Thai Green Curry To Die For At Patara Berners Street

Name: Patara Berners Street

Where: 5A Berners Street, London, W1T 3LF, http://www.pataralondon.com/restaurant/berners-street/

Cost: Average spend per person is around £45 not including drinks. From the à la carte menu, starters are priced from £9.50 to £14.50, mains from £16.75 to £45. There are two set menus - Patara Pride is £45 per person with soup, and includes 5 starters, 4 mains plus accompanying rice and vegetable sides and dessert. The Patara Platinum is £65 per person for the same number of dishes but featuring some more luxurious items like Wagyu beef, king scallops and black cod. There is also a vegetarian set menu for £40 per person. 

About: Patara Berners Street is the latest London branch of the group, and opened in December 2015.

The Patara Group is known in London as a fine-dining Thai option with a reputation for top quality cooking, and Berners Street joins branches in Oxford Circus, Soho, Knightsbridge, South Kensington and Hampstead, as well as international branches in Bangkok, Beijing and Singapore.

The restaurant is situated just a few metres north of bustling Oxford Street, next to the Berners Tavern in the trendy London Edition Hotel.

It has an über-sleek look, clean and modern if a tad bland, with low level lighting, plain teak tables, green leather seating.

What We Ate: We wanted to choose our own dishes so opted for à la carte rather than the set menus. We started with the Chor Muang (£8) – these were beautifully presented, flower-shaped lilac dumplings filled with caramelised chicken and a peanut and coconut cream. Sweet, savoury and with a light but glutinous pastry casing, I enjoyed these.

Next were the chilli and sea salt calamari (£10.50) seasoned with fresh red chilli, black pepper, spring onion and garlic. As ubiquitous as this dish is in Chinese and southeast Asian restaurants, it is one I can't stop myself from ordering. Patara's version was highly seasoned, crispy and as moreish as it gets.

We then had fresh rolls with battered deep-fried soft shell crab and prawn (£10.25), filled with basil, carrot, mint and roasted peanut, and served with a chilli lime dressing. These were as refreshing as a Vietnamese summer roll, but I could hardly detect any soft shell crab in them, and so at this price point I thought they were not great vfm.

The salad of prawn and crispy beignet (£12.25) was tossed with cashews, mint, lemongrass and shallot, with a roasted chilli dressing. This had some great textures and tasted fresh and zingy, though the dressing was too sweet for my palate. I think of beignets as being balls of deep-fried dough, but what I saw in the salad were crispy little slivers.

Prawn tom yum soup (£9.50) was beautifully presented in a black cast-iron Japanese teapot, with an accompanying pestle and mortar and chilles, so that diners can adjust the heat of the soup to their own taste. The soup combined prawn, shimeji and oyster mushrooms, simmered in a broth of evaporated milk and fish sauce with galangal, lemongrass and kaffir lime. This was refreshing, well flavoured and delicious.

And then on to the mains - the curry was a chicken Kieaw Wan (£16.75), made from free-range chicken, aubergine and bamboo shoot in a green curry paste made in-house. The most ubiquitous of Thai dishes, chicken green curry to many signifies Thai cooking at its most popular, and it is a dish I nearly always order. Patara’s had tender chicken in a richly creamy curry with heady Thai basil, green chilli and coconut milk. This was one of the highlights of the meal for me, and beautifully served in a copper pot.

The fish main was a whole lemon sole (£24), filleted and cut into thin slices, served battered and deep-fried over its bones, accompanied by a green mango salad with coconut, chilli, cashews and shallot. I really wanted to love this dish, but like the prawn salad it was a tad too sweet for my liking, and lacked the zinginess, freshness and overall balance I was hoping for.

The main meat dish was one Patara’s signature dishes, and one I have tried before and loved – the coconut braised beef (£16.75). This had meltingly tender slow-braised beef in a lime-coconut cream reduction, finished with mint, lemongrass and coriander; rich, creamy and delicious, and I was very happy to have revisited it at Patara Berners Street.

The king prawn Pad Thai (£19.50) had a couple of whopping shellfish more like lobsters than prawns, and the taste was as good as it gets.

We had a couple of accompaniments including stir-fried morning glory, Thailand's number one green vegetable (£8.95). With chilli, ginger and mushroom sauce, this had a lovely texture and wok-breath.

