Thank you Yelp for creating an amazing useless app for windows phone devices. I could neither check in here nor search anything. If you hire me I can make one for you.
Anyway, getting to the point.
Laicram Thai is situated in a not so obvious location. I have been living in Blackheath area for about a year now, but only recently did I find this one. It is hidden behind the large Barclays bank building in Blackheath which lies opposite the railway station. In fact, when I found it, I felt pleasantly surprised.
The interiors are beautifully decorated. Simple and elegant. Thai somehow resembles Indian in several ways. But that is a different thing altogether.
They serve you with prawn crackers, whether you like it or not. I didn't mind it, but my partner isn't very much into anything non-vegetarian so she wasn't very happy about it. As obviously it smells a bit fish like.
For drinks I ordered Iced Thai Tea. I wasn't sure what it was. When asked, the waitress explained that it was English tea, but cold. I was kind of puzzled and wondered why they called it Thai if it was English. But I felt brave and said, I'll try it anyway. The lady quickly went to the refrigerator and got a bottle out of it. The funny thing was, she couldn't open the bottle. She tried for a good deal of of time. Then she called in help from the kitchen. And both the ladies fought against the cap of the bottle. I was thinking, wow this drink better be nice, because it had the blood and sweat of two beautiful Thai ladies. I mean, not literally, but metaphorically. So I watched and waited. And finally they did it. Almost 12 minutes to open it. Phew! They must have burned hell lot of calories. And I was served.
The Iced Thai Tea, tasted a lot like milk bubble tea without the tapioca pearls! I love bubble tea. They served it in a glass with some ice. And it was nice. But I suddenly realized that it was winter and I should have ordered something hot instead. One thing that I particularly noticed in this place is that, their central heating is not very good. But I managed to tolerate the cold because I was hungry as a dog from a famine struck village.
And then we placed our orders. Three course meal, for two, that includes a soup, a starter and main course. My partner being a vegetarian, I chose to share the same sort of vegetarian cuisine and we ordered both the vegetarian soups that were available. One creamy, coconut milky and spicy and sour with mushrooms and the other non-creamy, non-coconut-milky but spicy and sour with mushrooms and some other vegetables.
For starters, we decided we would just share one, so went for the vegetable spring rolls. This was very different from what we had expected. All the spring rolls I have had till this day was served in a fried pastry wrap like thing. But this was served more like a dumpling, with some sweet and spicy sauce with sesame seeds sprinkled and a beautifully carved onion and some chillies on the side. It was a piece of art! For that price, I bet no restaurant would take all that effort to beautify your food. But this one did. And I respect them for that. Saloot!
Then main course. We ordered Thai fried noodles, which was a sweet-spicy mix of fried rice noodles, baby corn, carrots, bean sprouts, bean curd (tofu) and a piece of cauliflower and broccoli with a few peanuts sprinkled around, served with a small slice of lemon on the side. I squeezed the lemon and spread it across and tasted it. This was the first time I had tasted anything like it. It was different. I liked it. But not loved it. But that could be because I'm not a fan of sweet in main course.
The second main course dish we ordered turned out to be more like a side dish. It was stir fried bean curd (tofu) with spring onion, a sauce that I don't know much about, then some tiny round egg plant like vegetables. This was good. In fact the waitress suggested we order rice with it, so we just asked for rice. But in fact, we shared both the dishes and ate very little rice.
All in all this one is a good place. I would love to go there again to try out some of the non-vegetarian items. I'm pretty sure that is what most people go there for.
I felt the items were fairly priced and is great value for money.
If the heating is fixed, I'd give this place a 4/5. read more