New Thai dishes at J.A.M.

A few months ago, I needed to find a place in Central to host a book club on a Sunday afternoon. It needed to be at a restaurant but not the sort of place where we’d be rushed out or shushed or cramped. Then I thought of places like Basehall and J.A.M. These modern food halls are busy during weekdays but perhaps chill on a weekend. Baseball is closed on Sundays. So to J.A.M. we went!

J.A.M. is located in the Nexxus Building in the heart of Central (coincidently the location of my office when I first moved to Hong Kong). And honestly I did choose it for its convenient location, with the food a secondary thought. But when my lunch set came out, I was pleasantly surprised. The nasi lemak was quite good! Fresh, fragrant, and hearty.

If you’re a J.A.M. regular, you’ll know they’ve covered Singaporean, Vietnamese, Korean and Cantonese before. Now, they’re introducing Thai dishes.

Recently my friend and I visited to try the new Thai sets ($158 for a drink, appetizer, main and dessert).

Here’s what we had.

Set 1: Fried shrimp cake, Thai-style grilled chicken with rice, coconut pandan dumplings

Set 2: Grilled pork neck, Thai basil minced pork fried rice, pandan coconut pandan dumplings

We also topped up $10 each for fresh calamansi soda which was fresh and packed quite the punch!

There are many cheap and cheerful Thai restaurants in town. It’s always good to get a deal but sometimes the quality of the meat leaves something to be desired. The meat we had here was definitely better than average, with the grilled chicken a particular highlight (plump, juicy, great flavour!). As well, the portions are generous. My only gripe is that the dessert comes out with the rest of the meal, meaning it’s supposed to be hot but is lukewarm when you eat it (unless you eat it first!). Flavour wise, it’s great though. Tastes just like kueh.

Maybe you wouldn’t come for the atmosphere (it is a cafeteria after all). But whether you’re looking for a hearty lunch on a workday or a relaxed, comfortable place to hang on a weekend, you’ll come out satisfied with your value-for-money meal. For the new Thai menu, dishes will be updated on a rotating basis every two to three weeks. We hear popular dishes like green papaya salad, minced pork lettuce wraps, seafood pad Thai, and mango sticky rice will be showing up soon!

Lobby, Nexxus Building, 41 Connaught Road Central, 2808 1086