Join Award-Winning Chef David Thompson On Board
Aqua Mekong 2021 Departures with Consulting Chef  David Thompson

Having been named the 2016 Diners Club International’s Lifetime Achievement Award winner for Asia, Aqua Mekong consulting chef David Thompson, is a culinary artist who has established himself as a champion of authentic Thai cuisine and brought worldwide attention to Asian cooking.
His restaurants perennially earn Michelin stars and rank on “The World’s 50 Best” list, yet David Thompson arrived at such accolades for his Southeast Asian cuisine by accident. An unexpected detour in his 1986 holiday plans left the Sydney native marooned in Bangkok where he discovered Thai food by “happy serendipity.” The young chef began to study the Thai language as well as the diversity of the country’s cuisine, eventually finding his way to recipes in the Thai ‘books of the dead’ which became his most valuable resource and inspiration.
Thompson returned home to achieve success in Sydney with the 1992 opening of Darley Street Thai and Sailors Thai three years later. The Australian chef was then asked by Singapore lifestyle and hospitality legend, Christina Ong, to create a Thai restaurant in her Halkin by COMO Hotel in London. Nahm opened in London in 2001 and was awarded a Michelin star within six months, the first Michelin star ever for a Thai restaurant.
Nine years later, Thompson did what many critics considered audacious, bringing Nahm to Bangkok where he has developed a loyal following even among Thais, thanks in part to using only the finest quality Thai ingredients, including many straight from his own farm in Ratchaburi Province outside the Thai capital. His  restaurant Long Chim, has expanded to Singapore, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, showcasing the spices and diversity of Thai street food.

These limited-edition 2021 Chef-hosted departures will offer an abundance of unique opportunities for our guests aboard the Aqua Mekong:

• Customized Market Tours: Travel with our Chef to local markets to learn about locally grown and harvested ingredients – so essential to the freshness of our dishes.

• Master Cooking Class: Attend a cooking class or a kitchen tour hosted by our Chef as he walks you through his secrets of recipe planning, preparation and execution.

• Interactive Q&A with the Chef: Find out how the dynamic international food scene is transforming the way our Chef designs his latest visions of culinary creativity.

As Consulting Chef for the Aqua Mekong, Thompson expands his adventurous palate more broadly around Southeast Asia, incorporating culinary traditions of Mekong River cultures with the freshest ingredients to create indigenous inspired dishes like river prawns with ginger, shallots, tamarind and palm sugar served on betel leaves, Cambodian green curry of catfish and lemon basil cashew nut pudding with coconut cream.

Signature dishes created by David Thompson:

Watch the video below in which David describes his reaction to winning the 2016 Diners Club Lifetime Achievement Award: