Naamyaa Café

Ate at David Thompson's nahm at The Halkin Hotel for one final lunch before its doors closed for good on 15 December 2012. 11 years. It's been a good run. The friends and I have had many wonderful memories of meals at nahm London. And our lunch this round was great too.

Unfortunately by now, many familiar servers at the London restaurant have left. :( But I understand some are working for nahm Bangkok. From now on, David Thompson will concentrate on his restaurant in Bangkok. Good for us. Really don't mind popping into nahm Bangkok again, especially when it's got the undivided attention of the owner. Am hopeful that the menu will be more exciting, and not just try to knock us out with the heavy-handed chillies in the food.

I wouldn't have paid heed to new kid on the block Naamyaa Cafe but for the fact that the friends hang out at its sister eateries Busaba Eathai and Isarn Thai. Each trip, without fail, the friends would drag me screaming and kicking to a meal at Busaba Eathai. I'm here for such a short while. Why would I want to eat things that I can get at home??! Arrrrrrgh. Was dragged to Naamyaa Café too. Anyway, the three restaurants are a joint venture between Alan Yau and David Thompson. Run by Alan Yau of Wagamama (eioowww!) and Hakkasan (okaayyy lah), Naamyaa sees David Thompson in the kitchen for the now.

Not at all impressed with Busaba Eathai or Isarn Thai. Of course I'm judging it not as a resident, but as a visitor who comes from a city that has pretty decent Thai food and authentic spices. So Busaba Eathai to me is just...another eatery offering pseudo Thai food. Now, Naamyaa. Don't mindit. Don't know how it'll turn out months down the road, but as long as they keep a quarter of the menu that's more authentic than Busaba Eathai's but not as conservative as Isarn Thai's, it works for me. Their version of a yam pak salad (a green mango based vegetable and fruit salad drizzled with tamarind sauce) tasted pretty good. No phad thai here. If you want that, go to its sister eateries. Naamyaa's seafood laksa was awful. It was unlike any laksa we know, and tried to murder tastebuds with the gigantic heap of chilli padi swimming around the bowl. Laksa doesn't work like that. Numbing our tastebuds won't get an eatery brownie points.

In spite of how Naamyaa claims that it's not a fusion restaurant (probably defined as a mix of food on a plate rather than the menu), it serves burgers and what has been touted to be Malaysian and Japanese food. Of course there're Chinese influences. Odd. Whatever. We'd be quite silly to order a burger here. The menu looks very confused, as is the decor. But I guess there's something for everyone at the table. Before the first course arrived, we switched to speaking in Thai. At least our conversation would be a tad more private, especially when we were commenting on the food arriving at the table. We sighed. The pathetic-ness of not being able to cook, and not liking the idea of cooking enough. No one's going to get decent Thai food till somebody's parents pop in for a visit and occupy the kitchen for a day or two. In spite of having grown up in Thailand, the friends can't cook a tom yam soup or phad thai to save their lives. Heh.