The riceberry red Thai rice, roasted with sweet coconut water (£7.50), came served in a dinky young coconut shell, and had a lovely nutty flavour.

What We Drank: Patara Signature Cocktails, all with a Thai twist, range from £9.75 to £12. The entry level white wine is a South African Chenin Blanc (£22), with the red being a Shiraz/Cabernet blend from Berton Vineyards, Australia (£22).

We kicked off proceedings with a couple of Patara Signature cocktails. The Hendrick's Sour (£10), blended gin with lime juice and cucumber, garnished with fresh coriander. The Sake Popping Boba (£11.50) featured sake shaken with Jack Daniel's, St Germain elderflower liqueur, honey and jasmine tea. 

With the meal itself, we shared a bottle of Alsatian Pinot Blanc 2014, from Dopff (£26). With apple and melon flavours, this was a nicely rounded wine with enough richness to balance the spicy food. It was also surprisingly well priced.

Likes: A perfect meal for me here would include Pad Thai, chilli and sea salt calamari, coconut braised beef and morning glory. The restaurant is well located close to Soho and London’s theatreland. 

Dislikes: A couple of dishes were unbalanced - a tad too sweet, and lacking in freshness or acidity.

Verdict: Berners Street is a great addition to the Patara collection of fine-dining Thai restaurants in central London. The coconut braised beef and chicken green curry are to die for, and I would very happily return for them. Recommended.  

A Taste of Laos in London's Victoria

Name: Laos Café - A Pop-Up By Saiphin (Rosa’s Thai Café) 

Where: 25 Gillingham Street, London SW1V 1HN, http://rosasthaicafe.com/

Cost: Average cost is £15 to £20 per person (not including drinks). Small plates are priced from £5 to £7, main dishes for sharing cost from £6 to £15, sides of noodles or rice cost £3. The drinks menu is small, and includes Thai Chang Beer at £4 per bottle, and the Spanish house red and white wines at £18 per bottle.

About: Laos is very close to my heart as I have had a couple of wonderful visits to the country recently, you can read more about the gorgeous Luang Prabang (former royal cpaital) here and here and also the current modern capital Vientiane here. One of my favourite restaurants in Paris, Lao Lane Xang, is Laotian (read about it here), and so I was thrilled to hear of the opening of the Laos Café in London and hurried along to give it a try during its short life.

This Laotian pop-up in Victoria, a 5 minute walk from the train station, is the brainchild of Saiphin Moore, Head Chef and co-founder of the Rosa's Thai Café group. This is the only restaurant in London serving Laotian food and it’s surprising that none has opened until now. The food of Laos is varied and delicious, sharing many similarities with Thailand’s northern region of Issan (which has over the centuries been part of both Thailand and Laos), but it is also distinct for its own local produce and as a former French colony, for influences from French cuisine.

The small open-plan kitchen at Laos Cafe Pop-up

Taking up temporary residence in what will become the 7th Rosa's Thai Café, the pop-up will run until the end of February 2016, seating 25 people in a simply furnished but comfortable café.

The menu is designed for sharing, and features a total of 18 dishes from the land-locked country that once formed part of French Indochina. Nearly all the food is prepared on charcoal in the minute kitchen. 

What We Ate: We ordered a selection of 5 small plates and main courses to share, and dishes were brought to our table as soon as they were ready in no particular order.

We kicked off with a gorgeous chargrilled seabass (£15), stuffed with lemon grass and served whole and skin-on. There was a coating of sea salt over the skin making it deliciously salty and crisp. The fish was accompanied by a selection of fresh green herbs including basil, mint and dill, as well as noodles and a bowl of pounded spicy grilled aubergine with garlic, red onion, nam pla and chilli. 

We ate this by wrapping the fish up with noodles, herbs and the aubergine sauce in a lettuce leaf, making a great, spicy and refreshing start to our meal.  This was the star dish of our meal and great value at £15.

Next was the spicy grilled pork salad (£8) served with tender slices of pork, red onion, dried red chillies, toasted rice and herbs including mint, basil, dill, coriander and lettuce leaves. This packed quite a punch of chilli heat, balanced by the refreshing herbs and zingy dressing. I loved the toasted rice powder in the dish for both its flavour and added texture. A delicious dish I would love to try again.

The laab or laap had to be ordered - this is a traditional salad of minced pork, poultry and sometimes fish, served raw or cooked and highly seasoned – it is incredibly refreshing and one of the national dishes of Laos. The Laos Café’s duck laab version (£8) was served as is traditional at room temperature (but not raw), with tender grilled duck morsels, red onion, dried red chillies, toasted rice and mixed green herbs. We liked this dish, though sadly the flavour profile was very similar to the pork salad we had just eaten – had I been informed of this when ordering I would have chosen something else.

The seafood salad & glass noodles (£10) had many ingredients including prawns, squid, red onion, spring onion, Chinese celery, cherry tomato, fresh red chilli, coriander and dill but oddly no glass noodles! The seafood was lightly poached, and very tender, enlivened by a zingy lime, nam pla and chilli dressing and the accompanying herbs.

The papaya salad Laos style, known as Som Tum (£11.50) was similar in style to the Thai version (shredded green papaya, green beans, crushed tomatoes, peanuts and nam pla) except that it contained pounded Laotian anchovies and whole small crabs which had been roughly crushed. In my opinion this was the only downer of our meal – authentic though it may have been, my mouth got full of tiny, unpalatable crab shells with each spoonful making it difficult to eat. I was looking forward to crab when ordering this salad, but not its shell!

To accompany our meal, we shared two portions of white and brown sticky rice (£3 each), which were beautifully presented in banana leaves.

We shared 5 dishes and 2 portions of rice – in retrospect 4 dishes would have been enough as they were generously sized. This means that a meal at Laos Café costs around £15 to £20 a head (not including drinks), which in my opinion is excellent value. This is a unique opportunity to taste good and authentic Laotian cooking in London without breaking the bank.

This intriguing little Laotian café is only open until the end of February 2016, after which it will be refurbished as another branch of Rosa's Thai Café. If you haven't tried the food of Laos before, or even if you have, hasten over to Victoria to sample the food of Laos Café before it turns Thai. Rumour has it that if there is sufficient demand, Saiphin may open a permanent Laotian restaurant in Shoreditch!  So help me in this quest.

What We Drank: We had a glass of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc (£6.60) and a bottle of Chang beer (£4). We were served plenty of tap water on request.

Likes: The seabass was spectacularly good as was the grilled pork salad. Friendly service.

Dislikes: The drinks menu is limited and it is unfortunate considering this is a pop-up that BYO is not available. 

Verdict: The Food at Laos Café Pop-up is deliciously zingy, spicy and authentic. It is well-priced too though sadly only available until the end of February 2016. Recommended.

Sharing is Caring at SUDA Thai Cafe

Words & Photography by Marina Benjamin and Luiz Hara

Name: SUDA Thai Cafe

Where: St Martin’s Courtyard off Upper St. Martin’s Lane, Covent Garden, London WC2E 9AB, http://www.suda-thai.com/

Cost: Average spend is around £35 per person (not including drinks). The prices of each individual dish is shown below.

About: Tucked away in mega-hip St. Martin’s Court, just off the Seven Dials in London’s Covent Garden, Suda is a Thai-style Cafe from the creators of the much-loved Patara group of restaurants (reviewed here).

Suda is more street than suave, the concept being bites, sharing platters, and small tapas-style bowls. If Patara is sit-down formal, at Suda the vibe is fast and feisty, as befits a restaurant in the city’s go-go theatre and dining epicenter. We had a very enjoyable dinner for four on a sultry Friday evening in July and though Suda’s large dining room was hopping throughout the evening, service was consistently warm and welcoming. 

What We Ate: The food began with two sharing platters. The Suda platter is a cracking deal at £8.50 per person (minimum two people) and delightfully arrayed with a duck wrap, chicken and prawn dumplings, Thai fish and prawn lollipops, Thai prawn crackers, mini chicken satay sticks, and sweet potato curls. The lollipops were particularly tasty: moist and flavourful on the inside and crisp on the outside. The satay sauce – always a bellwether for Thai restaurants – was not too sweet and had the right note of heat to offset the tender satay chicken.

The Small Bites platter (£9.50 per person) offered encores of several Suda platter dishes, but also included marinated BBQ pork skewers that were a little fatty but compensated by some delicious grilled lamb chops, charred to perfection yet still pink and juicy. Crispy noodle-wrapped prawns were accompanied by a number of dipping sauces that were sweet and sharp by turn: a lovely play of tastes on the palate.

Reaching the main courses, we discovered that Suda excels at curry. We had the Small Bowls version, which allowed us to sample five curries whilst still leaving room for more adventuring through the Suda menu. If you’re a fan of Thai curries, we’d recommend it very highly.

Our Small Bowls carousel featured four of Suda’s meaty curries and one vegetarian curry, and all were satisfying in different ways: Gaeng Kiew Waan (£4.25) is a lovely green curry with chicken that packs a surprising back-note of heat, while Gaeng Garee Gae (£4.75), or yellow lamb curry, was mild yet complex.

Gaeng Massaman Gai (£4.25) is Suda’s take on classic Southern Thai chicken massaman and was appropriately deep and rich, ringing with playful undertones of cinnamon. Gaeng Panang Nua (£4.25) had long notes of mild curry spice amplifying well-cooked sirloin beef. The lone vegetarian curry, Gaeng Kiew Waan Pak (£3.95) didn’t let down the party: it was rich with vegetables and flavour, and medium-spiced in keeping with its meatier siblings.

Accompanying the Suda curry extravaganza was a very passable Pad Thai (£10.50 or £16.50), with juicy grilled prawns and with lime segments and crushed peanuts on the side, DIY-style. With these dishes we had Kao Mun (£3.50), mild coconut rice that was a perfect complement to the curries.

Suda’s dessert menu is simple but classic, and we managed three offerings between us, all perfect for a warm summer evening. Kao Niew I-Tim Ka-Ti (£3.95) was a perfectly judged take on a Thai classic of sticky sweet rice with homemade coconut ice cream, the latter being rich and oily and properly coconut-y in a way that is often hard to find. Kao Niew Mamuang (£5.95) was another sticky rice variation, this one with juicy chunks of tangy-sweet mango. But the real sweet treat was Gluay Hom Tod (£4.95): banana fritters pan-fried until crisp and golden, the heat sealing and intensifying the banana’s almost treacly richness, and served with vanilla ice cream topped with honey and sesame.

What We Drank: We began with cocktails from the tempting drinks menu: the Long cocktails were especially interesting, offering a distinctly Southern Asian twist on the classics. We tried a Pandan mojito - white rum with mint, pandan leaves, fresh lime, and vanilla liquor finished with soda – and a Suda passion, featuring rum with fresh passion fruit muddled with bitter lemon and sweet oranges topped with soda. Both were marvelously refreshing, but our group agreed that the cool and zingy savours of the Hendrick’s fizz – gin shaken with cucumber, fresh coriander and lemon juice – made it the refreshing star of the specialty drinks menu (all £7.45).

Many people assume that beer is the natural beverage with Thai food, but we were more than happy throughout the evening with Monsoon Valley Classic White (£19.50), a crisp Chenin Blanc/Columbard blend straight from Thailand that held up well to the curry carousel and was very drinkable on its own. It was another nice surprise in a menu full of them at Suda.

Likes: we loved the variety offered in the three different sharing platters we tried, they made for a very sociable evening, the curries were particularly good!

Dislikes: None.

Verdict: Suda is a great place for easy-going Thai cooking – it is affordable and now with a selection of sharing platters on offer, there is so much to sample from. Recommended. 

Nipa Thai - A Taste of Siam in London's Hyde Park

Words & Photography by Matthew Brown and Luiz Hara

Name: Nipa Thai

Where: Nipa Thai, Lancaster Hotel, Lancaster Terrace, London, W2 2TY,
http://www.niparestaurant.co.uk/

Cost: From the a la carte menu, starters and soups are around £11-12, with salads and curries at £16-19. There are a number of special fish dishes - from scallops in a red chilli and coconut broth to crisp fried sea bass - though none costs more than £24. All desserts are £9. Nipa Thai also offers a number of set menus, from £35 per person for six shared dishes to £40 for eight, with a choice of Thai wine pairings at £20 per person.

