Thai Resturants in London

[Joe Schmoe]

Can anyone recommend a really good Thai restaurant in Town. Im put off Namh by friends who've been and the prices so Im after great food and great service in London Central or West

[yvonne johnson]

Hi,

Not Thai, but close. Melati (on Great Windmill St, I think) serves very good Malaysian. Great soups. Maybe Simon will chime in as he's been more recently than I have.

[Tonyfinch]

If you're ever down Wapping way and fancy a Thai try Wharf in Wapping High St. It's a bit more expensive than your average Thai but it's several cuts above in terms of quality.The chef has been brought over from a Bangkok hotel (can't remember which) and in all the three meals I've eaten there every dish has been piping hot and really delicious.Decor is modern art on the walls. Service is sweet and helpful.

IMO,best restaurant in Wapping by quite some way.

[Roger McShane]

It depends on whether you really want Thai food or the Western interpretation of Thai food. If you want the dumbed down pap that is served up as Thai food in New York, London and Paris then go anywhere you like.

If you want real Thai flavours and textures that reflect the incredible complexity of Thai cooking then you should try Nham.

[Tonyfinch]

Roger, I've not eaten at Nahm but as I recall the Nahm thread there are others who take a less enchanted view.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Bedlington Cafe in Chiswick. But not on the High Street. It's sort of behind Hogarth's House and halfway to the Kew Bridge. Very unassuming in a coffee shop setting. My office used to be near there so I went all the time. Haven't been in a number of years though.

[Miss J]

I had a great meal at Esarn Kheaw in Sheperds Bush a few weeks ago. Although the decor is outrageous (green, tacky, covered in posters) and the menu covers all the expected Thai favs, it also has a smattering of lovingly prepared northern specialities (as the name would suggest).

I had a great, well-spiced larb that included thin strips of pork skin, a firey som tam made of pure green papaya (no cabbage or carrot in sight), and a small basket of authentic sticky rice. The owner is very appreciative of adventurous customers. As soon as he realised that I was genuinely interested in Esarn cooking, he was happy to talk about his recipes and make recommendations.

It's very small and very popular, so make sure you book.

Miss J

[Simon Majumdar]

My take on Nahm was one or two exceptional dishes ( a dish of crispy pig skin in a sour sauce was one of the best dishes I have ever eaten ) alongside some that were no more than bog standard

The pricing was also extraordinary with £120 per head being way over the top.

The main reason I have not been back was the service which was pushy ( trying not to allow us to order anything but the set meal ) and tainted by the slightly sinister presence of the front of house chap who I believe is also the chef's business manager. He was rude to both guests and staff which is a bit of a double whammy.

S

[StephenT]

I had a great meal at Esarn Kheaw in Sheperds Bush a few weeks ago. Although the decor is outrageous (green, tacky, covered in posters) and the menu covers all the expected Thai favs, it also has a smattering of lovingly prepared northern specialities (as the name would suggest).

I live two blocks away from Esarn Kheaw and my wife and I used to eat there (or get take-aways) quite regularly. Eventually the lamentably slow service got too much and we stopped going although we really did enjoy the food. Actually the fact that we endured the "service" so often says a lot about how much we enjoyed the food.

The Market Thai on Portobello Road is fairly decent from what I remember. Possibly a bit too Westernised and "packaged" for some tastes, but well done.

If you've got a bit of money to spare, try The Blue Elephant on Fulham Broadway. The food and service are good and the interior really is something to behold - it's like walking into an indoor garden, complete with a large fishpond and plenty of bamboo. After being sat next to the fish pond the first time I went there, I specifically asked to sit near it again the next couple of times even though it means you get people walking past you quite often.

[StephenT]

If you've got a bit of money to spare, try The Blue Elephant on Fulham Broadway.

Now that I've seen how much Simon Majumdar spent at Nahm, The Blue Elephant looks like a bargain! I don't think I've ever spent more than half that there.

[RickBehl]

I thought the food at Nahm was very good. Some dishes were better

than others though. I will go back, but only at lunchtime when I believe

they have a more reasonable set-price menu.

Other Thai's I can recommend:

Tawana on Westbourne Grove: Serves very good standard dishes plus a

few specialities you won't have seen elsewhere. Try the Thai fishcakes (best in town), King Prawn in Casserole with Glass Noodles, and Stir fried

Asparagus.

Busaba Eatthai on Wardour Street: Great (relatively) new place which

has communal style tables with the emphasis on fast and well-priced dishes. They don't take bookings so you often end up queuing outside. But

don't fret as the queue moves fast. Try the breaded prawns with sour mango chilli sauce, a great green chicken curry, good Som Tam (papaya salad). Apparently, David Thompson (of Nahm) advised on the menu.

Esarn Kheaw on Uxbridge Road: See comments above. The Northern thai

sausages are fantastic !

Thai Bistro on Chiswick High Road. Owned by a renowned Thai Chef who has many cookbooks. This again is a communal style restaurant with some good regional specialities.

All the places above can provide you with a good meal with a couple

of Singha's for around £20-£25 a head.

Enjoy !

Rick

[Tonyfinch]

Some friends who are Thai food fiends wanted to try somewhere new and avoid the Saturday night mayhem in Soho.

We chose Nipa in the Royal Lancaster Hotel purely on the basis of a glowing red starred review in the new Time Out Guide.

What the hell does Time Out think it's doing? I should have known from the start what with all that faux teak and those little red chillies on the menu to indicate degrees of "hotness" and no wine on the list at less than £23 quid.

The service was courteous enough but that's the only positive thing to say. The food had obviously been piped in from that great Thai kitchen in the bowels of the earth which pre cooks everything and then sends it down a network of tubes to every bog standard Thai food outlet across the UK. It was crap. Because it was Thai crap most of it was,in fact,edible. But crap it was nontheless.And expensive crap to boot.

This restaurant is not in the same league as my local Thai in Wapping-Wharf-but TO doesn't even see fit to include that,let alone give it a star.

Avoid at all costs. Definitely a candidate with The Cinnamon Club for my worst meal of the year.

[RickBehl]

And to think you were only a hop, skip and a jump from Tawana on Westbourne Grove ! The red star is definitely justified there !