David Thompson is an Australian chef, restaurateur and cookery writer, known for his skill and expertise in

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine ( th, อาหารไทย, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. Australian chef David Thompson, an expert on Thai ...

Career

Thompson made his name at ''Darley Street Thai'' in Sydney, which he opened in 1992 in Darley St, Newtown upon his return from living and working in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estimated populati ...

for several years. He then opened ''Sailors Thai'' in 1995, also in Sydney. The success of these restaurants got him noticed by Singaporean hotelier

Christina Ong Christina Ong (née Fu, born October 1947) is a Singaporean businesswoman who owns the COMO Group. As of 2021, Christina and her husband Ong Beng Seng were ranked 25th on Singapore's richest list. Career Ong opened a clothing store in 1972, pr ...

, who asked him to open a restaurant in one of her COMO hotels. ''Nahm'' opened in 2001 in The Halkin hotel in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and received a Michelin star within six months. It was the first Thai restaurant to gain this award. Thompson received the "London Chef of the Year" award at the Carlton Evening Standard Food Awards in 2003. In 2010, he opened a second branch of ''Nahm'' in another hotel belonging to the COMO Hotels group, the Metropolitan in

. In 2012 Thompson closed ''Nahm'' London to concentrate on ''Nahm'' Bangkok. In 2014, ''Nahm'' was listed as Asia's best restaurant and remained on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list for seven consecutive years. Nahm was awarded a Michelin star in 2017 when the Michelin Guide first included restaurants in Thailand. In 2014, Thompson founded the Aylmer Aaharn Thai food group which came to manage operations across six countries including Thailand and Australia. In that year Thompson was also the headline chef for the inaugural Wonder Feasts series at the first Wonderfruit festival, in Thailand. In 2015, Thompson was interviewed on

Bloomberg Television Bloomberg Television (on-air as Bloomberg) is an American-based pay television network focusing on business and capital market programming, owned by Bloomberg L.P. It is distributed globally, reaching over 310 million homes worldwide. It is hea ...

series '' High Flyers'' in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

. In 2015 Thompson commenced a chain of low-key Thai restaurants with ''Long Chim'' Singapore and ''Long Chim'' Perth. Branches in Sydney (2016), Melbourne (2017) and Seoul (2018) followed. The Singapore and Melbourne restaurants closed in 2019 and the Seoul restaurant in 2020. In 2016 Thompson was recognised with the Lifetime Achievement Award at Asia's 50 Best Restaurants Awards for his dedication and commitment to Thai cuisine. In 2018, Thompson left ''Nahm'' Bangkok and opened another Thai restaurant, ''Aaharn'', in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

Personal life

Thompson is married to his Thai business partner, Tanongsak Yordwai.

Books

Thompson has also written three books. The first, ''Classic Thai Cuisine'' was published in 1993. The second, ''Thai Food'', a comprehensive account of Thai cuisine, covering its history and role in society, as well as numerous recipes and menus, was released in 2002. His third book, ''Thai Street Food,'' is a collection of his favourite 100 recipes of the street.

References

External links

Article about David ThompsonDavid Thompson in an interview
with ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'': One night in Bangkok on the trail of Thai street food
David Thompson Q&A with DestinAsian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, David Australian chefs Living people Thai cuisine Australian food writers Cookbook writers Head chefs of Michelin starred restaurants Year of birth missing (living people) People from Sydney James Beard Foundation Award winners