much so that I spent a chunk of my time in Thailand at a professional cooking course in Koh Samui so I could grok it. So on my last night in Thailand I agonized between a night market or eating at David Thompson's acclaimed nahm. I was not so sure about nahm, because if I learned one thing about eating in Bangkok; if there is a roof involved, the food won't be as good. Plus he's Australian! And, since I'd had the best sausage of my life on the street for 50 cents, why pay 70 bucks for a tasting menu when 7 would do?
Well, boy was I wrong. Wrongy wrong wrong. nahm blew my mind (and blew out my tongue, but more on that later)
These photos cannot do justice to the depth of flavor, the so-very Thai balance of sweet, spicy, salty, sour and sometimes bitter. They cannot represent how perfectly each protein was cooked, or the luscious nature of the sauce. But maybe they will convince you to trek over there so you can too enjoy this gorgeous, gorgeous food.
Amuse buche of pork/shrimp/chicken/peanut on pineapple
smoked fish on tapioca, muscle satay, salt chicken in longon twille, spicy pork salad on betal leaf
Soft shell crab with pomelo; a version of Yum Som-o
Grilled pork. Don't know what he did to it, but it was both delicious and had the most amazing texture. Possibly the best thing I ate. and worst picture I took. ;)
Curried beef. a bit too spicy for me. But tasty enough to make me try.
Soup of squid and pork; very salty like the sea and very very yummy
These three came together (as did the previous three) an amazing shrimp in coconutmilk, a tasty fried fish and some rather odd and (IMHO) useless salad.
As my mouth was howling with pain, my waiter kindly brought me a treat to stop the heat: roasted apples with palm sugar. and it worked!
the dessert: lycee iced soup with fried shallots and thai "cupcakes." I could eat this for the rest of my life.
Also, mango with chili
and, of course, pettifor, all "lucky:" mung bean with gold leaf, crispy rice, a merangue for "lovely lady" and young coconut
for big pictures check out flickr or my blog
Edited by et alors, 03 May 2012 - 09:16 AM.
