Rosa's - Thai treats in Soho

Thai food has never really been my favourite type of Asian cuisine. Not sure what it is but all that Thai basil and lemongrass just doesn’t really sit well with me. The lack of depth in Thai restaurants in London probably also doesn’t help a great deal. Sure, I always enjoy meals at Busaba, but that’s not really authentic Thai food now, is it?

So when I asked my friend what she wanted to eat for dinner, I was met with abject fear when she replied “Thai please”. And to compound it all, my friend is a vegetarian (yes, I am friends with vegetarians). So off I went to the fountain of all knowledge (Twitter) and pleaded for help. A flood of replies followed. Blue Elephant, etc etc etc, who knew there were so many places that people could recommend. In the end I opted for Rosa’s on Dean Street, a new(ish) outpost of the original Rosa’s in Spitalfields.

Located in the middle of Soho, the streets were buzzing, even for a Monday night. Sat in our booth, we cast our eye over the menu and the multiple vegetarian options kept my companion pleased. We decided to start with some vegetarian summer rolls, which were perfectly alright if not a little bland. Wrapped in sticky rice wrappers, they were packed with veg (led by lettuce) and studded with peanut sauce. Dipping it in the accompanying sweet chilli gave it a bit more flavour.

My main of Nuar Kwang Pad Prig Thai Dam had my tongue in a twist when I tried to order, but had my taste buds humming when I got to taste it. Stir fried slices of venison drenched in a peppery sauce were tender and quite punchy, I rather enjoyed it.

I felt rather indulgent so instead of the standard “fragrant” rice, I opted for the Kow Pad Rosa’s, a version of fried rice made with Thai sausage, which was the food equivalent of a “swing vote”. Well fried rice studded with sweet and meaty sausage, really nice and a great accompaniment to my venison dish.

My friends vegetarian main of Pad Ka Prow with vegetables and tofu was studded with chilli and garlic, and I was informed that it was exactly what she was looking for. I didn’t have a taste, being the good friend that I am, and let her eat all her tofu on her own.

I was pleasantly surprised by Rosa’s. It’s not often I have enjoyed Thai food in London but this hit the spot and was a nice spot to have dinner deep in the heart of West End. At £40 all in, it’s pretty affordable and you get some decent food for your money. The service was amiable and as we drank our tea and chatted for a while, we weren’t hassled and were left to our own devices. A trip down to Gelupo after the meal just added a fine punctuation to a lovely evening catching up with an old friend. Good Thai + good ice cream + good company = great evening.

Rosa's Soho - 48 Dean Street London, W1D 5BF

A meal of diminishing proportions, Busaba Eathai

Busaba Eathai, an interesting assortment of words, probably formulated in a marketing company's wet dream. Oozing cool, with its simple but sleek image, it certainly has grasped the public's attention. Now located across three sites, the ever expanding Thai restaurant chain seems on the verge of bursting onto London's eat and go scene, much in the fashion of Wagamama.

I have actually long been a fan of Busaba. I have learned to avoid the Soho branch where queues have been known to stretch down Wardour street, and normally gravitate towards the Store street branch, conveniently located across from Goodge street station. This branch certainly is the image of cool. Tealights, gold buddhas and wooden interiors accompanies the all too familiar trend of communal dining tables. The staff, mostly attractive, young and predominantly foreign, were polite if a little distracted.

As I was dining alone, I was wondering how I would be able to fit in my favourites of pandan chicken and squid, normally suited for sharing. Lo and behold, the menu has shrunk! Not the selection, mind, this is still as extensive as ever. Instead these dishes have been made into side dishes so I could happily order them, (relatively) guilt free.

Thai Calimari

Strangely sweet nuggets of squid. I'm really not sure what makes these Thai, or what brings that strange sweetness to this dish, but I love it. The light batter is covered in that sticky sauce, with smatterings of peppercorns. Highly moreish.

Pandan Chicken

Morsels of chicken wrapped and roasted in pandan leaves. The roasting of the chicken in the pandan leaves imparts a slight flavour reminiscent of fennel, but slightly sweeter, hard to convey. The chicken was soft and tender and again, I really can't stop myself from eating this. Plenty of flavour, sauce is unneccesary in my eyes (but this is also coming from the person who doesn't use hoi sin in his aromatic duck pancakes).

Pad Kwetio

To finish, I decided to go for the pad kwetio. I would say that this dish has a stronger origin in Malaysia as opposed to Thailand (where char kway teow is a hokker stall standard), it is essentially a wok fried dish of flat noodles. Nice, inoffensive and perfect to fill the hole. One thing I had noticed is that the portions are definitely getting smaller. Fine when you are intentionally reducing the portion size (such as the chicken above) but not so acceptable when the prices are going up.

Busaba is a great place for a pit stop. It's quick, fairly inexpensive, and as long as you avoid the Wardour street branch, you should get a table with minimal fuss.

Busaba Eathai (website) - 22 Store Street, WC1E 7DF

Faux Thai at Suchard, London Bridge

Before I start, this place is not to be mistaken for the restaurant up the road. This was the pub and I dont really want to paint the two with the same brush. Onwards.

I'm sure many of you have been in the same situation. You're out at the pub and you are desperately hungry, spurred on by the beer munchies. I was meeting up with some of my old uni friends in a pub near London Bridge and discovered that the pub we were in served "Thai" food.

Now, I never intended on turning into a food snob, but sometimes you have just got to question what's really going on. First up, I ordered what was advertised as fried squid with a chilli sauce:



As you can see, what I got was a nightmare from Iceland. Battered calimari rings with bottled sweet chilli sauce. Damage to me, £4.50, damage to them, I would be surprised if it cost them more than 20p to put this "dish" together.

Now, I ordered some noodles advertised with holy basil, chicken and chilli amongst other things. I was so underwhelmed by this food, I didnt even bother taking down what it was meant to be.



If I was being nice, I would say that the noodles had a nice texture. If I was being honest, I would say that it felt like a bunch of leftovers thrown together with far too much chilli and a cloying amount of holy basil withough any evidence of holy basil actually being in the dish. Adding insult to injury, I paid £7.50 for this. Really poor.

Totally disappointed with this place. A very poor Thai restaurant and even the pub part was disappointing. The beer was off and so was I, never to return again.

Suchard Free House, 2 Crucifix Lane, SE1 3JW

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

Asia - Delights from the East

Chinese

Dim Sum:
Dragon Castle (best for dim sum)
Yum Cha
Dumplings Legend
Dragon Palace
Golden Pagoda
Old China Hand
Ping Pong

Simple and uncomplicated:
Four Seasons (best roast duck)
Hungs
HK Diner
Wong Kei
Tai Ka Lok
Wuli Wuli
Noodle Bar

Food from the Straits (Singapore and Malaysia):
Kiasu (now closed)
Rasa Sayang

Upper end:
Mandarin Kitchen (family favourite)
Pearl Liang
Min Jiang
Plum Valley

Other Regions:
Leongs Legends cont... (Taiwanese)
Silk Road (Xinjiang)

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Korean

Koba 

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Japanese

New Fujiyama
Abeno (Okonomiyaki)
Bincho (Yakitori)

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Thai

Rosa's
Mango Tree
Suchard Pub

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Vietnamese

Cafe East (best pho)
Song Que
Panda Panda
Bam Bou (French/Vietnamese)

Thai Restaurants

Rosa's (W1D/£20-£30)
Mango Tree (SW1/£30-£40)
Suchard Pub (SE1/£10-£20)

Key - (Info/Location/Rough price per head with no alcohol)

Not made it yet (pics):
Suda - Definitely getting better
The Heron - The real deal