Recipe: Mark Tagnipez’s Red Nahm Jim Oysters

Restaurateur Grant Smillie reunited two top chefs at his Hot-Listed Marmont for one night in March 2025, celebrating the 10 year anniversary of EP & LP, his Hollywood eatery-slash-party space. The head chefs, Louis Tikaram of EP & LP and Mark Tagnipez of Marmont, reincarnated classic dishes from their days working together in Tinseltown; like simple, punchy red nahm jim oysters.

“I’m a big fan of Sydney Rock oysters. In the States, we use Pacific oysters, but the produce here [in Australia] is amazing. We should use it, says Tagnipez.

“We serve them with a red nahm jim. It has red jalapenos, fish sauce, some garlic, some coriander. It’s all pounded by a mortar and pestle to release the juices correctly, rather than cutting the fibers. Then we season that with fish sauce, lime juice and palm sugar.”

“So it’s very acid-forwards, and a little bit of heat goes nicely with the minerality of the oyster.”