David Thompson to Open Thai Restaurant in Bangkok; Set Menus from THB 1,800 per person

In July 2010, David Thompson - the Australian-born chef of nahm at The Halkin hotel in London - will open his first restaurant in Bangkok. He will be working alongside his long-term partner of 20 years, Thai-born Tanongsak Yordwai, who helped Thompson set up the chef’s first hit restaurant, Darley Street Thai, in Sydney in 1992. This was followed by Sailors Thai, also in Sydney, and nahm in London.

“It will be great,” said Thompson, “to land back into Bangkok and all that delicious chaos. I can’t wait to use local ingredients, going to the markets, playing around in the kitchen, and then putting them onto the dishes in the restaurant.”

Key dishes will include a jungle curry with snake-headed local fish known as pla chorn grown in the clear water of the rice paddies. “It is an ugly looking fish, but the flesh is delectable. It is firm, plump, sweet and entirely delicious,” said Thompson. There will be rich dishes on the menu—for instance a southern geng gati of crushed prawns with turmeric and coconut cream or a northern relish of grilled chillies and tomatoes known as nahm prik nuum. These will also be a colourful array of Thai deserts prepared by Tanongsak, and a wine menu selected by Troy Sutton, the sommelier who has worked with Thompson in London from the start.

Open lunch and dinner seven days a week, the restaurant will be located in the Metropolitan Bangkok on South Sathorn Road. It will be designed by Japanese interior architect, Koichiro Ikebuchi, who also designed Uma Ubud in Bali and Aoki in Singapore. nahm, Bangkok will feature a private dining room and terrace dining.

Set menus will be priced at 1,800 Baht per person (around US$56).

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