Bo Tree Kitchen — Restaurant in Belfast

A local Belfast buddy wanted me to taste and test how Thai this place is. Lone behold, it's more Thai than in the US and comparable to the local places in Thailand.

Atmosphere: the place is very cozy, friendly, and always packed! Patience is key as the food is worth the wait. The kitchen is open to the dining area, you can see and smell it which is the true experience.

Service: the staff is very helpful. Despite the place being very crowded and busy, they are rocking it. No alcohol sold here, so BYOB with corkage fee. Recommend keeping it simple for BYOB.

Food: this is ultimately a surprise for a Thai-American from Los Angeles and Chiangmai. Ingredients are authentic, generous, and the cooking style is savory-rustic. The Thai auntie/uncle/cousin is cooking this with great flavors and techniques.

Dishes tried: Satay skewers - 4/5 delicious, mild, reasonable but not ultra charred to maintain the juiciness of the meat. Peanut sauce is very good and savory with enough curry spices in them. One thing missing is cucumber sweet salad dipping, but not necessarily needed.

White rice - 5/5 sounds crazy to review, but they serve legit Thai jasmine white rice, this is golden. In the US, some Thai places serve white long grain rice, to cut costs. This brings a quality aroma for your Thai rice experience.

Egg Fried Rice - 5/5 great for flavor and a hearty side when eating spicy. Not too oily, just right.

Pad Kee Mao (Spicy Basil Drunken Noodles - 5/5 amazing! Spices, ingredients, white rice noodles are charred and stir-fry to perfection. I cannot stress this, they know how to work the wok, the dish is not soggy and feels like bbq-esque noodles with spices. Stick to medium spicy is good.

Pad Seew (aka Pad-See Ew) - 4/5 great! Similar to pad Kee mao style, but the ingredients are milder. I prefer more flavors and spices. This is a non-spicy savory dish.

Roasted Duck in Tamarind sauce - 5/5 this is a must! Grilled roasted duck with crispy skin topped with sweet tangy tamarind sauce, over roasted cashews, green onion, and dried chili. Epic! Non-spicy dishes are good to have with other spicy dishes.

Roasted Duck curry (Panang curry) - 5/5 very hearty, flavorful, medium spiced, super good on top of white jasmine rice! Salty, sweet, and the duck isn't overly done.

Kua Kling (Southern Thai stir fried curry) - 5/5 very packed with spices and herbs, this is a pretty spicy minced pork dish. Very flavorful and hot, best with rice.

Basil Spicy Seafood - 6/5! this is by far the most delicious dish out all we had. The seafood here in Belfast is very fresh (compared to the US), combined with fresh Thai herbs and spices, and the subtle technique where the flavors spicy, savory, slight sweet is just right! The sauce used is perfect to drench with you rice. So good!

Som tum papaya salad Thai style - 5/5 ordered extra spicy was a bad idea, it's literally Thai level for medium so extra spicy was fiery full of red fresh chilis. My friend took it well while I waved my white flag as my lips burned and puffed. Regardless, the flavors are all balanced as it should: salty, sweet, spicy, and sour.

Desserts: fried bananas, mango...

Quaint little restaurant with no frills, with very reasonably priced authentic Thai cuisine.

This was very much an impromptu date night - We had been craving Thai food for a while and the few we tried before had let us down, so when Bo Tree was brought to my attention I knew what I had to do. I called ahead and booked a table, which I never do, and it's lucky I did!

We got there at 6pm, and already the place was buzzing, we were acknowledged and seated almost immediately with a great view of the open plan kitchen. I love when I can see what's going on behind the scenes, when you get that little flutter of excitement when a dish is being plated up, "Is this ours? I think this is ours!"

The menu is fairly extensive whilst only being a one pager, with a variety of categories to choose from on the front and a full vegetarian menu on the back.

We got the Pad Siew, Beef Massaman, Coconut Rice & Sticky Rice. They had a selection of drinks, but not much in the way of soft drinks, however, our server informed us of the 'corkage' fee on soft drinks and told us we could run to the shop across the road and get something more to our liking which was super handy! She did say she'd bring us some glasses with ice, but they never materialised.

The dishes came out promptly and looked amazing, especially the steamed rice in its little woven bamboo case. My wife was VERY excited about this, as we hadn't had rice in such novel fashion since our time spent living in London.

The Massaman was beautiful. After the first taste of the elegantly spiced sauce married with the sticky rice I knew we'd found something special. There were generous chunks of slow cooked beef and hearty potato nestled in the savoury peanut sauce, with a portion that could arguably have served 3 people. Hands down the best Massaman I've had. Ever.

Next up was the Pad Siew, we opted for seafood as our choice of protein. Thick rice noodles stir fried with egg, vegetables and a pleasing variety of seafood - prawn, squid & mussels. The taste brought me right back to my time in Asia, there was something strikingly familiar about the authenticity of the flavours and the simplicity in which those flavours were delivered. I loved that there was a subtle smokiness of where the intense heat of the wok had caught the edges of the noodles, giving an extra dimension to what is essentially stir fried noodles - but calling it that does it a massive disservice.

Over the last few months we've been disappointed with so many restaurants, and it was such a refreshing change to have found something REALLY GOOD, a place where we are genuinely excited for the next time we get to go back to try something else from the menu.

By the time we'd finished every seat had been filled, and I can absolutely see why. We will definitely be back and hope this encourages more people to give...

Whilst in Belfast yesterday (10th Sept) I Googled places to eat in the area which I normally do and was instantly attracted to Bo Tree due to being a huge Thai food fan and was impressed by the positive reviews.

We arrived around 12:10, for a table of two, my son & I. The place had one other single diner eating and was very quiet. Water brought to the table without having to ask which was a nice touch.

We ordered food from a local waiter who was quite nonchalant to be honest. We asked if the Panang Curry came with Rice, to which he replied "no because when we get large groups and everyone orders a Curry they end up with too much Rice". A ridiculous reason to not include it in my opinion, especially for the price of £14. We ordered a Rice to accompany it, at an additional £3.55.

The food arrived and was served to the table by a very pleasant and mannerly Thai guy. The colours & presentation were excellent, the flavours phenomenal. I've travelled Thailand at length on two separate occasions and this food is up there with some of the best authentic Thai I've had.

What bothered me most is the entire duration of our meal no one bothered to come near us to check on us - really frustrating when there is literally just us and one other person eating in the entire restaurant - and I noticed she was checked on. Service levels were non-existent when the local waiter is just sitting down at a table across the room.

They seem to run an all-day priced menu as opposed to a seperate Lunch/Dinner one, which in my opinion is a tiny bit expensive for Lunch however would be great value if visiting in the Evening. The Papaya Salad we ordered at £11.35 is extortionate and although the flavours were excellent its way overpriced for what it is. The Pad Thai was £14 including Chicken & Prawns which was very tasty and a decent portion. The Panang at £14 with an additional £3.55 for Rice, is just a tad too expensive at Lunchtime - £17.55 for quite a small curry. As I said though this would be more acceptable at Evening time.

I truly believe service levels on this particular occasion were quite poor and needs attention - especially when the place is dead! Make a bit of effort with your customers. This left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth, but the flavours of the food as I said...