A Monday Night at Bangkok House

Monday we met Rich's parents for dinner, deciding on treating Rich to something full of flavour, that wouldn't hurt his jaw too much and something that he could actually taste through the side affects, Rich's dad decided Thai food would be a good bet for all these things.  As I had heard good things about Bangkok House, mainly from Jamie, I suggested it might be a good place to go to.  We didn't book as we thought at 7.45 on a Monday evening we would be alright to walk on in.

The restaurant is a lot smaller than I expected but We sat down to beautiful carved tables and ordered some Changs and an iced tea for me.  Rich's dad is something of a Thai food expert, having lived over there, so we decided to let him order a number of dishes for us all to share.  I think this is often a good way to go as then you get to try more dishes than normal, which for a food fanatic, more is better.  We ordered the mix starter platter for 4, plus; chicken green curry, some stir fried vegetables, stir fried pork with Thai basil, pad Thai and some chicken tom khar soup, which is one of my personal Thai favourites.

mixed starters

barbecuing our satay

Beautiful mixed starter, the mini barbecue with which to sear your chicken satay on before dunking it in peanut sauce was a really nice touch.  Everything was well flavoured I especially enjoyed the aforementioned satay. fish cakes and the deep fried chicken, which was so crispy I was sad there was only one apiece. Having warmed our appetites nicely with the starters I was eager for the mains, luckily they didn't take too long to appear.

chicken Thai green curry

chicken pad Thai

chicken tom khar soup

The food was great.  Perfectly balanced spices and flavours.  Easily the best Thai green curry and Tom Khar soup I've ever had so far, a complete match made in heaven of sharp, creamy and fragrant, nothing dominating the other, it was absolutely perfect.  Everything went down very nicely it tasted really fresh and cleansing which is how Thai food really should be, not stodgy like I have had in some other restaurants. The only real disappointment for me was that they did not have the fish to make choo chee which is my current favourite Thai dish.  But everything we ordered was really tasty, Bangkok House may well be the best Thai restaurant in Bristol, I just need to go and thoroughly test all the others I haven't tried yet!

Next blog post coming up is the new Spanish menu at Harvey's Cellars, which contains some authentic dishes and not just your usual patatas bravas. To find out more about Bangkok House check out their website.

Friday Night at Koh Thai Tapas

Last Friday some of the core, pun intended, Jolates crew had planned an after class visit to Koh Thai Tapas. Situated on the Triangle and previously occupied by a Zizzi's, Koh is a mini chain of 5 restaurants based around the South/South West.  Glad to get out of the cold we were greeted by a rush of warm air mixed with the scent of spices, Koh was pretty busy and so I was glad that we had booked a table.  Drinks ordered we settled into the long decision making process of what to eat.  The menu is clearly labeled for vegetarians and also for gluten free so it is easy to see what options are available to you if you have certain requirements.

Service was friendly even though we had to slightly strain our ears to hear them above the busy tables and music, in the end we decided to go for their group option of spending £20 each and getting a selection of starters and mains to share between the 6 of us. This is a great option for groups because it can be a total surprise but the staff will also ask what you like and what you don't and what spice level you can handle. The other thing to note is that some of the dishes are from all over Asia but with a Thai twist, like the 'dim sum', read siu mai dumplings but with coriander and a hot chili dressing over them. 

crispy beef

spring rolls

vegetable tempura

We were brought about 7-8 starters to dig through the portions were pretty generous, they make a point of having enough on each starter plate so everyone gets to taste which is good because a lot of places do set sized portions. I have to say I was really impressed, fresh flavours, everything was really well cooked and tasted great, definitely better than a lot of Thai food I have had in Bristol.  The mains were just as good, particularly the lamb massamann curry, slow cooked and fragrant with plenty of star anise it melted in the mouth and the tamarind duck was perfectly cooked, zingy and I could have eaten more. 

vegetable rice

chicken pad Thai

They are obviously proud of the food they serve, making a point of telling tables how their chefs are Thai and the food unless you specify will come out pretty hot. Rich and I are looking forward to our next visit to the Bristol branch.  I went to the Bath one last night with my parents and the service was even better, really intuitive and friendly staff who gave great customer service, plus the Summer Daze cocktail, if you like gin, is a winner.  I can't believe how impressed I was, we weren't sure what to expect from this restaurant but was pleasantly surprised.  So if your interested is piqued I would give Koh Thai Tapas a go you can find more about them on their website.