Thursday 29 April 2010

Dinner @ 101 Thai Kitchen (Thai), London

What's the best Thai restaurant in London ? If the Michelin guide is anything to go by then it's the one-star Nahm in the Halkin Hotel. But really what does a fat white bloke know about Thai food ? The 2010 Time Out Eating & Drinking guide isn't much help either as they seem to think Busaba Eathai is worthy of one of their coveted red stars. Come on now, that's a bit like saying you like indie music before revealing your favourite bands to be Snow Patrol and Razorlight.

Isaan sausages - photo courtesy of Su-Lin, Tamarind and Thyme

Surprisingly, there's also very little consensus on the blogosphere but having read Su-Lin's write-up, I got the distinct impression that 101 Thai Kitchen was a contender. Further positive reviews by Bellaphon and Sharmila reinforced this opinion and I'm very surprised that more bloggers haven't made the pilgrimage to Hammersmith. 

As my friends, Mr Fussy and Fush 'N' Chups are Hammersmith locals, they were happy to come here for dinner. Also joining us were Dark Side and Miss Bolshy. There are few outward signs that this restaurant is special and Fush 'N' Chups admitted that she had previously dismissed this casual canteen-like eatery because of its garish exterior (BTW - I didn't realise Kiwis could be such snobs!).

The interior is similarly lurid but the first thing that struck us when we arrived was the large number of Thai diners, which we took to be a good sign. Mind you, as the evening wore on, Mr Fussy noted that the clientele became less Thai and more farang. I was quietly pleased at how Mr Fussy had adopted the esprit de blog, as he was also the first to notice that the prawn crackers were of the posher and spicier variety.

As well as the usual Thai staples, this restaurant specialises in the respective home cuisines of its co-owners, namely the Lao-influenced cuisine of the Isaan region and Muslim dishes from the south of the country. There's also a specials board mainly written in Thai although many of these dishes are translated into English on the inside front cover of the individual menus. There were far too many interesting options and I found it very difficult to narrow down my choices.

From the wide selection of snacks and soups, I went for the poh tak soup (£4.25) to start. This is a cleaner alternative to the ubiquitous tom yum but no less tasty with generous amounts of seafood in a hot and sour broth. The soups are available as small or large with the latter being ample for three to four diners.

My friends kicked off with 101 Ways to Heaven (£7.25), a selection of spring rolls, chicken satay, king prawns in pastry, prawn toast, chicken wings w/lemongrass and sweetcorn cakes. They thought these snacks were a tad generic and predictable. Now I don't want to be an arse about this but they didn't need to order two platters to find that out. I mean what the hell did they expect ? A new take on prawn toast ? With hindsight, they would've been better off starting with soup or with individual dishes like steamed mussels. Another option would be to kick off by sharing one of the salads or grills.

Onto the mains and the undoubted star was my sea bass 'sour curry' hot pot (£9.95) – a fried sea bass served with morning glory, water mimosa and radish in a hot and sour curry. This dish was presented in a fish shaped dish atop a mini cooker. Whilst the fish was fully cooked, the vegetables were cooked at the table absorbing the flavours of the curry. The addictive almost soup-like tamarind based curry was out of this world and everyone dived in for a taste during the meal.

We didn't really share mains but I stepped into the breach when Fush 'N' Chups needed a bit of help to finish off her pepper crab (£8.95). This was tasty with the pepper complementing the sweet crab but if I was choosing, I might have gone for the garlic crab or curried crab instead. Miss Bolshy went for a chicken panang curry (£6.25) that evoked memories of her travels in Chiang Mai. I had a taste of the curry sauce, which was rich and spicy although Miss B thought it became too salty as it cooled.

Both Dark Side and Mr Fussy chose noodles and they went for pad thai w/chicken (£6.25) and pad kee mow w/chicken (£6.50) respectively. I tasted some of the former and thought it was better than most versions served in London. I felt a bit bad that I was merrily tucking into other people's dishes so I didn't try Mr Fussy's spicy fried yellow noodles. Mind you, they were sure to be a winner if they tasted half as good as they smelled.

We also ordered a few side dishes to share including the legendary Isaan sausages (£6.25). These were every bit as good as I hoped with a strong lemongrassy flavour. We also enjoyed the screaming nun (£6.25) – battered aubergine with a spicy sauce. Whilst the batter was a tad indelicate, the sauce was very special with the liquorice notes from the Thai basil lifting it to another level. There's also a quiet nun that pairs up battered aubergine with red curry. I can't remember much about the pad pak boong (£6.25) – stir-fried morning glory but I guess this was fine too. This just about finished us off and we had no room for desserts.

If I was being ultra critical, I could moan about the tiny wine glasses and the time it took for the coconut rice to arrive. That said, this isn't really a place for wine buffs and they didn't charge for the late arriving rice. In fact the service was pretty decent considering it was a busy Saturday night. This was largely due to our super helpful waitress as we did notice that some of the other staff were a bit mardy.

Our bill came to £120 for five people including a couple of bottles of Aussie Chardonnay, a beer and a tip. It was a bargain and I think you'd struggle to spend more than £25/head given that the most expensive dish on the menu costs less than a tenner.