About: Nipa Thai is one of a small number of Thai restaurants to have received the prestigious Thai Select award from the Thai government for the quality of its cooking. It also has 2 AA Rosettes, and is situated within the Thai-owned Lancaster Hotel with views over Hyde Park, making it popular with visiting Thai dignitaries. Head-chef Sanguan Parr brought her experience from the partner restaurant, Nipa, in Bangkok’s Landmark Hotel. 

What We Ate: To begin, we ordered the Ruam Mitr - a sharing selection comprising several starters, the highlight of which was the chicken satay in a sweet and velvety homemade sauce, complemented by Thai fish cakes which were fresh and zingy with lime and coriander.

The Kao Krieb Pak Moh was also good - steamed rice parcels containing chicken, shallot and plenty of peanut, glistening like multi-coloured oysters on the plate, and eaten inside a crunchy lettuce leaf.

Next came a soup course, of Tom Kha Kai and Kaeng Jued Tao Hoo, both well made. I particularly enjoyed the Tom Khai Kai, containing tender chicken in a succulent coconut broth, made refreshing by lime and lemongrass. It is easy to miss out a soup course when ordering Thai food, but these dishes are a reminder that this is a mistake.

They were followed by an array of main course dishes. Pla Rad Prig featured fried seabass with crispy skin and succulent white flesh, with coriander, onion and chilli.

The Yua Ma Muang Poo Nim, a salad of soft-shell crab and mango, was also hot, but not as successful. The crab had crunch, but was over-battered and lacked flavour, and the mango salad wasn’t substantial enough to sooth the heat.

The curry - Phad Kiew Warn Ta Law - was better. Mixed seafood (including some large fat scallops) was served in a green curry with Thai aubergine and basil.

These dishes were served with Sanguan’s Phad Thai, named after new head chef Sanguan Parr. Sweeter than usual and with plenty of lime, this was as good as anything I have eaten in Bangkok. I also enjoyed the aromatic Kao Kati - steamed rice with coconut milk and pandan leaves.

Desserts are rarely the most interesting aspect of Southeast Asian menus, and true to form, the desserts at Nipa Thai were in my opinion a bit of a let down. The banana pudding was bland, and served with the tiniest dash of caramel sauce.

The Piña Colada panacotta, whilst innovative, had the consistency of a mousse and lacked the richness of the “cooked cream” that gives panacotta its name.

What We Drank: The drinks menu features classic cocktails (£9), champagne cocktails (£12) and a range of European and Asian beers (all around £5.50 a pint). Most of the wines are below £40 a bottle, with a good number under £30. There’s also a selection of Thai wines - most of which are World Wine Award winners - for £29 a bottle, and available in 175ml or 250ml glasses. 

We opted for a bottle of the Thai Monsoon Valley Colombard, a World Wine Bronze Award-winning white. Although this grape originated in Southwest France, the wine shares the medium body and acidity of Sauvignon Blanc. It had notes of apple and grapefruit, making it a good partner to the spicy aromatic food. 

For dessert, we had a glass of another Thai Monsoon Valley wine, this time a Late Harvest Chenin Blanc, which was well made.

Likes: The restaurant’s setting is impressive, and there can be few better London dining rooms in which to eat Thai food. The Kao Krieb Pak Moh (chicken-filled rice dumplings) and Phad Kiew Warn Ta Law (seafood green curry) were exceptional. 

Dislikes: The desserts were unexciting, although the course was rescued by a very enjoyable Thai Chenin Blanc.

Verdict: Thai Cuisine is more diverse and complex than many restaurants do justice to. Nipa Thai’s soups and seafood dishes are well made, and the interior is eye-catching. With a number of good-value set menus, anyone looking to experience authentic Thai food should head to Nipa Thai. Recommended.

Thai Cocktails and Nosh in Über-Trendy Hoxton

Name: Busaba Eathai

Where: 319 Old Street, London EC1V 9LE, http://www.busaba.com

Cost: Dishes are for sharing, and vary in cost from £3.90 to £12.50.  The average food spend is around £20-£30 per head.

About: Situated on a busy corner of Old Street in the heart of Hoxton, this is one of 10 restaurants in the group opened by restaurateur Alan Yau around 15 years ago. I used to love visiting their first branch in Wardour Street when it opened in the late 90s, it was one of the most innovative and forward-thinking London restaurants at the time.

