Madame Mew's — Restaurant in Aberdeen City

“Dog slop”. That’s the first thought that came to my head when I tried the dish I ordered, which was the Phad Grapau. Balance of flavours was completely off. The dish was absolutely overpowered by the oyster sauce. The mince pork tasted undercooked. Nothing like the real deal I’ve tried in Thailand. Not even close.

My friend ordered the Phad See Eiw. The noodles they used in the dish was wrong. The real deal used in Thailand is supposed to be a soft, thick, plush flat wide noodle. The noodle they used in this dish is what you’d expect in the Singaporean/Malaysian dish Kuay Teow. And no, they are NOT the same thing despite what some people think and what the menu implies. To top it off, my friend said the dish was overal bland and horrible with no smoky flavour as you’d expect from a dish that’s supposed to be wok-fried.

The photo of what we left on our plates speak for themselves.

To rub salt on the wound, the service was appalling. I’m Asian. My friend is a White Brit male. The Asian staff completely ignored me and fully focused on him. I’ve experienced this before when out with White friends and it never fails to anger me. Not my friend’s fault. Totally unacceptable behaviour from staff.

The cherry on top is that this place requests customers pay by cash. They give reasons why, but it’s clearly a tax dodge. Also, they ask customers to use as little toilet paper as possible because ‘the toilet clogs easy’. Rubbish. They’re trying to minimise cost despite charging London prices for the dishes. Our bill came up to over £30. Complete rip-off considering the poor quality of our meals.

0/10. Do NOT recommend. Avoid this place, take your cash to somewhere that deserves your...

Be careful the chicken was off. Had a strange smell like it was old and had a strange texture slimy. This place is overrated and I would only recommend veggie dishes to stay on the safe side. If you're really hungry a positive would be the massive main dish sizes very good size of noodles on the plates. Upstairs was not clean and bathrooms not clean. It's better for takeaway *update 01/04/24 : from the response of the owner very aggressive and hostile one might consider why we didn't say anything. The entire time we were there the staff were very awkward and any time we said thank you or talked to them they would make ugly faces and seemed very confused why people were speaking nicely to them. I said the upstairs was DIRTY not closed. And maybe because you cook your chicken HOURS before serving is why it smelled off. Cook it fresh so when the evening dinner service starts customers aren't getting reheated 8 hour old meat. And i never said the chicken WASN'T cooked - I stated it smelt OFF and like a sour smell. And tasted off to add. In case the owner edits their response they said "the chicken is steamed every morning" so your meat is hours old by the time you order at supper...gross! And you know you can't cook the expiry out of the chicken lol.

I find your staff offensive they're very rude and entitled. Treating customers like they're doing them a favor for serving them. Not making eye contact when taking customers orders Always referring to the price of items on the menu when ordering and not saying a literal word back when you tell them thank you or how are you...

I've been to Madame Mew's Café four times now and each visit has been lovely: The service is prompt even whilst busy, without ever being overbearing - you're given the time and space you need all without rote-like phases of table service to interrupt you. And this works well for them, as the food comes out beautifully each time and that's all the talking which needs to be done. I could hardly imagine these dishes ever coming out cooked poorly. Speaking of which the dishes are quaint in plating, but well presented overall, and hearty enough too - the menu isn't huge but there's enough selection to come back and try new items in-between your favourites (I'd recommend the Phad Grapau with pork as my own go to; perfect rice, fried mince and mixed vegetables with plenty of chillies should you ask for it). I do wish the Phad Grapau's mincemeat was a tad fattier though so it could retain more moisture, and remain tender. My only real issue with Madame Mew's that would deprive it of a fifth star is the extreme sweetness in some of the dishes. The Thai Green Curry and Manfrang Phan Kung were sickly sweet, and in the former's case I found it masked the creamy, rich flavour that ought to have been apparent in a Thai Green Curry. Authentic or not, I'm not sure the sweetness of syrup is what I'm looking for when I dine Thai. Whatever the case, everything has otherwise been cooked perfectly, served promptly, and in a decent portion for the money - I'd recommend this place any day for a casual afternoon meal, but would only say be wary of the sauce-based dishes for their...