Having tried a few Thai places in London, I haven't been too impressed. With that, I have to confess that Thai cuisine has not been one that frequently crosses my mind when choosing where to eat.
First thing we said to the waiter when he gave us the menu was to recommend to us the more unique/traditional/authentic Thai dishes. If that fails, I usually go with 'What is your favourite?'
With that, we managed to order a few starters and mains.
My Thai Ice Tea arrived first of course which on first sip tasted similar to HK style milk tea. There were hint of sweetness without being overly so followed by a mid-strength tannin taste.
I like this drink.
Sai Uoa £8.95
The first starter to arrive was the Sai Uoa which is a Grilled Northern Thai mixed herb traditional pork sausage. I don't know if it usually is THAT spicy but these were SPICY! Am started to wonder in my head if I should perhaps have not said to the waiter that we wanted hot dishes!
The sausages were juicy with the flavours well balanced. As much as this was burning my mouth, I couldn't stop myself as the more I ate, the more I wanted to eat.
Som Tum Pon La Mai Ruam £7.5
It was with relief when the next starter arrived. A wonderful array of colours coming from the tomatoes, grapes, apples, green beans and I couldn't believe it, tiny shrimps known as 'Har Mai' drizzled with Som Tum sauce.
It was sour, it was salty, it was refreshing, and it cooled my burning tongue down. I have not had a salad like this before with a sour salty combo and it really works. I highly recommend.
Pla Hoi Shell £10.5
The last of the starters were these seared scallops resting on a circled courgette crowned with sliced apples and caviar with spicy and sour seafood dressing to finish. This was the least impressionable of the trios. The combination doesn't seem to add anything or harmonise with each other. Its side salad was a different story though which you could just about see on the top left part of the pic. With chopped up mint added to the salad, it brought the salad to a whole new level and was finished within minutes by the table.
With the starters, I would say that I am most delighted with the salads and can't wait to try others when I come back next time.
I was feeling a tad full now and we haven't even move on to the mains.
Gang Phed Ped Yang £11.95
Chargrilled marinated duck breast in red curry with pineapple and lychees
It would be appalling to go to a Thai restaurant and not to at least give one of their curries a try. We decided to skip convention and went with one with a most unusual and interesting combination indeed. So our Gang Phed Ped Yang arrived which is duck breast that has been chargrilled and then cooked in a red curry with pineapple and lychees.
Pineapple and lychees? I know, I was thinking the same thing and the unusual combo was just too hard to resist not trying. Duck is a heavily accented meat and it combines well with the curry, the texture itself was succulent. The curry itself was way too creamy. Gamey and creamy over dominated everything else which was quite unfortunate for the pineapple and lychees.
Pra Nung Ma Naew £14.95
The Pra Nung Ma Naew arrived next which were two sea bass fillets with a tropical zesty sauce. Zesty lime, coriander and tiny chopped chillies adding a kick, this would have blown me away if not for the fish. Such a light and zingy sauce is perfect to bring out the freshness and sweetness of the sea bass, but its downfall is that anything less than fresh would also be more pronounced. The sea bass was unfortunately not fresh, chatting with the waiter, we were told that priced at £15, the cost would have been too high to use fresh fish and frozen fish was used instead.
Understandable but such a pity. It is still a good dish but has so much potential to blow your socks off.
Weeping tiger £11.95
The last trio of mains was the Weeping Tiger. Beef grilled to medium well with Thai sauce to dip into on the side, good without leaving an impression.
With the starters and mains over, we browsed the dessert menu and couldn't decide as the now really full glutton in me wanted to try all three! Our wonderful waiter came to the rescue and insisted that we got the water chestnut dumpling and no more.
Water Chestnut Dumpling £5.75
Our dessert arrived which was totally not what we were expecting. Tiny cubes of water chestnut with a coat that is both joyfully chewy and elastic. We figured out the ingredient used to coat those ruby water chestnut but which has now slipped my mind. A few slivers of jackfruit as garnish and coconut ice cream on the side completes the dessert.
These ruby babies are good and such a delight to eat. I can see myself coming here just to have this when I crave dessert. The coconut ice cream had just the right balance of coconut in it and complements the water chestnuts well. read more