Thai break
A brief holiday in Thailand 15 years ago dramatically changed the life of young Australian chef David Thompson. As well as being so seduced by the country and its people that he ended up living there for two-and-a-half years, the experience provided him with the foundation that has since enabled him to go on to become a leading exponent of Thai cuisine.
Having established two restaurants - the Darley Street Thai and the simpler Sailors Thai - in Sydney to universal acclaim, Thompson, now 41, was recently offered the opportunity to set up a research centre at the Suan Dusit Academy, a Government-venture Thai cooking institute of some 60 years' standing. Yet in early July, he embarked on a different venture, opening a Thai restaurant, called Nahm, in London's Halkin hotel. Owner of the Halkin, Christina Ong, hopes Nahm will become as high profile and lauded a restaurant as Nobu, located at her other London hotel, the Metropolitan.
Like much else in Thompson's life, his move to the UK is more a happy coincidence than the result of any major game plan. The opportunity to take over the restaurant at the Halkin, vacated by Michelin-starred chef Stefano Cavallini, who has gone on to pursue other ventures, came about after Thompson had confirmed his intention to join the Suan Dusit Academy and subsequently close Darley Street Thai. However, bureaucratic hitches in Thailand have delayed Thompson's appointment there.
"I visited the Halkin in November 2000 and quickly realised that here was the perfect way to fill the gap and avoid being frustrated by the inevitable delays in Thailand," explains Thompson. "Initially my involvement was only going to be low-key, but as time has moved on my level of commitment has grown dramatically.
"I've now cleared the table for the next year-and-a-half so that I can be fully involved in running what is a very glamorous, gorgeous restaurant serving a cuisine that reflects both the best of Thai flavours and produce from around the UK. A good restaurant should always reflect its location. It would be a folly to dismiss the wonderful British game, meats, seafood and vegetables."
Thus, Scottish salmon and Colchester oysters are just as likely to be found on the menu as mangosteens and durian fruit shipped directly from Bangkok.
Thompson has a contract to run Nahm for at least five years. Once he takes up his post at Suan Dusit, probably in 18 months' time, he will continue to oversee the restaurant by travelling to London once a month for at least one week. A brigade of 10 chefs, including three from Darley Street Thai, will run the kitchen when he is away. Four nationalities are represented in the brigade: English, Australian, Thai and, inexplicably, Latvian.
While Australia has become the focus of fusion food in recent years, there is nothing fusion about Thompson's take on Thai food. "It is as authentic as it possibly can be, given that we are not in Thailand," proclaims Thompson. "We cut no corners."
Primarily, Thompson gleaned much of his knowledge of Thai cooking while living in Thailand from Khun Yai, an old woman who had previously worked in the royal palace in Bangkok. "She was difficult, demanding and a harridan," he says. "She made Gordon Ramsay look like a pussycat, but she helped me unravel the intricacies of the cuisine. She made me understand the importance of seasoning and balancing tastes. Through her, my view of what I had previously regarded as a street cuisine was transformed into something much more sophisticated.
"I had done a catering apprenticeship back in Australia and had previously regarded Western cookery as being the epicentre of the culinary world, but I was astonished to discover that Thai food is as venerable as French cuisine, with a history dating back more than 800 years."
Yet, despite being a rich country in culinary terms, Thailand has no history of restaurant food. Hence, much of what Thompson is now cooking at Nahm is more a reflection of home cookery. Many of his dishes are direct translations of recipes he has discovered in his collection of some 500 Thai funeral cookbooks, also known as "ngaan seu ngaan sop". These books are published by families to commemorate a loved one's departure and contain recipes that were significant in that person's life.
One such dish that originated in this way is crispy fish served with green mango. Catfish would be used in Thailand, but here Thompson is using dogfish, also known as huss, because it contains the right degree of collagen required. After being slowly roasted until dry, it is ground into a powder with a pestle and mortar and then immersed into hot oil and formed into a type of fish cake. The finished product is served on a salad of green mangoes, shallots and coriander and dressed with lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and chillies.
"I sometimes add pork belly to the dish as the sweet, succulent meat provides a wonderful contrast in flavour and texture to the crispy fish," says Thompson.
While some of Thompson's dishes are straight-forward to prepare - such as a stir-fry of razor clams and wild asparagus, seasoned with fish sauce and Thai basil - many more are complex, involving 30-40 ingredients and several different stages of preparation.
"This is where Thai food is at odds with Western food, where dishes are composed around just one or two flavours," says Thompson. "Thai cooking combines a wide variety of flavours, resulting in a dish that is both complex and balanced in its eating. The beginnings of a dish are often robust, but the finish is subtle and elegant."
One example is skate, salted and grilled slowly under charcoal for one to two hours to impregnate the fish with a hot smoky flavour. This is then combined with a complex curry paste made from a lengthy list of ingredients including chilli, garlic, shallots, galangal, wild ginger, dried prawns and oil. Crisp, green beans are added at the last minute to provide a dramatic contrast against the processed curry paste and smoky fish.
Desserts are largely based around the wonderful selection of tropical fruits imported from Thailand. "They are so good as they are that we do little to them," says Thompson. He also serves golden duck egg noodles, made from duck egg yolks that are lightly beaten and simmered in sugar syrup perfumed with jasmine flowers, accompanied by a duck egg white custard, also perfumed with jasmine.
With 65 seats, Nahm is larger than its predecessor at the Halkin. A private dining room has been incorporated into the main restaurant, which has been redesigned since Cavallini's departure by Edith Leschke and Renato de Marco. Russet walls, highlighted with gold effects and stucco, together with wooden slatted panelling and teak furniture, create a modern Oriental feel.
Lunch, when dishes that can be served swiftly within an hour are available, costs between £20 and £25 per head. "It is meant to be casual - our version of street food, with items such as green papaya salad, stir-fry noodles and Thai fish cakes," says Thompson.
Dinner is altogether more adventurous and intricate, with average spend at around £45-£50 per head. Dishes include clear rabbit soup with shiitake mushrooms, Thai basil and young coconut, and salad of Scottish oysters with samphire and lemon grass.
On the subject of the general quality of Thai restaurants in London, Thompson says: "I rarely eat Thai food in other restaurants. The best Thai food is usually found in the home."
