If you haven’t discovered the hidden gem behind Waterloo station that is Isabella Street, you should get out your google map right away. The range of restaurants and bars are ever popular especially in the summer months with their packed terraces. You can find Ev, Jack’s Lounge and Thai Silk amongst other outlets. Being great fans of Thai cuisine, we went along to check out the latest offering from Thai Silk.
The decor is relatively muted compared to other Thai restaurants in London; although there are some stunning decorative pieces strategically placed throughout the dining room.
For those uninitiated in Thai cuisine (are there any left in London?), their menus helpfully have select photos of their most popular offerings. If there is any criticism, their menu is rather lengthy with many interesting options; so for those who are indecisive, I would recommend checking the menu online beforehand.
Thai Silk hors d’oeuvres is a great way to try out the various Thai starter options, although there is a strong focus on fried items. Our favourites were curiously the non-deep fried options: stuffed chicken wings were deboned and filled with carefully minced chicken and prawns and an appetising sweet chilli sauce. The chicken satay was tender tasting and well marinated without being overly salty.
Tom Yum soup was as authentic as they come: as spicy as you would get in Thailand and had strong doses of lemongrass and fresh lime leaves.
The spice guide to their menu was extremely precise. We generally went for the 1 chilli dishes apart from the Tom Yum soup and that was generally the right level of spiciness for our culinary enjoyment.
I thoroughly enjoyed the mix of herbs and spices in the mixed seafood yum, which was an exotic, spicy salad filled with fresh coriander, chillies, garlic, onions and lime juice. Although the seafood was disappointing, it felt they were overcooked before being chilled rapidly and items like the mussels, scallops were relatively small in size.
On the other hand, my vegetarian guests had no negative words for the spicy red curry with pumpkin and fresh herbs. It was earthy, creamy and must be enjoyed along with some fragrant Thai rice. We also tried some stir-fried beancurd which is ideal in Thai cuisine, because the spongy nature of beancurd perfectly soaks up all the chillies, garlic and basil flavours.
It might not be the most original dessert to order but banana tord is a great dish to order with the contrasting textures of the softness of the banana and the crunchiness of the outer coating. It was finished with a light drizzle of honey and a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.
baldwin@townfish.com