There are plans to expand the Busaba Eathai group to 20 restaurants over the next year, including new branches in Manchester, Leeds, Cambridge and possibly Scotland, among others.

With Thai Executive Head Chef Jude Sangsida overseeing the whole group, there is a reasonable degree of consistency of cooking across different branches. The restaurant aims to serve popular Thai dishes for the UK market and palate. Like the other restaurants in the group, all the dining tables in Old Street are shared, with benches rather than chairs, making for a relaxed, informal experience.  There is a separate bar area with high stools and tables for those who just want to enjoy a cocktail or share a bottle of wine.

What We Ate: Like in Thailand, the dishes were served all at once at Busaba Eathai. Rather than starters and main courses, the dishes are divided into salad, soup noodle, wok noodle, stir-fry, grilled curry, rice and side dishes, which together make up a Thai meal. The flavours and textures of these different dishes, complement each other – a refreshing salad is ideal to go alongside a more fiery curry, while rice and vegetable sides should be eaten with the remaining dishes.

We started with a well made and deliciously tender Thai calamari served with ginger and peppercorns (£6.50).

Som Tam salad is one of the national dishes of Thailand and can be found both on the streets as in restaurants and homes across the country – made from green papaya, dried shrimps, cherry tomato and peanut (£6.90), Busaba’s som tam was authentic with some very fresh Thai flavours.

For noodles, we opted for a very flavoursome Pad Kwetio served with Sen Yai noodles, smoked chicken, prawn and shiitake mushroom (£8.60). This was delicious and one of the highlights of our meal.

I loved the rich aniseed aromas and flavours from the sweet basil and chilli and the chunky but tender prawns in the Chilli Prawn Stir-fry (£8.90).

The Red Beef Curry (£10.50) had perfectly tender slivers of beef, both Thai and pea aubergines, as well as kaffir lime leaf and chilli all in an intensely flavoured curry sauce – excellent.

To accompany our dishes, we shared a portion of coconut rice (£3.30), and a lovely vegetable dish of morning glory, with yellow bean sauce, Thai garlic and chilli (£5.90).

What we Drank: Wines range from £19.50 to £24.50, and all are available either by the 175ml glass, or in 500ml flasks, or as a full bottle. There are just 3 white and 3 red options, along with one rosé and 5 beers.  For sparkling wines, there is the Prosecco di Valdobbiadene at £29.50, or a Lallier 1er Cru Rose Champagne at £52.50.

Besides wine and beer, there is a choice of mocktails (non-alcoholic cocktails) priced from £2.70 to £3.30, while cocktails at the Old Street branch are priced at £7.50. There are plans to make these cocktails available across the whole group by the end of 2014.

We sampled 4 cocktails with our meal.  The Nam Thang Mo (rum blended with watermelon, kaffir lime, guava and chilli) was delicious and very tropical. Personally though I preferred the Lao Kong, made from green tea infused with whisky, with pineapple, honey and cinnamon syrup. Unsurprisingly, I’m a sucker for anything that features green tea.

The Citrus Negroni was sensational - made from the usual trio of gin, Martini and Campari, it was spiced up with a slug of tamarind syrup, and served over a whopping sphere of solid ice the size of an orange. It had a real kick and was as strong as I expected it to be.

Last but far from least, and actually in my opinion the best of all, the Thai Martini was made from gin infused with lemongrass, Thai basil and birdseye chilli tincture. This was a magnificent, fragrant and stimulating cocktail, and I can’t wait to try it again.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the cocktails we tried – they were well made and cleverly thought out and at £7.50 are also excellent value at trendy Shoreditch/Hoxton areas.

Likes: The superb cocktail menu at this Old Street branch is a big draw. The food is both reasonably authentic and affordable, and the restaurant is in a very happening part of Hoxton. Service is fast and friendly, and the wine selection is small but good value and well chosen.

Dislikes: Shared tables work in a supper club setting but I am not sure they do at a restaurant. I don’t mind sharing, but it can be awkward if others do!

Verdict: Busaba Eathai in Old Street is a great place for some cocktails with an Asian twist in über-trendy Hoxton, and a fix of fast Thai food in a relaxed, friendly setting. Recommended.