Verdict: Irrespective of whether it's London's best Thai or not, 101 Thai Kitchen is an authentic restaurant of rare quality. I'll definitely be back to work my way through their menu.

Other Stuff: The drinks list includes soft drinks specially imported from Thailand including Red Bull-like energy drinks and different kinds of Fanta.

101 Thai Kitchen on Urbanspoon

22 comments:

  1. oh man - no salads!! you missed out, their salads are the best part

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  2. Noods- you've been yang'd out, the yin's in the brilliant salads (thank you Tim). Great write up, it's indeed the best Thai in London.

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  3. I'm going to agree with you on the noodles - not their strong point. But the salads and curries and stir fries are excellent so rice and dishes are the way to go. The Laotian fish salad is quite special. Glad you liked the place!

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  4. Tim - thanks for dropping by! I nearly went for the Laotian fish salad but decided to go with the sea bass hot pot in the end. I then found it hard to squeeze in a salad into the side orders once we had committed to the sausages, aubergine and veg. Next time I will go for salad.

    Les - thanks although my write-up doesn't come close to your legendary review of this place!

    Su-Lin - thanks for blazing the trail to another great local restaurant in West London.

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  5. Really glad you liked it! I didn't go for noodles when I went (I find it usually means gearing oneself up for disappointment in Thai restos in London), but as Su-Lin says, the salads and grills are wonderful. And I loved the sausages!

    This is one of the only negative things about me not working in Hammersmith anymore - it's a bit of a trek from Peckham!

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  6. This is on the list now. Love the Thai-only chalkboard menu :)

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  7. Sharmila - the sausages are amazing and up there with the sea bass as my fave of the night. RE: your comment on Royal Palace, I think you'll like it and it isn't too far from Peckham.

    Chris - after your shocker at Mantanah, I hope 101 Thai Kitchen restores your faith in Thai restaurants in London. The specials board is great but did you notice the 'lamb yellow curry' written in English in amongst the otherwise Thai language menu ?

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  8. Oh that fat white man sure knows a lot about Thai food!
    Love their take of the Keang som (sour curry) but as you said the entree plater looks too generic and too much of a farang pleaser. The phat Thai looks rather sad :)

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  9. Looks to me like the best bet there would be a big fish main with a whole bunch of exciting sides and salads to keep it company. I've yet to find a decent Thai in London, so might well make the pilgrimage all the way to Hammersmith to try it out, particularly if they specialise in Isarn. I love that particular regional cuisine.

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  10. 3HT - the sour curry was definitely the star !

    Gworm - if you do decide to go then let me know as i'd love to return here. I'm no expert on Thai food but there seems to be loads of Isarn dishes on the menu with an entire section devoted to som tum

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  11. Everyone who comments on my blog says 101 Thai kitchen is the place to go and that also seems to be the general consensus on Chowhound - now you have convinced me I HAVE to go

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  12. GC - do go! I'm still kicking myself that I took so long in getting here.

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  13. Ooh, another one - Addie's Thai Cafe on Earls Court Road is also very good.

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  14. Su-Lin - thanks for the tip. Addie's Thai has been lurking on my list almost as long as 101 Thai but after your recommendation, I'll be sure to bump it up.

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  15. I must go. But... Hammersmith? Ack.

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  16. I live in Earls Court and don't rate Addie's Thai at all. The quality of ingredients is very good, even though there are often Thai people inside (well, it is a Thai restaurant, after all), I find that their dishes are of the "tourist quality". Still haven't found a decent Thai restaurant in my area (Patara used to be good, but some dishes are hit and miss). My litmus test is Pad Thai. Often it is awful: too sweet, too oily or too dry, to mean or missing key ingredients altogether. If the Pad Thai is not good than I don't even try further.

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  17. In my previous comment I meant to say "the quality ISN'T very good", sorry!

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  18. Anon - thanks for you comments on Addie's - I still haven't made it there. Your litmus test is a good one and one that many Thai restaurants fail. My main complaints are that the noodles often clump together and that shedloads of sugar has been added.

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  19. The lunch deal is also a steal - you can choose from a fairly limited selection of one plate dishes (e.g. pad thai, green curry and rice) for 4.50, a glass of supermarket packet juice is another 50p. So you can have a decent lunch for a fiver!

    Also... you should have tried the salads. They do tend to have them at thai chilli levels tho, so ask for a bit less chilli if you aren't fully acclimated.

    Also keep an eye on what the Thais are eating. We had a really good salad with preserved baby crabs (for flavour!), that we really liked.

    We go there reasonably often - it's the nearest decent thai place to us.

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  20. Oh yes - one other thing - we like the ice creams. Durian is usually pretty good, a little less punchy on our last visit but generally good to order if you like it. The Jackfruit ice-cream is also good. The coconut one has gone downhill a bit (don't think it uses fresh coconut).

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  21. Anon - I know, I know, I should've gone for the salads. Thanks also for the tip on the lunch deal and the desserts. I must find an excuse to revisit this gem of a restaurant.

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  22. I've been there many many times before, FANTASTIC FOOD!

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