Monday, June 15, 2009

Eat Thai: Mango Tree, Victoria


A good friend of mine has made the rather brave decision to leave his job and pretty much go it on his own. I really admire his decision, it takes a lot of balls to launch yourself into something you don’t fully understand and are ultimately fully responsible for.

So where is this minor monologue meandering to? Food of course! One of the things my friend has to learn about is search and as that is my field of expertise (ahem...) we decided to have a conflab over a “lunch meeting”.

Working in Victoria, you soon realise that you are hardly spoilt for choice when it comes to decent non chain dining establishments. So I logged onto the Taste London website (of which I have become a member) and with a highly appealing 50% off, Mango Tree, a local upper end Thai restaurant, was the destination.



Mango Tree is just round the corner from the Queens gaff and the insides are elegant and clean enough for her majesty herself to pop round for a pad thai or two. As we sat down, we were handed the labyrinthian menu (it's absolutely massive and quite confusing) and ordered some non-alcoholic cocktails. Although these were tasty, at £6 a pop, we were entering the realms of ”taking the piss”. What the hell were they made of? Ambrosia?


As they were running some “Lobster Specials”, I opted for the lobster tempura. These were a total let down. The meat was bland and erring on being well done. The accompanying spicy sauce was like kebab shop burger sauce, only not as nice and not a hint of spice. This dish should have been arrested for crimes against crustaceans.


A main of Pad Ka Pow Moo (stir fried pork with chilli and holy basil) was far better although for a chicken dish, this was very green bean heavy. The accompanying egg fried rice was nice but priced at £4 for a small bowl was outrageous.

I hate to say it but Mango Tree is a big rip off. Clearly marketed at those with big expense accounts, even with the 50% discount, it cost well over £20 a head, not really a cheap lunch. The Queen may well be able to afford it, I somehow don't think she is going to pop round if she reads this.

Mango Tree (website)
46 Grosvenor Place, SW1X 7EQ


Mango Tree on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

Fat Les said...

You've been had, sucker! I was tricked as well. Oh well, live and learn...live and learn.

Boo said...

What a con, £6 for a non alcoholic cocktail?? Shocking. I thought Covent Garden was a bad place to work, I should thank my lucky stars!

Unknown said...

agreed i went there a few years ago, the most useful thing was during a birthday celebration i was going to run for some cigarettes (quitting now) and they sold them..x

Anonymous said...

whew! i was gonna go there tomorrow as well! Thanks for the heads up!
goz