Bangkok’s Nahm has earned the No. 1 spot in the 2014 edition of “Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants,” a list assembled by an Italian mineral water maker, clearly an authority on Asian cuisine.
It’s true that Chef David Thompson has created an upscale place where diners can enjoy fancy Thai food, and maybe it is the best restaurant for those who embrace the hype.
But I’ve eaten at Nahm a few times, and while they do avoid the usual mishaps that plague the service when eating out, the restaurant is certainly not more inventive than other places doing the same style of cuisine such as Bo.Lan or Soul Food Mahanakorn.
Yet the world of food media is obsessed with superlatives, which allows such ridiculous lists to gain traction. Is it possible to visit every restaurant on the largest continent on Earth, and even then, what makes Nahm the best?
I searched the “50 Best” website for any sort of rationale for why this the best place in Asia.
50 Best calls Nahm a “A temple of Thai gastronomy in more ways than one,” and goes on to note that “Nahm takes its cues from the temples of the ancient Siam city of Ayutthaya, featuring bare wooden tables and raw brick pillars.”
Somehow I doubt Thompson was actually trying create a place for diners to wai and make merit when he came up with the idea for his Metropolitan Hotel eatery.
The chef is portrayed as “painstakingly poring over century-old cookbooks of former Thai matriarchs to create a menu in tune with its surroundings.” So do many stalls and shophouse eateries, which use recipes handed down over generations. Besides, is recycling someone else’s list of ingredients really pushing the boundaries of culinary discipline? Is it truly “painstaking?”
“Asia’s 50 Best Resaturants[sic] is a snapshot of the opinions and experiences of over 900 international restaurant industry experts,” explains the site. “What constitutes ‘best” is left to the judgment of these trusted and well-travelled gourmets.”
Nowhere does the manifesto mention what it takes to become an industry expert, who they are or just what the hell a “snapshot” of an opinion is.
All we really know is William Reed Media, a commercial trades publisher responsible for scholarly periodicals such as “Convenience Store Magazine” and “Meat Trades Journal,” puts it out along with the sparkling folks at Italy’s S. Pellegrino.
Maybe we’d be less skeptical if they gave more insight into how they evaluated hundreds of types of cuisine at what must be millions of restaurants throughout Asia?
Otherwise it’s a joke with three immediate consequences:
1. It will be even harder to get a table at Nahm.
2. More bizarre food snapshots on Instagram captioned “Great times with great food and great drinks in a great atmosphere at the best restaurant in Asia #foodie.”
3. Every visitor from out of town will demand you take them there, taking us back to problem No. 1.
I’d plead with you fine people of this fine city to ignore these arbitrary, commercial lists and discover your own delicious digs to haunt. Most already have, but if not, put the smartphone down and try asking the human network we once quaintly called our “friends.”
Just like Lonely Planet can be blamed for steering entire generations to one block of the city, these lists result in less wandering and discovery.
The best restaurant in Asia is the one where you sipped Mongolian airag inside a yurt on the high steppe, that roadside hut somewhere outside Manila or stall in Southern Thailand you devoured som tam while watching the sun descend upon the islands.
Asia – and especially Bangkok – is full of best places. Share some of your “bests” in the comments and tell Coconuts why you love it, even if it actually is a temple.
Editor’s note: And stay tuned for Coconuts Bangkok’s very own “Best of 2014” series, coming soon!
