It’s Christmas season and with that comes restaurants that offer a Christmas Menu. Christmas menus are usually items from their regular menus where they uplift the price just because they call it a Christmas menu. Thai Square is just one of these restaurants.
But it’s offering something a bit different. The chefs at Thai Square have taken the different regions of Thailand as an inspiration for their Christmas menu. It’s ‘Four Regions’ where each of the regions will be served at their 13 London branches with the idea of making each restaurant a completely unique dining experience.
From the North region of Thailand (served at Trafalgar Square and Putney Bridge), a dish called Nam Prik Ong will be served. It consists of ground pork, tomato, shrimp and chilli paste. The Central region menu (served at both Minories and Mansion House branches) there is Maa Haaw – sweet and sticky caramelised minced pork topped on segments of fresh pineapple and garnished with a coriander leaf and thinly sliced red chilli, with Steamed Tapioca Dumplings. From Laos on the Northeast menu (Covent Garden, Islington, Fulham, Richmond and St. Albans) there is Larb Tord – a Thai salad turned into meat balls mixed with toasted ground rice and packed full of lime juice and fresh herbs. And from the South (Windsor, Wig & Pen, Strand and South Kensington), there is the traditional Pineapple Curry with Juicy Jumbo Prawns. By serving various dishes at different branches it’s a way for Thai Square to entice customers to go to several branches to try each region.
On a Saturday night we went into the Covent Garden branch to specifically try the Christmas menu – in this case the Northeast menu. For £30 each, with a minimum of two people sharing, the menu includes a bottle of beer, a house glass of wine or soft drink, starters to share, and two mains. It’s a bit on the pricey side if you ask me, but we gave it a go. The starters were lovely. The Thai Dumplings (filled with pork, sitting in soy sauce) were superb, the Chicken Satay was soft, tender and had a delicious lemon zing to it, the vegetable springs rolls were crunchy and good, the Larb Tord (as mentioned above) were so good I wanted more, and the butterfly prawns were just about perfect. As there were two of each, it was a bit on the stingy side and had us wanting more, but we had our main courses to look forward to. It did take quite a while for the mains to arrive at our table. Sure the restaurant was bustling, but not every table was taken, I was a bit surprised by the lack of good service as I had eaten at the Thai Square in Trafalgar Square over the summer and it was excellent with impeccable service. But the Covent Garden Thai Square didn’t come close to it’s Trafalgar Square branch. My Panang Lamb Curry arrived luke warm. It was a one-chilli dish with lamb and Panang curry paste cooked with coconut milk – it would’ve very very good if served hot, but it wasn’t. And it’s a £4 supplement to the £30 cost – wow. My dining companion had the Prawns wth Cashew Nuts – and she devoured the whole thing. It was a fastastic looking dish with prawns and loads of vegetables cooked in an oyster sauce and garnished with roast chillies. But again, her dish was not oven hot. We were, however, also provided wth a side of delicious vegetables, and of course a bowl of rice, both of which comes with the Christmas menu. But to be served a main course dish that was at best luke warm is not acceptable.
There’s lots more on offer on the Christmas menu. Try the Chicken and Papaya Salad, or perhaps the Deep fried Tilapia fish fillet if this is your thing (or the Spicy Steamed bass for £4 extra). The Spicy Duck breast is another option, or the Beef Green or Chicken Red Curry. Or if you want a steak and want to pay £4 more, try the Weeping Tiger – a chargrilled marinated Sirloin of beef.
We finished our dinner quite quick because we were hungry (having been served the main course 90 minutes after we walked in), we waited even more to have our dishes cleared from our table. Then I did something I’ve never done – I had to get up and ask the servers to come clear our table and take our dessert order – apparently the eight or so servers who were serving other tables were ignoring our side of the room (the table behind us were ignored as well). Our table was cleared and our dessert order taken – and Thai Square almost, almost redeemed themselves with the dessert. My dining companion absolutely loved her Lychee Mousse while the Chocolate Lava Cake with Mango Ice Cream was decadent. The Mixed Fruit Platter was also a nice way to end the meal.
On the drinks side, my dining companion had the Shiraz – from the Monsoon Valley of Thailand. She described it as very delicious, enough so that she ordered two glasses. It was dark ruby red color – very sweet and spicy. I had the Crystal Ball, because as it’s Christmas time, I wanted something festive – and I got it! It’s infused with Fresh Lychee vodka, ginger, liqueur juice lime and lemongrass – and the mix gave it a nice sweet bland – it’s highly recommended for this time of year. Thai Square does loads of other cocktails, I recommend before you visit that you have a look at their drinks menu online so that you will have an idea of what you want….instead of spending lots of time at the restaurant perusing the menu. This also goes for the regular menu (but not the Christmas Menu – it’s not good value for the money) – have a glance before you go – it’s very overwhelming
I really do want to visit this branch of Thai Square again as it’s minutes away from my flat! But the service was just not up to speed, and it’s highly unacceptable to serve main course dishes luke warm, and for me to have had to get up to tell someone to clear our table. Nonetheless, the Christmas Menu is, in the spirit of the holidays, best suited for large groups and parties, but it’s the regular menu where you will get more bang for your buck with it’s many delectable options.
For hours, addresses, and opening times of all the Thai Square restaurants, please click here:
Review by Tim Baros
Photos from Samphire Communications