Throughout our travels, food was an important part of each and every destination. Routinely, we would go out of our way to get the specific meal we were looking for, like when we hunted down pepper crab in this lonely corner of Cambodia. However, sometimes, it’s important to fully embrace the city or country that you are in and eat all of the different types of foods in as many ways possible.
When in Thailand, and specifically in Bangkok, we did not want to skip eating any of the street food, we ate more than we could possibly imagine, and we always discovered something new that was incredibly delicious and perfect. We loved going out every night and finding somewhere new, cheap, and tasty to eat. With that being said, sometimes, we just wanted to find a nice restaurant to sit down, not in plastic chairs, and have a proper meal. Enter our Nahm Bangkok experience. This restaurant allowed us to eat at a Top 50 Restaurant in the World while also not forgetting the culture of Bangkok street food.
Located in the Como Metropolitan Hotel, Nahm is a restaurant fully focused on Thai street food in an upscale setting. Now, I know, often times, this leads to an untraditional version of traditional food that always leaves you wanting more. Nahm keeps it cuisine traditional by having it’s recipes come from Thai households. Thai recipes also means there’s no holding back on the spice here either.
Some good info for Nahm before getting into the dishes:
Reservations are an absolute must. We booked our table amount a month out, but it’s very doubtful to just be able to show up and get a table here.
Thailand is incredibly casual for most restaurants but Nahm is better suited for business casual dress.
The dishes are mostly small plates but they are all meant to be shared.
In US dollars, the tasting menu at Nahm will run you about $85 per person plus drinks. It is more than enough food and for a top 50 restaurant in the world, very affordable.
Our full canafe course! So many delicious small bites.
First Course
Some details: These were all incredibly delicious little bites to eat with your hands. Besides the fact that they were tiny and adorable, each one of these had such unique flavors. These dishes are called “canape” which means small plates.
What We Ate: Scallops with curry paste; prawn spring rolls; egg and pork stuffed “wontons”; spicy prawn and crab beetle leaf rolls
Our Favorite: The scallops here were our favorite. They give the perfect balance of curry and spice.
Most Unique: The wontons! It was if they had shredded wrappers on them. We did not see this anywhere else in Thailand.
Comparison to Street Food: Besides the prawn spring rolls, we did not see any of these dishes during our time wandering the streets for food. There were some similar dishes but nothing was quite like what we ate here during our first course. New food!
The legendary crab curry. So spicy but so tasty
Second Course
Some Details: This course had some of the spiciest dishes we have ever eaten. We were always confused between green onions and green chilis–hint: always assume chilis. Fortunately, Nahm has servers coming around with a never ending bowl of white rice.
What We Ate: Squid stuffed with sausage in soup; crab curry with spicy chili; grilled corn and prawn salad; meat patties with lettuce, herbs, and bean curd; pork with greens and spicy chilis
Our Favorite: Crab curry. This was one of our favorite dishes from our entire time traveling. The crab was just perfect and even though the green chilis were the spiciest thing ever, they still tasted good!
Most Unique: Squid stuffed with sausage? What! So weird but it works so perfectly. The squid ended up holding the sausage perfectly. This was so tasty.
Comparison to Street Food: The pork with greens and spicy chilis was an absolute staple throughout Thailand. We were so excited to eat this here because this was one of Joe’s “if I see it I have to eat it” foods here. Very cool to have it in a different way here at Nahm.
So many small things on a big plate! Hard to get them all in one bite but when you did it was perfection
Third Course
Some Details: We really did not eat dessert much in Thailand besides custard buns. Thai desserts are so much different than in the United States, so this was all new to us.
What We Ate: Thai wafers with coconut cream, preserved persimmon and egg, water ruby chestnuts with coconut milk
Our Favorite: The Ruby Chestnuts were not only pretty, they tasted so frickin good! So sweet and balanced with the coconut cream, this was a great dessert.
Most Unique: We originally thought the Thai Wafers were baby tacos. Well, we were wrong on that one but these are still super tasty and so different than anything we’d ever seen before.
Comparison to Street Food: The Thai Wafers were actually a dessert that we saw on the street after this. We tried it again and they tasted very different, however, really cool to have multiple interpretations of the dishes.
Overall Nahm Bangkok Experience
An unbelievable mixture of traditional Thai food in an upscale setting, Nahm gave us everything we wanted and more. To be able to see some of our favorite dishes from the streets in a Michelin starred restaurant was just a dream. If you are visiting Thailand and can plan ahead for a reservation–the Como hotel is absolutely gorgeous and worth staying at too–make sure Nahm is on your short list of restaurants to go to.
Joe is the husband of this duo! He loves traveling, the New York Giants, and sandwiches.