Nakhon Pathom's Som Tam Spot Adds Fresh Coconut Twist
A Nakhon Pathom restaurant reimagines som tam with fresh coconut meat pounded with shrimp and served in a hollowed shell, alongside other signature dishes like crab som tam and crispy fried pork belly.
Koh Am Tam is a standout restaurant in Nakhon Pathom province, with flavors that appeal to customers. Owners Marutt Pattramee and Suthisiri Ruengrattana (also known as Noi) reveal their unique secret lies in the tamarind and dipping sauce recipes.
The key to their success is incorporating local ingredients such as fragrant coconut into the som tam menu, representing an entirely fresh dimension of the dish. The restaurant's signature item, fragrant coconut som tam, uses pure coconut meat without filler or young shoots mixed in. The dish highlights fragrant coconut meat as the main ingredient, pounded with fresh scalded shrimp until the flesh is tender and crispy, seasoned to taste like traditional Thai som tam—sour, sweet, fragrant, and balanced. It is then served in a hollowed coconut shell and topped with cashew nuts for extra richness.
The dish shines through its taste, seasoning, and fresh ingredients: tomato, long beans, fish sauce, palm sugar, and lime with a well-rounded and fragrant flavor. Every customer who tries it becomes a regular.
Another customer favorite offering great value is crab som tam, which begins with pounded fresh chilies, garlic, and long beans mixed with salted crab, seasoned sour and sweet, and served alongside boiled rice noodles, wheat noodles, minced pork, grilled marinated chicken, salted egg, pork belly, and fresh vegetables. The taste is spicy and sour with extra richness.
Next is the three-layer pork fried in fish sauce, which stands out because most restaurants serve boiled three-layer pork with fresh vegetables, but Koh Am Tam marinates the pork until tender, removes the skin, fries it until golden and crispy, making the outside crispy and inside tender.
This dish is served with fresh vegetables and seafood dipping sauce alongside rice noodles, wheat noodles, aromatic cabbage, white cabbage, basil, and cilantro—making it another healthy menu option thanks to the fresh vegetables.
The restaurant also offers many other dishes to choose from, including various som tam and spicy salads such as corn som tam with salted egg and minced pork, lotus stem som tam, salmon lotus stem som tam, three-layer pork fried in fish sauce, fried larb, and spicy boiled pork.
Open 11:00 AM–8:00 PM, closed Saturdays. Located behind Central Nakhon Pathom department store, heading toward Sirindhon Rajvithi School in Muang Nakhon Pathom along the main road. For directions, call 09-3219-6515.
