An analysis of the hospitality industry: Nahm

INDEX

In this project I have briefly mentioned about the restaurant Nahm which is a fantastic restaurant to talk, experience and research. This project has helped me to discover about the restaurant and grabs my interest towards the restaurant. The projects also talks about how the cuisine served in the restaurant is famous around the world. Chef David Thompson with the Michelin star in Nahm London is a very creative chef for his cuisine. The restaurants ranking has been consistent in the world for its great food and service.

1 NAHM: THE RESTAURANT

1.1 Introduction to hospitality industry:

The hospitality industry is a very vast industry to explore. However, hospitality starts from our home where, how elegantly we serve our guests and be generous to them. Hospitality industry is not just about hotels and restaurants, it simply means that how the guest is provided with privilege services to enjoy in any kind of shelter, whether home or away from home. The main aim of hospitality industry is to make the guest happy with the services provided.

1.2 List of hospitality sectors:

• Accommodation, includes hotel, hostels, resorts, motels
• Food & Beverage. Includes all kinds of restaurants, cafés, bars, pubs etc.
• Travel, tourism sector
• Recreation centers
• Convention, Meetings & events
• Entertainment sectors, includes movie theatres, amusement parks etc.

(Powers & Barrows, 1999), (University, 2015)

1.3 Evolution of restaurant:

The word “RESTAURANT” earlier meant was to restore where in the ancient time people indicated the word as a soup which was rich and highly flavored that used to restore the strength which was been lost. The word has been pass through many centuries changing its meaning. Now, the word means where people come to a place to eat. Throughout the globe, the restaurant business is been visible to everyone. The restaurants are booming worldwide. People love to eat and they want to dine and socialize with all of their leisure time. Now, we also have the quick service restaurants for the people who don’t have time to cook their meal and all the want a ready made quick meal which can give energy to work all day long. This all of the services and the restaurant lifestyle which we are receiving today is only because of the French revolution. Yes, the French revolution has played a big role in developing the restaurants. In the time of 18^th century there were many travelers who visited various inns or any kind of food shop which also served wine or beer, from this the restaurant evolution commenced. These tavern restaurants were the product of France in the period of 1765, where the first ever restaurant was discovered which is known as Le Boulanger, Boulanger was a Parisian bouillon seller and he quoted as his sign that “Boulanger sells restoratives fit for the gods”. From that period the number of restaurants started increasing in Paris and then grew all over the world. This period was a role playing period for discovering of restaurants. Later, the industrial revolution handled the modern food which helped in rising of chain the restaurants. McDonald’s is the best example of chain restaurants which is dominating the chain restaurants worldwide. However chain restaurants is very different from a proper fine dining restaurant. Fine dining restaurants has its own different world, serving its specialty food to the people with a great amount of authenticity and Michelin stars involved. People will dine for the better ambience, leisure and would want to try various cuisine’s specialty that the restaurant would serve. With many of the restaurants serving its own cuisine, the cuisine they are serving should be authentic as well as traditional and only some of the restaurants could make it to the best of the cuisine. That’s how the top fine dine restaurants stand out the crowd. Where the NAHM restaurant is one of them.

(Olver, 2015), (Mealey, 2015)

2 RESEARCH

2.1 About NAHM:

• NAHM is awarded the world’s top 50 restaurants and ranks in top 13, and is Asia’s no.1 restaurant.
• The owner of the restaurant is an Australian Chef, Chef David Thompson.
• The restaurant received the first Michelin star after six months of its opening in its London branch.
• The restaurant serves Thai cuisine and is based in Bangkok.
• Unfortunately the London restaurant is closed and lost its Michelin star.
• The NAHM Bangkok was opened 2010.

2.2 About Chef David Thompson:

Chef David Thompson is an Australian chef. The chef is also an author as well as broadcaster and is expert in Thai cuisine. Before opening his restaurant NAHM, Chef David Thompson had his restaurant named Darley street Thai in Sydney, Australia. This restaurant was voted as the best Thai restaurant 8 years in a row by Sydney morning herald. Then later chef established NAHM Bangkok and later NAHM London. The Chef is the author of ‘Thai Food‘in 2001, which was named Andre Simon ‘Book of the Year’ and the Glenfiddich ‘Cookery Book of the Year.’ In 2010, Chef published a new book “Thai Street food”.

2.3 About the flavors of the cuisine served: Chef David Thompson serves the most authentic Thai cuisine to the restaurant with his experienced team. The chef believes that the traditional Thai cuisine is all about dynamic interplay of dynamic sweet & salty, hot & sour. The chef uses ingredients such as garlic, shrimp paste, chilies, and lemongrass and blends them together to create an authentic, subtle elegance in which every element is in perfect balance. These all includes the curries, the salads, relishes, the soups the stir-fries, implementing the traditional Thai ingredients which is less seen in modern Thai cuisine. The restaurant uses the best market produce all over the globe and produces its own best dishes using the rare ingredients such as jungle curry with ‘pla chorn’ which is a fresh water Thai fish. The chef also creates colorfuldesserts which is a blend of salty and sweet. (Comohotels.com, 2015), (Theworlds50best.com, 2015)

