101 Thai Kitchen — Restaurant in London

My wife (who is Thai) and I (who have been to Thailand 20+ times) frequently visit Thai 101 and have to say this is our favourite Thai restaurant in London by far. It is run and staffed by Thais so expect authentic Thai service as well as food!

Thai 101 is about spicy Thai salads, grilled and steamed fish, grilled meats & hot pot / soups to share. If all you order is spring rolls & green/yellow/red curry you are doing it all wrong! I would recommend for a party of 3 or more to try one thing from every section of the menu (salad, soup, fish, grill, stir fry etc) and share everything around the table. Stay away from the western style starter+main and ask for everything to come at the same time. This is more in line with how Thai people eat. Think tapas!

I think a few of the past reviewers have not been to Thailand or have much experience in Thai culture so probably experienced a bit of culture clash when visiting. Much of Thai culture is based around manners and respect for others. If you don’t show this then don’t expect much in return!

The restaurant is decorated like a typical Thai restaurant would be in Thailand, complete with soap opera going in the background and lots of pictures of the King and Queen. We come here to eat really good food, not admire the walls!

Tips: Don’t ask for chopsticks, you aren’t in a Chinese restaurant! The same goes for dim sum You don’t need a knife for anything on a Thai menu, they didn’t forget it :) Green, yellow & red curry aren’t typically ordered by Thai people. Try something new every time you visit. Take my advice and share tapas style, then if you don’t like something there is bound to be somebody that does around the table that does. Be adventurous! The menu is huge and has items from many regions in Thailand Pair sticky rice with salads, plain with almost everything else & you don't need one each! The southern specialties on the menu are amazing if you are adventurous in your taste and can handle spicy food. Some are an acquired taste so perhaps not for somebody new to Thai food. The owner is great for advice on the menu and has pointed us in the direction of some great stuff when we have had the chance to...

I don't know how this place has such a high score as this would have be the worst Thai meal I've ever had in my life! As a big fan of Thai food and always my go to food for eating out, I've never experienced such mediocre bland food until visiting here. I ordered the massamam curry with chicken. I've never had this dish with boiled baby potatoes served whole. Usually this dish is served with cubed potatoes. To me this was just pure lazy. The sauce was an underwhelming taste, with no veg or peanuts, just onions. The chicken was not breast meat and was pieces of I assume thigh meat with the fat and skin included. Which is absolutely disgusting. No one came to check if the food or if everything okay. I picked around the chicken eating what I could of it, but the presentation was just so off putting. When the waitress came to collect the plates I mentioned my chicken in my dish was disgusting and not breast meat as advised. She rudely told me well I ate it. I explained that no one came near us throughout the whole meal to check if everything was ok. Apart from that, my friend and me were the only two people in the restaurant at this time. There was no apology and I told her to make sure and give the chef my feedback. Again she said you ate the food and should have said before now. I wasn't looking for discounts I was just giving my opinion on the quality of their food. I didn't eat all the food and my plate was full of chicken skin and fatty bits of meat. Absolutely vile food and one rude young waitress. I don't know what they're adding to the dishes, but it gave me serious heartburn which I still had the next day. There are much better restaurants in the area. To be charged £16 for a massamam chicken curry with sticky rice that was boiled in a bag is an absolute joke. Highly disappointing and left a bad taste...

I really do not understand how someone can leave positive reviews of this place once they have truly eaten here. I can only assume most of the reviews below are fake. Mine is real.

To begin with, the online menu prices are 30% to 40% less than the printed menu prices you read when you sit at the table. That in itself is enough reason to report these people to the Advertising Standards Authority. Their food is expensive; on a par with other quality restaurants in Chiswick only Thai Kitchen lacks the quality of food that goes with the price.

Lets take their Tom Yum Kung, a Thai spicy seafood soup served with prawns, for example. This is a wonderfully fragrant (lots of lemon grass) and spicy soup-like dish that most other places serve with a mix of fish and prawns. Thai Kitchen, however, makes use of a little fish paste, tomato soup and frozen, peeled prawns: I counted three in mine. It was the most pathetic Tom Yum Kung I've ever had and have had powder satchet cup soups with more consistency and better taste. And it cost £3 more than the advertised price online. I also noted that they make heavy use of mackerel in their other fish dishes, presumably to maximise profit. Not impressed.

Then there is the quality of service, where the girls happily dump the plates ordered on the table and quickly scuttle away without even explaining what they have just delivered. Yet they always push for a service tip to be added, regardless.

So in summary, I'd advise you steer well clear of this place. There are other Thai places furhter-up towards Hammersmith that are more reasonably priced and serve more...