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| Patara Maddox Street Mayfair 020 7499 6008  Oxford Circus   |
Dinner |
Gin and tonic (£4.55), Gleneagles mineral water (two bottles, £7), satay trio (£7.50), dumplings (£6.50), miang phed spring rolls (£8.50), duck confit (£13.95) with pineapple, beef curry (£13.95), glutinous steamed rice (£1.95), broccoli with shitake mushrooms (£6.75), plain noodles (£5.50), egg fried rice (£2.25). |
| Elephant
Royale Locke's Wharf Isle of Dogs 020 7987 7999 Island Gardens |
Dinner £35 ($45) |
The Elephant Royale is situated on a prime spot overlooking the river
with views across to Greenwich, although the immediate neighbourhood
probably offers the cheaper end of the market in Docklands living.
On a Saturday night we had no trouble booking at late notice, and
the large, dining room done out in a modern Thai style, was far from
full. Our table was on a shallow platform opposite the picture windows.
The menu is long with several different banquet options fromi £19.90
to £29.50 per person, but we decided to start with Thai lettuce
wraps of barbecued chicken, carrots, beansprouts, garlic noodles with
some quite spicy sauces, plus Bangkok crab claws (£9.50), and
king prawn tempura ((£8.90). This was followed by fried crispy
garlic squid in oyster sauce (£8.90) for me, while others had
Massaman lamb in a medium spicy curry sauce (£9.50), khiew warn
chicken (£7.90) and roast duck curry (£8.90), and we shared
bowls of light, fluffy rice and noodles. A couple of bottles of Argentinian
Malbec completed the meal. The food was accomplished and tasty, service
keen and attentive, and the ambience of the restaurant relaxed. Probably
worth a return visit on a summer's evening when the front terrace
is open to diners. Website |
| Wharf Wapping High Street 020 7702 9559 Wapping |
Dinner £20 ($30) |
There's not a lot of choice
for the well heeled residents - mostly City workers - in their converted
wharf apartments in this corner of London, but Wharf at least gives
them a chance to dine out on authentic Thai food. The name and decor
are far from traditional - the bar area that greets diners is modern
with funky art on the walls, while down a slight ramp is the oak floored
dining room, where white marble topped tables and heavy captains' chairs
predominate. There's barely a flat surface, with lattice windows, brick
and sheet steel walls all executed in swerving curves, and an absence
of soft furnishing could lead to noisy mealtimes on busier lunchtimes
and evenings. The unadventurous menu lists many of the usual suspects,
from satay and gado gado to numerous green and red curries and stir
fries, and appears to be filled out with a few Chinese regulars such
as dim sum, duck spring rolls and prawns on toast. Our starters of tempura
king prawns (£6.95) and a platter of mixed seafood (£7.50),
which included salmon fillet, squid, mussels and king prawns in a light
batter, were rather bland and were only enlivened by a sweet ginger
soy sauce. On the other hand, however, our main courses were delicious.
Red roasted duckling curry (£7.50), which contained pineapples,
cherry tomatoes, lime leaves, red Thai chilli and sweet basil with coconut
milk, was atttractively presented in a little ramekin and was delicately
flavoured. My panang nua (£8.95), with stir fried Aberdeen Angus
beef, red curry paste and chilli, lime leaves and coconut milk as above
also tantalised, although pad nam man hoi with Aberdeen beef (£6.95)
was subdued by comparison. Rice, both egg fried and coconut, was soft
and moist, and the stir fried noodles were lightly cooked with bean
sprouts, spring onions and carrots. A bottle of French house wine at
£10.95 and a bottle of mineral water completed the meal. Handy
for residents but hardly worth a special visit. |
| Patara Fulham Road SW3 020 7351 5692 South Kensington |
Dinner £20 ($30) |
One of the few Thai restaurants
open on a Sunday, as we discovered after a long and up until then fruitless
search both sides of the river, Patara is just opposite PJ's Bar &
Grill though there are two other branches of this chain, Beauchamp Place
in Knightsbridge and Maddox Street in Mayfair. We were the first customers
that evening but the small dining room, decked out in understated oriental
style with touches of bamboo and a green and yellow colour scheme, soon
filled up. After a gin and tonic each we ordered starters including
chicken and beef satay and vine leaf wrapped satay. For main course
my companions ordered duck in yellow thai curry, while I had green chicken
curry, and to drink we had sparkling mineral water. Each dish was loaded
with flavour and the service was attentive - we had the waiting staff
to ourselves for the first half an hour until other diners drifted in.
