Just when I was on the verge of giving up all hope, in the light of the Harvest Moon, at the end of Market Street we spied Nahm-Jim and the L'Orient Lounge (62 Market Street, tel: 01334 470000). Is it any good though?, I whispered. We hadn't heard of it before but Xav mentioned that a friend had said something about a really good Thai restaurant in St Andrews. This was music to my ears as I've been fond of Thai food ever since a great girlie back-packing holiday in Thailand in my early twenties. It turns out the Nahm-Jim won a Gordon Ramsay award for best independent Thai restaurant in the UK in 2010.
So we tried our luck. They were full too but could fit us in a little later. Xav's eye had been caught earlier by a nearby pub - The Criterion on South Street- showing The Ryder Cup on TV so we went there to lend our support to the European team who were struggling at that point. The pub was busy with a mix of people from both sides of the Atlantic but we managed to score a table with a TV view and have a couple of pints while we were waiting for our table. Result!
It was soon time to go back to the Nahm-Jim. After some negotiation I managed to drag Xav away from the Guinness and golf charms of The Criterion. Our table was in the downstairs section of the restaurant, which seemed to be a sort of overflow for the bustling, bigger and more traditional space upstairs. Never one to like being short-changed I worried that these were the cheap seats - was upstairs better? I cast my eye over the modern Oriental decor and rested my gaze on some photos on canvas of deserted palm-fringed beaches that made me forget about upstairs and long to be a twenty-something and back-packing around Thai beaches again. The clientele may well have spent the summer doing just that, being mainly couples of fresh-faced students on what seemed to be date-night.
Nahm-Jim is not just about Thailand though. It actually has separate Thai and Japanese menus. Although a quick peek at the Japanese one showed promise, we both opted for the Thai menu. I suspect the majority of people do the same. From a choice of lots of appetising starters one fusion dish from the specials board stood out from the crowd: the Nahm-Jim Famous Thai Style Haggis. It turned out to be balls of haggis wrapped in crispy pastry with a sweet chilli sauce. Tasty and a nice twist on the more common Thai starters.
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| Fusion dish - where Scotland meets Thailand! |
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| 2 menus |
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| Our mains - Panang and Yellow Curry |
For mains I went for the Chicken Yellow Curry (tender chicken breast cooked in coconut milk with a delicate mix if herbs, onions, cherry tomatoes and pineapple) and coconut rice. My spice-loving partner had the Beef Panang Curry (tender pieces of beef sautéed in mixed chilli pastes, cooked in coconut milk and served with shredded kafir lime leaves) and sticky rice. Both were tasty, with mine having a nice sweetness and his having a bit of spice. However I did have the feeling that we should perhaps have been more adventurous with our choice of mains to get to taste the best of this place.
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| Our mains |
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| Yellow Curry |
We washed it all down with a lovely bottle of 2009 Selvapiana Chianti.
The service was prompt and friendly. Overall we enjoyed it and were impressed by the place. On an autumn night when everywhere else was too busy, a table in the only Thai restaurant in St Andrews could so easily have been forgettable. Not so. The award-winning food, commitment to authenticity (ingredients are shipped in weekly from the markets of Bangkok) and energy of Nahm-Jim put it on the foodie map. It's great to discover another St Andrews delight for the taste buds and a restaurant that's a bit different. I would recommend it to visitors to St Andrews and will definitely be going back to try out the upstairs section and sample some more tasty things from the menus. Maybe I'll even book this time!
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