Why was it important for you to have a restaurant here?
I’ve come home. [My partner] Tanonsak and I have been traveling to and from Thailand for the past 25 years. We spend 4-6 months a year here, and after all, it’s bloody Thai food!
How will you convince people that it’s worth it to come to nahm and spend money on Thai food?
That’s always been one of the difficulties that any Thai restaurant has had to contend with—either your maid cooks it very well or you can get it on the street. What we’re trying to do here is not the same as your B20 stall. That’s not to dismiss those B20 stalls because some of them are fantastic and you can’t compete with that. But we’ll use quality ingredients with quality recipes, cooked judiciously and at cost. We’ll also have some dishes that you won’t find at the stalls—some old fashioned curries, for example.
Is Thai food meant for fine dining?
The irony is that Westerners and Thais will pay for Italian food, they’ll pay for French food but not their own food. And Thai food deserves more; it’s one of the great world cuisines. So we’re trying to use exactly the same environment, service standards and quality of ingredients, except make it Thai.
Are you expecting the menu to be fixed or to evolve over months?
We’ll have a few dishes that will stay on, because that’s what customers want to order, but there will also be a changing parade of other dishes as well. A menu should never be frozen. You should take advantage of what’s in season, what’s in the market. A good restaurant should have that spontaneity.