Worth a return visit, especially on a Sunday evening. |
|
Suchard |
Dinner £15 ($22) |
Across the street from
the stack of saucepans that is the riverside offices of London's Lord
Mayor, Suchard is a small, unpretentious Thai that functions as much
as a local take away as a restaurant. The formica surfaces and rather
plain dining room don't inspire, and the place was mostly empty on our
visit to celebrate a friend's birthday one Saturday evening, but the
food stands up well to scrutiny. It's unlicensed, so we took along a
bottle or two of wine, as well as a 3 litre box of Banrock Station Cabernet
Sauvignon - well, it was party time! After a selection of starters that
included prawns in tempura batter with sweet chilli sauce, Thai fish
cakes with sweet and sour dip, we chose from the extensive menu. I had
tamarind duck with shallots and chilli (£7.50), while others ordered
honey chicken (£6.95) and hormok talay - mixed seafood in red
curry with lime leaves and coconut (£7.95). We sampled each other's
selections. Although the starters were unremarkable, the main courses
were very well put together and tasty. As we wandered back to our friend's
docklands apartment overlooking the Thames, we passed the shell of the
original Suchard, which is part of an isolated little terrace of disused
buildings seemingly destined for destruction or redevelopment. |
| Busaba
Eathai revisited Wardour Street W1 020 7255 8686 Tottenham Court Road |
Dinner £30 ($45) | On my second visit to
Busaba Eathai, early on a St Patrick's Day Sunday evening, we perched
at the corner of a well filled table and had fishcakes with cucumber
and peanut relish (£4.20), Thai calamari with ginger garlic and
peppercorn (£4.20), duck stir fried with pickled vegetable and
black bean (£7.50), thom yam chicken with rice noodles in spicy
sour soup (£6.50), chicken butternut squash stir fried with cashew
nuts and chilli (£5.50) and to drink, a jasmine smoothie - passion
fruit, banana, orange, natural yogurt and jasmine water (£2.50).
The flavours roared through and the spiciness tingled my tongue. Busaba
is still good value and well worth a visit if you don't mind queuing
for a seat at shared tables. |
| Hobgoblin 21 Balcombe Street Marylebone NW1 020 7723 0352 Marylebone |
Dinner £30 ($45) |
Not quite
your typical Thai restaurant, the Hobgoblin is actually one of the Hobgoblinns
pub chain, but the food is provided by the Thai couple that work there.
It's one of a growing number of central London pubs that have franchised
their kitchens, instead of providing the standard pub fare of chilli
con carné, lasagne and oven chips with everything. In this case,
it's been a welcome development (although I still have a soft spot for
the venue when it was Hennelly's Champagne Bar & Restaurant which,
back in 1990-93, was one of London's first Gaelic themed restaurants).
The chef and his wife are both from Bangkok, and know how to weave magic
in the kitchen. On our visit we ordered prawns in a bed and tom yam
soup. I had squid for main course and there were pad thai noodles, as
well as chicken in oyster sauce with noodles. One of our party, who
had travelled extensively in Thailand, claimed the food was the best
he'd tasted outside that country. We drank beer and red wine, and the
bill would still have been very reasonable had the landlord, who knew
us, gave us the meal on the house. You won't always have my luck, but
Hobgoblin is a nice venue in a quiet part of Marylebone where the Thai
food matches anything else available in the area. |
| Busaba
Eathai Wardour Street W1 020 7255 8686 Tottenham Court Road |
Dinner £25 ($38) |
New Thai dining hall launched
in 1999, on the premises that used to be my local NatWest bank, along
similar lines to nearby Wagamama and Satsuma down the road, featuring
communal tables and yet another philosophy to filling your face - this
time buddist (sic). They've replaced the term restaurant with
'eathai' to represent a more casual single course dining experience
geared toward feeding you 'with minimum fuss'. Lengthy queues are another
feature, as there is no reservation system, although you shouldn't have
to wait long as the turnover is relatively rapid - it's not the kind
of place where you linger over the last bite on your plate. Inside,
there's wood panelled walls, a smooth polished concrete floor and about
12 large square dark wood tables, each seating between 10 and 12 diners.
Low polished wooden benches surrounded the table, above which is suspended
a fat cylindrical light fixture. The menu is loosely structured with
dishes arranged under main headings and others under side orders together
with starters. A small range of wines is also offered. We ordered prawns,
which came battered and with a sweet orange coloured dip, as well as
thai fishcakes, which came with a clear chilli dip with bits of chopped
veg in it. Apart from a rubbery texture, which seems to be a trademark
of thai fishcakes, these were spicy and tasty. Main courses consisted
of pork with chives for my companion, while I had a vast bowl of seafood
noodle soup. The pork looked on the fatty side but tasted fine. My soup
contained a few prawns, a large mushroom, a couple of large scallops
and several pieces of chewy squid. The broth was very spicy, with lots
of thinly sliced red and green chillies, although I avoided the large
deep green raw chilli pepper lurking in the depths. We had carbonated
water to wash it down. The whole bill came to just over £25, not
including service, but suggesting a 10 per cent tip which seemed fair.
