On Day 2 in Bangkok, I found myself sitting in a modern dining room, surrounded by other Foodies, sampling food at Nahm, the 2014 Best Restaurant in Asia (as proclaimed by S. Pellegrino). I was sweating buckets and sniffling like a madman. The food was so delicious and it literally set my taste buds ablaze.
If you would like to try Nahm, reservations are a must as they get super full. Ever since they were proclaimed the Best Restaurant in Asia, it’s been difficult (not impossible) to get a table. I snagged our lunch table 3 weeks in advance.
We started with the amuse bouche – a savory sweet bite of pork over pineapple. Derrick hates pineapples but he enjoyed this. We both agreed that one bite wasn’t enough.
We ordered the blue swimmer crab over rice crackers canape and we both also agreed that this was delicious. Sweet crab meat, tangy, slightly spicy sauce over a fresh crunchy rice cracker. I highly recommend this. According to our server, this is one of their most popular dishes.
Derrick ordered the hot and sour soup. I took a huge spoonful of this which I regretted as it set my mouth on fire. The heat is different, it creeps up on you slowly and courses slowly and surely though your entire body. You feel it in your throat first (not your mouth), your nape and ears. It’s not the typical “chili sauce” spicy, it’s more lasting and well, deadly. Don’t get me wrong though, it’s absolutely delicious. Heat aside, it’s Tom Yum Goong at a whole new level. As suggested by our server, jasmine rice helps with the heat which was true. Unless you are really into spicy food, I would not suggest ordering this.
For the mains, we had the green curry with beef. This is also spicy much like the soup but it was a sweetness to it. I highly recommend this. The beef is tender and the sauce is amazing flavorful but also has a stealthy spicy kick in the end. Derrick claims it’s the best green curry he has had. It has ruined all other curries for him because he only wants the one from Nahm. Throughout the meal, he would say quietly to himself “damn this is good curry” over and over again. It’s worth the spiciness. Also one of the most popular dishes on the menu.
We also had the noodles with curry chicken. It was a yellow curry.
Lastly for dessert, we had sweet egg noodles, coconut cream and persimmons on a barquillos-type cracker. Not my favorite but it did plenty to soothe my inflamed taste buds.
Food Notes:
— We paid around THB2,800 for our meal. This included the bottled water (they do not have tap water) which guaranteed you will drink a lot of, because of the spicy food.
— No you cannot ask them to turn down the heat and adjust the spiciness to your taste. I asked them and they said very nicely, “you will not be able to taste it as the chef wants so we do not recommend it” which is a nice way of saying… No.
Should you try it? Yes, if you are a foodie and you want to try the fancier side of the Bangkok food scene. Honestly though, food in BKK is pretty good (regardless of where you eat) so to say that Nahm trumps them all is…a stretch. It’s delicious, no doubt. But I would certainly not call it the best.
All in all, we had a great lunch. I would certainly like to come back for dinner as I hear their menu has more variety. Derrick, who isn’t a foodie (and does not believe in fancy food) ended up enjoying Nahm more than I did. That’s a testament to how good it is.
My mom is both my mother and my best friend. Which is why, the fact that she’s going away for a bit is giving me a major case of separation anxiety. She’s gone off to the States for a few days to make new friends in Washington DC. When she gets back, I’ll be off to NYC for a wedding. When I get back, she will fly off with my father to California for some badly-needed R&R. Needless to say, I won’t be seeing her for a while.
Have fun mama bear! I will miss you!
DAY 4
Breakfast: Cantonese Savory Egg Custard with Shiitake Mushrooms
Lunch: Baked Tandoori Chicken – again no microwave so i couldnt eat the sides (taro) they were too hard but the chicken was good.
AM snack: quail bacon salad – nomnomnom
PM snack: brownie muffin. Loved this!
Dinner: fish filet with salsa verde. Scraped off the salsa because it was too gooey for my taste. Everything else, yummy.
DAY 5
Breakfast: omelette with cauli rice and salmon – this was okay. I love the cauli rice so thats what i ate.
Am snack: plantains with pure dark chocolate. Sorry for the unattractive photo. The chocolate chilled in the fridge which ended up being good cuz i scraped away the oil and put the chocolate very modestly on the plantains.
Lunch: grilled chicken – i just ate the chicken and ignored the sides. I wasnt too hungry.
Pm snack: coconut cinnamon donut holes. If you dont mind the soft chewey (not in a bread way) consistency then you will like this. I did. the texture may be likened to a grainy yema ball.
Dinner: jamaican short ribs (no picture)
My brother ate this. I didn’t get to have it for dinner because I had an event and ate there instead.
Food notes:
-hearty, satisfying.
-some of the food tastes and feels (texture-wise$ similar which leads me to believe they are following a certain menu wherein the same ingredients are being used. I cant identify yet what flavors exactly but maybe after 1 more week, i can.
