- Jul 6, 2023

Nawa Thai cuisine

Updated: Sep 1, 2023

Nawa Thai cuisine (Bangkok, Thailand)

Nawa is a fine-dining restaurant that I highly recommend and consider to be one of the best Thai cuisine restaurants in Bangkok. It has the potential to achieve the star for Red Guide. The complexity of the concept of this restaurant wants to present a very ambitious goal. The food that not only an authentic Thai cuisine that Thais can be proud of, Thai cuisine taste loved by the Thai palette but also has to incorporate techniques from Western cuisine to make it easy to understand from a foreigner's perspective. Nawa moves forward and doesn't dwell solely on traditional Thai cuisine.

Nawa Thai cuisine, located in Parklane Ekamai, is a brainchild of Chef Jo Naphat Jantraket and Chef Saki Hoshino, who has previously earned a Michelin-starred(80/20) and is well known in the international culinary circle from Samlor(Michelin guide). The kitchen team is run by Chef Sep Jirapat, a young chef who has worked in Michelin-starred restaurants for several years including J'AIME by Jean-Michel Lorain. He is also a partner of Aunglo by Yangrak which recently featured in Michelin Guide Bangkok. With such a pedigree, it's not surprising that Nawa Thai cuisine has caught the attention of the Michelin Guide and among Thai connoisseurs.

Now, let's talk about the new menu. This is there second season of the restaurant, which coincides with the rainy season. The dishes created by Chef at Nawa appear more refined and show a clearer direction when compare to the previous menu. In the previous season, the concept of each dish may not have been effectively communicated. However, this time, the team polished their ideas and executed them very well, bravo to the Nawa team.

The ingredients used are not strictly tied to local sourcing but are a harmonious blend of carefully selected international ingredients, especially from Japan. However, it's still a very exciting experience for me to discover the excellent local ingredients from different provinces of Thailand .

The courses have become more refined, and the restaurant's direction is now clearer. The storytelling by traditional Western-style oriented courses combines with Thai “Samrub”.

The price of 3,800 baht may not be considered cheap by local fine-dining standards, but I can feel it is worth the money. The dedication of the restaurant in every aspect, from preparing their own sauces such as ginger oil and garlic oil, to preparing in housed curry pastes that take days to make and even massaging the Thai squid before serving. The taste is authentically Thai, yet foreign guests can also enjoy it.

If I were to recommend a contemporary Thai restaurant with a Thai identity to foreigners who enjoy fine dining in Bangkok, Nawa would be my answer at this moment.