***Thailand in London -2..the voucher**

[DrAndy]

yeilding to popular demand, and a stalker, here is the restaurant we won a voucher to eat at. Called "Chaopraya" it is situated in Central London behind the HMV store, near Selfridges

here is the small street it is in, in the evening, looking all very busy and fun



this is the restaurant, on the right of the above




and the upstairs inside, quite nice and informal



and the downstairs, which is a little more intimate




here are a couple of pages of the menu, first "starters"



and main dishes




so we ordered a couple of beers, lovely Singha, a snip at £4 a bottle, although we did get free prawn crackers to nibble (all gone in the pic)

[CharleyFarley]

Small tables there, that would concern me.

4 quid a bottle, FFS's

[DrAndy]

so we had a look at the menu and chose a couple of starters and a couple of mains

The starters were spring rolls and some Scallops, both beautifully presented




so we ate them, and they were as good as they looked, very tasty




I thought that the scallops were fairly generous but there were only two springrolls, albeit nicely rolled

so we ordered two more beers and waited for the main dishes

This is the roast duck with a fruit sauce



and this the Green curry with monster river prawns




once again, both were presented very well, and tasted excellent

incidentally, the two plain steamed rice balls were £2.90 each!


so we ate that lot




starngely enough, we were now full up and had no room for any desserts

so we asked for the bill



service was excellent and included in the final total. They had forgotten to take off the voucher amount, so we reminded them.

so £25 for a nice meal for two was a bargain in Central London

[DrAndy]

Small tables there, that would concern me.

4 quid a bottle, FFS's

yes, but they have to pay the rent and staff etc

normally £3 in a bar or local Thai place

as for the tables, big enough for two

[Mr Pot]

Last time I was in the UK it was 1.99 for a Singha at Wetherspoons

[DrB0b]

Wetherspoons

Chav!

[aging one]

discretionary service charge 12.50 what is that. Over 4,000 baht and counting.

[DrAndy]

I know, and we left the small change

This is London, you pay a lot for Thai food

who cares!!

[justwingit]

would you go back there if you had no voucher?

[DrAndy]

discretionary service charge 12.50 what is that. Over 4,000 baht and counting.

£12.50 is B870 or so

the final bill around B5000

cute

whilst this could be seen as over-priced, it was very good Thai food, unlike a lot of expensive Thai restaurants which serve stuff they call Thai. I normally don't bother with eating Thai in UK, or even anywhere outside Thailand.

It was cooked fresh and was made for Thai taste, as requested

[DrAndy]

would you go back there if you had no voucher?

yes, if it was on an expense account; no, if it was my cash

[Butterfly]

100 EUROS for that ???? you can eat Thai in Paris for less than 25 Euros per person,

London is a complete rip-off when it comes to food,

[DrAndy]

you can also eat in London for £20 a head

like anything, it depends where you eat and what the quality is

I am not defending the place, I thought it was over-priced but good

for instance, dear Butterfly, the restaurant Thiou, in Paris, states that

Prix moyen à la carte : 60/70 €

which is a little more than you stated £48/56 a head

Thiou, SHOW DEVANT ! Specialités Thailandaises, restaurant Thailandais quai d'Orsay, venez decouvrir le fameux Tigre qui pleure

[bkkmadness]

yeilding to popular demand, and a stalker, here is the restaurant we won a voucher to eat at. Called "Chaopraya" it is situated in Central London behind the HMV store, near Selfridges

here is the small street it is in, in the evening, looking all very busy and fun

I miss going up the city for a drink in this part of London, always a good night was on the cards. Convent Gdns on a summer's afternoon was a real treat.

[jizzybloke]

Looks good DrA, have you tried Addie's on Earls court road?
very good food i thought.

[Butterfly]

for instance, dear Butterfly, the restaurant Thiou, in Paris, states that

It says avg. price, and Thiou is famously overpriced and one of the "top" fashion restaurant in Paris, so 100 Euros for the place you have shown in the pic is definitely a rip-off,

[Butterfly]

I miss going up the city for a drink in this part of London,

yeah, amazing place isn't it ? love all that area,

[DrAndy]

I have been recommended Thai restaurants all over London and, without fail, have found the food to be average and/or disappointing

this was usually due to the "dumbing down" of the food for farang taste, or even the substitution of important ingredients by other, cheaper, ones

I have had green peas in a green curry, instead of the mini-aubergines, for instance...very weird

so I was quite pleased with this restaurant from the taste point of view (that is a little weird too). Taste point of ?

[Butterfly]

^ it doesn't even have "ambiance" ? so why pay for poor food and poor ambiance ? sounds like a typical tourist rip-off business,

That was my conclusion when I went to London, it was the same poor value everywhere

[jizzybloke]

^^ok i understand that.

I have been to Addies quite a few times and will normally see a lot of Thai's in there eating too.
Another place i want to try but haven't yet is Jasmine, Goldhawke rd in Shepherds bush

[DrAndy]

for instance, dear Butterfly, the restaurant Thiou, in Paris, states that

It says avg. price, and Thiou is famously overpriced and one of the "top" fashion restaurant in Paris, so 100 Euros for the place you have shown in the pic is definitely a rip-off,

so you can justify high prices as it is fashionable? whatever, it was an example I saw on the web

I looked at some other places and the normal seemed to be a lot higher than you suggested although I am sure there are places with plastic tableclothes there too

[DrAndy]

^ it doesn't even have "ambiance" ? so why pay for poor food and poor ambiance ? sounds like a typical tourist rip-off business,

That was my conclusion when I went to London, it was the same poor value everywhere

who said the ambiance was poor? I thought it was quite nice

and no, it was not for tourists per se, judging by the clientele

so your conclusion is that everywhere in London is poor value? so that is your justification and reason for stating what you have.
maybe you are right, but I know places that are excellent value. I must be fooling myself

This place I have already said was overpriced, just read my comments, so you are saying nothing new

[dirtydog]

Wasn't a very authentic Thai restaurant though DrAndy was it, I checked all the tables and didn't see one toilet roll, do they make you go into the toilet to get your own to put on the table

[DrAndy]

very true DD, I will write a review of the place and mention that

[Butterfly]

I looked at some other places and the normal seemed to be a lot higher than you suggested although I am sure there are places with plastic tableclothes there too

I am sure there are good deals in London, but there might be hard to find. This is not the same in Paris where you can wonder off in little streets and find little restaurants with very decent food at a bargain.

When I was in London, everything was optimized as a tourist trap when it came to food. Finding good value wasn't obvious. Not surprised by your conclusions.

Thai Restaurants in Paris are also regarded as "expensive", they are the "luxury" of asian food after Japan of course.