We didn't really want to venture into Manchester for dinner, especially as we would have a very…read moreearly morning the next day, so we decided to give Nam Ploy another go since we enjoyed it so much the first time.
It was a weeknight, not busy at all. Most of the business seemed to be takeaway, but we decided to eat in. We wanted to try something different this time... of course we seemed to be having difficulty making decisions on dishes. Eventually we decided on one of the set menus. It is funny that the items Mr. Snarky were excited about, I wasn't, but I was also excited about items that he wasn't. Go figure.
We went with Set Menu B, which is a lot of food. The starter was similar to what we had on our last visit, so of course it was a pleaser. Next up was the soup. Our waitress had advised us that the prawn soup was extremely spicy. We asked if the soup could be made less spicy, to which she said no, but said we could substitute for a different soup. So we went with the Tom Tam Gai, a coconut milk based soup with chicken. Mr. Snarky was excited about it, but I wasn't quite so excited, mostly because I have tried a couple of coconut milk based soups and I tend not to enjoy them. I also remember my mom making a dish with coconut milk when I was kid and I always ate something else for dinner because I just didn't like it. However, as an optimist, I continue trying dishes I don't like in the hopes that one day I might like it.
The soup came out and it was quiet pungent. However, it tastes much better than the smell. I ended up liking and Mr. Snarky ended up not being a huge fan. The other issue is that his bowl was mostly mushrooms with only a couple of pieces of chicken... he doesn't like mushrooms. If we had to do it again, I would try the spicy shrimp soup.
For our mains we had a creamy shrimp curry, stir fried chicken with garlic and pepper, and Beef with Oyster Sauce. This comes with egg fried rice as well, but I believe we did order another bowl of steamed rice... I'm part Asian, I can put away a lot of rice. A word to the wise, try the chicken and the beef first. We made the mistake of trying the shrimp curry first, but because of all the spices and spiciness of it, it just dominated our palette. I will say that I was a bit worried about the creamy shrimp curry, 1) I have never been a huge fan of curry (although we are working to correct this) and 2) because it said 'creamy' in the description and I am lactose intolerant. However, I enjoyed the shrimp curry... the flavor was amazing and the while it isn't instantly spicy, the spice does intensify.
We were absolutely stuffed! I think an extra course, even if it is soup probably put us over the edge, however, we were definitely happy with our food (the soup being the exception for Mr. Snarky). And at just under £20 per person, I think it was a pretty good deal.
