A Thai restaurant in St Andrews has been named the nation’s best by television chef Gordon Ramsay.
Nahm-Jim won the heat for Thai cuisine in the Michelin-starred cook’s Channel 4 show, Ramsay’s Best Restaurant and viewers will soon see it compete in the semi-final of the competition in a bid to take the series crown.
Nahm-Jim, owned by Sandy and Bee Mitchell, was selected from around 2000 Thai restaurants nominated by diners to appear on the show. It beat London’s Mango Tree in the episode aired on Tuesday night.
As he announced the winner, Ramsay told viewers that Nahm-Jim was a “force to be reckoned with” and said, “We have opened the door to something quite magical in St Andrews.”
Bee (40), who took the reins as head chef, said, “This means so much to me; I’m so happy.”
Manager Sandy (42), who controlled the front-of-house, added, “It’s mind-boggling for us. We are all very proud and a little bit shocked and stunned, I think.”
Each week, the show puts two restaurants head-to-head for a place in the semi-final and asks them to prepare a three-course meal for 30 diners bussed in by Ramsay.
The competitors are also tested secretly by an undercover diner, then cook a dish for 20 more diners at Ramsay’s flagship restaurant in London.
Unlike other chefs who have appeared on the show, Bee kept a cool head and particularly impressed Ramsay with her Thai twist on the traditional Scots dish haggis.
Even a threat by a waiter to report the undercover diner to police for refusing to pay for a bottle of wine failed to put either the undercover diner or Ramsay off.
Ramsay told viewers at the start of the show that St Andrews was famous for two things — golf and Nahm-Jim. And as he prepared to leave the town with his crew, he said, “Today Bee and her kitchen team really have scored a hole-in-one.”
While he identified a front-of-house weakness, he said, “Everyone loved the food and that for me is the most important thing.”
Sandy and Bee, who have another restaurant nearby, The Grange, opened Nahm-Jim, in Market Street, in 2002. They have cooked for a long list of celebrities, including Sir Sean Connery, Samuel L. Jackson and Hugh Grant.
Nahm-Jim was also named the UK’s number one Thai restaurant by the Sunday Times in April 2008.