Essentially this kind of dining is fast food without the speed, but
with the quality you'd expect of more traditional restaurants. The communal
seating sounds intrusive but the two of us didn't feel uncomfortable
and chatted to some of our immediate neighbours. |
| Blue
Elephant 020 7385 6595 Fulham Broadway |
Dinner £40 ($60) |
West London, very exotic
ambience, food and service excellent. Bridges, waterways, koi carp,
jungle, this place has it all, as well as some of London's top Thai
food. Apparently fresh ingredients are flown in weekly from the subcontinent.
Order the Royal Banquet - quicker than trawling through the long menu
and a good way to sample most of the popular items such as the prawn
sesame toast, spring rolls, pad thai and green curry. Go back a second
time to focus on your favourites! And now you can have the delicious
food in the comfort of your own home as most of the menu can be home
delivered by restaurant delivery service, Room
Service. |
| Chada
Thai Battersea Park Road 020 7622 2209 Battersea Park |
Dinner £25 ($40) |
Intimate, wood-paneled,
family-run room offering favourites as well as a few more unusual items
all presented to a high standard. Thai noodles especially delicious. |
| Sri
Thai Soho Old Compton Street Soho 020 7434 3544 Tottenham Court Road |
Dinner £30 ($45) |
Modern, lively Thai, formerly
Sri Siam, located in the heart of gay Soho. A visit shortly after it
opened several years back was unforgettable - but only for the overpowering
doses of finely-chopped chilli in every dish. Even my Hong Kong Chinese
colleague, who ordered for me, couldn't take more than a couple of mouthfuls
of our meal, most of which remained untouched. Luckily, recent visits
have been much more pleasurable as the new chef seems to have a lighter
hand with the chilli. Customers are flocking to eat here now and there
is usually a very busy atmosphere. Spicy prawn crackers set the sweat
glands racing to begin with (at least mine do), fish cakes come with
sweet dipping sauce and the Thai curries are still memorable, but for
all the right reasons. A second branch plies its trade at London Wall. |
| Thailand Lewisham Way 020 8691 4040  New Cross |
Dinner £25 ($40) |
Located in the relative
depths of south east London this Thai restaurant, set in a tiny front
room on a clapped out high street, has built up a loyal following with
the quality of its cooking. A Scottish connection somewhere is evident
from the huge display of different whiskies on offer. On my first visit,
rather than order from the menu and risk wasting any more time and confusing
ourselves, we simply asked for our waiter to order and keep bringing
food to us until we said 'no more'. Surprisingly they agreed without
a blink, and we ate what was put in front of us - all of it. Several
heaped platters later we had to wave the white flag. Included in our
food fest were a large plate of mussels in a Thai curry sauce, larb
(hot and sour minced chicken wrapped in lettuce leaves) and much else
besides. We were more than happy with the bill, which for the food came
to only about £17 per head. Return visits have proved it was no fluke.
A real must-try worth the journey. |
| Busabong
Too Langton Street Chelsea 020 8691 4040 Fulham Broadway |
Dinner £25 ($40) |
A late change of plans
- the Blue Elephant proved impossible to get into at short notice -
led us to this nearby Thai, but a disappointing evening was in store.
Perhaps because it was just before Christmas, too early in the week
or too early for the local crowd to put in an appearance, but it was
unusually quiet, which could have been advance warning of the lacklustre
food and none too hot service. Has links with at least one other Busabong
restaurant in the same area. Food also delivered by Room
Service.
|
| Ben's
Thai Warrington Crescent Maida Vale 020 7266 3143 Maida Vale |
Dinner £25 ($40) |
Part of a British trend
of opening up Thai restaurants above traditional pubs that began in
the mid-80s, Ben's is a fine attempt and one much appreciated by local
residents. A large busy room above the Warrington Hotel pub, which is
worth a special visit in its own right for its decor and the interesting
clientele (it was my 'local' for two years!), the restaurant has been
receiving mixed reviews recently, although I found the food excellent
on my last visit.
|
| Bedlington
Cafe Fauconberg Road Chiswick 020 8944 1965 Chiswick |
Lunch £15 ($25) |
What looks like the archetypal
greasy spoon, and probably is first thing in the morning, actually serves
up some fiercely spicy fare, although the odd rogue ingredient may creep
in. My lunch, part of a farewell celebration for a colleague, was uncomfortably
hot, but I'm probably not accustomed to curries at that time of the
day.
|
| Prices are per head for two-three courses, sharing a bottle of wine or a beer or two where appropriate | ||
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