I've found my new go-to Thai! Sure, it's a bus/tube or car ride from my home but its worth it. Somtam is a small Thai restaurant in the middle of Askew Road, an area which seems to have become a tad gentrified. Next door, the Ginger Pig was holding an urban butchery course-very chic! But, back to Somtag. As I say, it's quite small and on weekends I would definitely book. The decor is solidly Thai but in an understated way. We were greeted by the owner who was politeness itself-he told us a little of how he came to own the place. We ordered drinks and tap water was brought for us and then constantly re-filled-very good touch. Service was generally excellent.
We had:
Thai fish cakes
soft shelled crab (both to start)
Massaman lamb curry
green curry
Pad Thai
Both starters were really good. I love Thai fishcakes, though they can get on the greasy side. These were freshly made and non-greasy with clean flavours. The soft shelled crab was very reasonably priced at about £6 but we got 2-3 huge pieces. Not the best crab I've had but for the money they were absolutely fine.
I was concerned ordering the lamb curry-I have a "thing" about lamb as it can be chewy/fatty. I needn't have worried-the lamb was slow cooked, lean and wonderfully tender. The sauce was rich and deep-a revelation.
The green curry was less fireworks but very nice indeed with all the attendant flavours you would expect in a good Thai curry. Pad Thai-tick yet again-huge king prawns were buried deep in the noodles. We had no desert as we could hardly walk after this. If you live in the area or even if you don't give this friendly, very competent restaurant a bash. We will certainly return. read more