Overview
Location: Tottenham Court Road
Price per head: £35 – £45
Our opinion: Great value
Summary: A fun and relaxed place serving flavour packed Southern Thai dishes at a reasonable price. Go a la carte rather than the taster menu.
Restaurant Review
Louise and I love our Thai food. Louise has a particular affinity to it and sees it as a real comfort food. When we are thinking about getting a takeaway I always know what Louise’s request is going to be. Unfortunately we no longer live within the delivery range of her favourite Thai takeaway spot Yum Yums. Whilst this place is unlikely to give some of the other more renowned spots (think Singburi, Som Saa, Smoking Goat & Kiln amongst others) a run for their money when it comes down to culinary excellence, it does deliver something that the others don’t. It serves up big portions of the classic Thai dishes you have come to know and love, with no frills and without reinventing anything. It is the Thai food you remember trying as a kid. Pad Thai with the right level of sweetness and acidity. Green, red & yellow curries, beautifully creamy and warming, dolloped on top of soft sweet jasmine rice. Massaman curries, spring rolls, pad see ew, and all the other dishes one immediately associates with Thai food are served here. We feel comforted, satisfied and full after getting a Yum Yums takeaway.
Anyway, the point of this post isn’t to talk about all the Thai places that we like in London, rather we are here to talk about one relatively new place that we tried at the weekend. Plaza Khao Gaeng is the sister restaurant of Speedboat Bar. Speedboat Bar is a restaurant getting rave reviews and somewhere we really want to try, but have so far been unable to secure a booking to. I was thrilled to learn of Plaza Khao Gaeng, and double thrilled when I found there was plenty of availability to book.
We were 8 people, so when booking I was advised that we could only choose the taster menu which came to £35 a head for the meat one and £28 for the veggie one. We were happy enough to do this as it would give us the opportunity to try a decent amount of the menu. The only slightly weird part of the booking process was that I was required to pay the full amount (£35 per head) up front and they advised that you must cancel at least 72 hours beforehand to receive a refund. We were confident everyone would be turning up, but I would be wary if I was dining with some of my flakier friends!
Situated directly above the Arcade Food Hall on Tottenham Court Road, you need to walk through the hall and up a staircase at the back to reach the restaurant. We turned up on Saturday lunchtime and were immediately struck by the decor. They have really tried to make it feel like you are in a slightly shabby restaurant that you would find in any of the major towns in Thailand. With thick plastic table cloths, cheap aluminium window blinds, bright white lighting and a plastic banner advertising the dishes they serve hanging from the bar, you feel ever so slightly transported to Bangkok.
We sat down and ordered a couple of cocktails and 5 beers. They duly informed us that it was more economical to get a beer tower if we would be having lots of beer. I was already excited, but this tipped me over the edge. If the food was as good as this place was fun and relaxed then we would be in for a treat.
Food
Now don’t get me wrong, the food here was really good. Some of the dishes were truly tremendous. However, if I were to go again I would go with a smaller group so that we were not forced to have the tasting menu. It included some great dishes, but also a couple that we were less keen on generally. More importantly though, there were a couple of dishes on the a la carte menu that we loved the look of and were dying to try.
The food here is focused on Southern Thailand’s ‘coast-to-jungle’ cuisine. There are lots of curries, lots of shrimp paste and fish sauce, and a lot of heat. Some of the food blew my head off, but to be fair I am not great with spice. The dishes are served fast and with little ceremony, but you are struck by the colours and smells emanating from what is put down in front of you.
6 of us got the standard taster menu and 2 of our group got the vegetarian one. The vegetarian one is cheaper, but you do get a dish less, something we didn’t realise until afterwards so the veggies were left feeling a little left out. That being said, we all finished the meal feeling absolutely stuffed and in need of a walk. They had desserts but we could not fit another thing in our stomachs. Let’s take a look at what we had.
Gai Tord Hat Yai
Fried chicken. This is the extra dish that the non-veggies got. Crispy fried chicken thigh served with a sriracha chilli sauce and crispy shallots on top. This was yummy. The chicken had been fried for quite a while so it had quite a dark colour and was incredibly crunchy. It wasn’t too dry, but any longer in the fryer and I think it probably would have been. The sauce worked well too. Overall this was a tasty dish that was nice to start the meal on.
Nam Chup
Seasonal vegetables with a shrimp paste relish. Ok this was weird. Essentially a pile of vegetables (some cabbage, beans, herbs, ginger and a few other bits) served next to a pot of this shrimp paste relish. The point of this dish is clearly to use the vegetables as a vessel to try the relish, which we all did. The relish, unsurprisingly, tasted of shrimp paste, but boy was it shrimpy! It was reasonably nice, but certainly not very more-ish. It was also extremely spicy. An interesting thing to try but I won’t be ordering this when I go a la carte.
The vegetarian version was similar but the sauce did not have shrimp paste in it. It was equally spicy however.
Gaeng Massaman Neua
This was a beef shoulder Massaman curry served with potatoes and shallots. This was stunning and probably the standout dish of the meal. The meat fell apart, the potatoes nice and soft and the sauce was to die for. I love my Massamans and this was a particularly good one. It had great depth of flavour, perfectly balancing the sweetness of the coconut milk and sugar with the intense flavours of the spices used and the saltiness of the fish sauce. Our only complaint is that there wasn’t more sauce for us to pour over our remaining rice.
The vegetarian alternative was also a Massaman curry (I suspect made slightly differently and without fish sauce) and had tofu instead of potato.
Pak Bung Fai Daeng
Stir fried morning glory, chillies, fermented soy beans. This was so bloody good. The sauce was salty and sweet and the vegetables tender with just the right amount of bite. A really tasty vegetable plate that complemented the other dishes well. I will certainly order this as a side the next time that I go.
Gaeng Som Gung Sai Malakor Sapparot
The second curry we got, this one was a sour orange curry of tiger prawns with papaya and pineapple. The vegetarian version replaced the tiger prawns with winter gourd and cauliflower. This dish was very spicy. Too spicy for most of us at the table. I ate all the prawns, and I did enjoy the flavour, but the sauce was more than I could take. I think if you can handle your heat this would be a good option, otherwise be wary.
Louise didn’t enjoy the flavour of the dish either and found it too sour. It is all a bit subjective, but I would say that if you are heading to this restaurant and ordering a la carte there may be lower risk items you could choose.
Khai Dow
Essentially just fried eggs, but so so tasty. They are clearly fried in a lot of oil, and build up a nice level of crisp whilst still retaining a runny yolk. Served with a sauce composed mainly of fish sauce and chopped chillies which can be poured on top, this is a very tasty side. I plonked it on top of my rice and cut it up, letting the yolk ooze everywhere and mix with the other sauces.
Conclusion
This is a restaurant that seems easy to book, is in a convenient central location, and serves very tasty food at good value. Whilst we didn’t love all the dishes we tasted, we could really see the potential at this place and are keen to go back and try the a la carte menu. The food is full of flavour, and often very spicy, and the atmosphere is fun and relaxed. People who like their Thai food and don’t want to break the bank should definitely give this place a go.