Cheat notes:
-okay i didn’t cheat on purpose. for the most part i stuck to the menu with the exception of wednesday lunch and friday evening. I attended meetings and events which provided meals. I was embarrassed to whip out my paleo meal. So i partook in the food spread but i was careful to select food which was more paleo friendly. The result, I have some extra paleo meals which i carried over to the weekend.
Wallet notes:
This 5-day plan cost me Php3,600. 650/day for 3meals and 2snacks. 70/day for delivery. since i live pretty central to everything i’m not really used to paying such a high delivery. I wish the delivery is free haha. That’s the part I don’t like. But anyway. The entire thing isn’t cheap but it’s not too expensive either (other paleo delivery companies are 950/day)
Body notes:
The ultimate question is whether i lost weight. Answer, no. It doesn’t work that way and especially not after 1 week. But! I did experience the following:
1) less bloated tummy, i fit better into my pants.
2) reduced cravings for junk food
3) stronger ability to say no to unhealthy food
4) an better awareness of whats healthy in a meal
5) more consistent meal habits (a no brainer because the food is already with me but! Now my body knows what a regular eating pattern is like and that’s a great thing, for me)
Would i do it again? Yes!!! In fact, on wednesday, i already signed up for another week. Their slots were already full but they gladly accommodated me which I’m super grateful for.
Looking forward to week 2 of Paleo!
DAY 2
Breakfast – Chicken Burger power salad. Yay for being pork-free! I think this was supposed to be sausage. The chicken’s just as good: 🙂
Snack – Citrus Banapple Chia crumble
Oh my Lord. So delicious!!
Lunch – Panfried Hazelnut cobbler filet with vegetables. Yummy, even when cold.
Snack – Polynesian Rumaki Bites
There is bacon. Then liver. I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or sad. Me no like liver.
Dinner – Beef with Caulirice. Okay. That caulirice. Heaven. I really enjoyed this meal.
DAY 3
This was not a good Paleo day for me. I had left my snacks and half of breakfast in the car. Due to the heat, the AM snack spoiled.
Breakfast -squashetti cups. I ate one and saved one for later but it went bad when i left it in the car to go to a meeting. It was okay.
Am Snack – xiao minced shiitake lettuce cups – also left in the car when I was at the meeting. so it went bad and i didnt get to eat it.
Lunch: Swedish Meatballs
PM snack: Blueberry Scone thumbs up on this.
dinner: balsamic glazed porkchops (no photo)
Since it’s pork i gave this to my brother to eat.
Food Notes:
– It is good even when it is cold. I don’t have a microwave in the office and I’m forced to eat my lunches cold. It’s okay. They’re still pretty yummy. I’m amazed. The texture though of course is not as tender when cold.
– On Day 1 I felt a little hungry because I ate the snacks as desserts. On Day 2 I learned my lesson and spaced out the snacks in order to stave off hunger in between meals. Worked pretty well for Day 2 and 3.
– Drank lots of water in between.
– Missing junk food. Sigh.
I’m trying the Paleo meal plan this week to fix my bad eating habits.
By doing so I also hope to lose weight. Story of my life.
Encouraged by my friends who have done the Paleo diet (on their own) and lost tons of weight, I signed up for Paleo Manila. It’s 650/day + delivery fee to my area. During sign up I indicates that I don’t eat pork. I’m not that strict about this (I eat bacon if it’s already in my food hehe) but I do stay away from pork in its purest form (lechon, porkchop, etc). However this food preference requires an P1000 fee. This would make the entire thing way more expensive. So I asked them just to keep it the same so I don’t have to pay extra.
Coordination has been quick and easy. The food arrived on time today, right at the crack of dawn. I was pleasantly surprised to see that they upheld my no pork preference anyway. Great service. Thanks Paleo Manila, you guys are awesome!!!
Just for clarification purposes, I’m a veteran to diet meal delivery. So I judge the food very loosely based on taste, quality after reheating and results. I’ll reserve those comments until after I’m done with my 5days. In the meantime here are the food photos. I apologize because the photos are not professional so the food does not look that fancy. But believe me, the food is good. Don’t judge a book by its cover.
Breakfast: Olé Mexican Chicken Empanadas
Closeup of my empanada. This was very tasty.
AM snack: “Chunky Monkey” dark chocolate banana crepe (I ate this as my dessert, it was so yummy. I ate it slowly and savored each bite. It went by so fast. I wish there were more.)
Lunch: Chipotle Chicken Strips drizzled with Paleo Manila homemade aioli – I ate this without the aioli. it was so delicious, the aioli was not needed.
PM Snack: carrot pineapple upside down cake
Dinner: Five Spice Chinese Salmon with Sesame Napa Cabbage
A closeup of my cake. I took this picture because I was curious about what was in it. It was more of a bread than a cake.
Notes for the day:
– food was all very delicious!! oh my goodness. I was very surprised. with the exception of the pineapple carrot cake, they do not scrimp on taste. Two thumbs up from me.
– I should not eat the snacks as dessert because this leaves me hungry between meals.
Looking forward to tomorrow.