2.4 Ambience of the restaurant: NAHM is found in the dining of Metropolitan hotel by COMO. The restaurant is situated to the ground floor of the hotel, which gives the straight view of the outdoor pool. The Guests can dine in the restaurant’s exotic interiors as well as up on the terrace and the restaurant also opens a facility for different dining room for corporate as well as social events. The restaurant is interconnect to private rooms, having the same ambience as the NAHM, to accommodate 24 people. NAHM closes in its ideas from the temples of the ancient Siam city of Ayutthaya, which features the bare wooden tables and raw brick pillars, with Chef David Thompson forcing in 100 percent effort to tune the ambience with the menu.(Comohotels.com, 2015), (Theworlds50best.com, 2015)

2.5 .Menu of the Restaurant: The dinner menu of the restaurant cost around 1,700 baht per person. Canapés are also available in the restaurant. The set dinner is very long to finish, which would be completed around 2 and half hours. The menu consists of 8 course meal. The menu is also available in a la carte style and then followed by the dessert. The portion of the meal is decided according to people in the group are there. The lunch menu would cost around 1,100 baht per person, though the price of the menu is high, it comes in top 50 restaurants so the menu standard is excellent and worth the price. The restaurant initially serves ‘ma hor’ which consists of minced shrimp, chicken and nuts reduced in palm sugar topped with a slice of pineapple and then the meal is followed with canapés. The restaurant serves flavorful curries, steamed dishes, stir fries and grilled specialties. In Canapés, the restaurant serves Spicy Pork with Mint, and Southern Grilled Mussels, Peanuts and Crunchy Rice on Betel Leaves. The restaurant also serves the famous Thai Coconut and Turmeric Curry of Blue Swimmer Crab with Calamansi Limes which is the most authentic dish to try in the restaurant. The Grilled Pork Cheek with Smoky Tomato Sauce is one of the best dishes served in the restaurant. The restaurant also serves desserts like Sweet Thai Wafer with Poached Persimmons and Golden Duck Egg Noodles and Pistachio Pudding and Golden Tear Drops with Perfumed Mung Beans. The desserts are generally made from tropical fruits, vegetables and beans, prepared with coconut milk. The restaurant serves excellent salads like lemongrass salad of meaty prawns. The restaurant also offers the clear soup of roast duck with Thai basil and coconut. The menu of the restaurant is very traditional and authentic and brings back all of the old dishes. (DanielFoodDiary.com, 2014), (bangkok.com, 2015)

2.6 Running time of the restaurant:

• For the lunch the restaurant from Monday to Friday starts from 12pm to 2pm
• The dinner is served daily, the dinner starts from 7pm to 10.30pm
• For dinner the last time to order is 10:30 pm

2.7 Reservation policies:

• The reservation will be only available for 30 minutes against of the booking time the person has done and after that reservation will be released.

2.8 Dress code policy:

• The customer has to be dressed in smart casuals and won’t be allowed in the restaurant in short pants or any kind of sleeveless t shirts. The customer should also avoid wearing slippers, flip flops and open toe sandals.

3- Conclusion:

Although Chef David Thompson is an Australian chef, he is highly skilled in Thai cuisine and it doesn’t mean that any other nationality chef cannot have the art of other cuisine. Chef David Thompson has worked hard to get his restaurant in top 50 in the world. He is very passionate about Thai cuisine and can be seen in his restaurant. NAHM is a very beautiful Thai restaurant and people can have a very wonderful experience of the restaurant as well as the traditional food served. NAHM was the first Thai restaurant to be awarded a Michelin star to its London restaurant which was closed later. Chef David Thompson now runs his restaurant in Bangkok and is very committed to his restaurant. He believes that the restaurant here in Bangkok is perfect for running in nature. He believes that the restaurant can only be operated in Thailand.

(Lynne, 2014)

References-

• Olver, L. (2015). The Food Timeline: history notes–restaurants, chefs & foodservice. Foodtimeline.org. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://www.foodtimeline.org/restaurants.html

• Mealey, L. (2015). A History of the Restaurant. About. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://restaurants.about.com/od/Restauranthistory/a/A-History-Of-The-Restaurant.html

• Powers, T., & Barrows, C. (1999). Introduction to management in the hospitality industry. New York: Wiley.

• University, C. (2015).HSC Online – Develop and update hospitality industry knowledge.Hsc.csu.edu.au. Retrieved 7 January 2015, from http://hsc.csu.edu.au/hospitality/hosp_240/comp_units/SITHIND001B/4372/sectors.html

• Comohotels.com,. (2015). Thai Cuisine in Sathorn | The Metropolitan Bangkok. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://www.comohotels.com/metropolitanbangkok/dining/nahm/concept

• Theworlds50best.com,. (2015). Nahm. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://www.theworlds50best.com/asia/en/asias-50-best-restaurants/1-10/nahm.html

• DanielFoodDiary.com,. (2014).Nahm Bangkok – Thailand’s Best Restaurant Was Good, Not Enough to Wow. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://danielfooddiary.com/2013/03/07/nahm/

• bangkok.com,. (2015). Nahm Restaurant – Bangkok.com Magazine. Retrieved 3 January 2015, from http://www.bangkok.com/magazine/nahm.html

• Lynne, R. (2014). MBS’ Guy Savoy closes: Street-food version of famed Thai restaurant Nahm will take its space.The Straits Times.

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