Khao Thai Twickenham — Restaurant in London

I had ordered the following 2 things from here on uber eats:

Som Tum £9.95 Squid £7.50

The price would have been £17.45 had I not had a discount on uber eats. Please look at my photos, do you really think that was worth in essence, 20 whole pounds?

Pros: Food arrived hot The squid did taste nice enough but not for that price and the portion size, there was like 4 or 5 pieces in there with a bunch of salad and chillis

Cons: This place is mad expensive for absolutely no reason Dressing on the Som Tum was basically just fish sauce and sugar it wasn't anything special nor was it particularly tasty The lettuce underneath the som tum was legit not cut? like you want me to eat 2 whole lettuce leaves? what is up with that? The salad legit had 2 baby tomatoes in it, cheaply made

I've been to Bangkok and Hua Hin, i've been to the markets, I know what this food should taste like. It was not what this place was serving.

I genuinely don't believe you can get good Thai food in the Twickenham/Richmond/Hounslow Area, it simply doesn't exist. Maybe if I had mains i'd have a different view? but usually starters are supposed to whet your appetite and if they failed on that, I have no faith in their mains.

Would...

I had a medium rare experience. Basically if a restaurant is not full on a Friday evening, it usually is a sign. So other than my family, there were only 2 other tables. With 3 waiters there should have been more than enough to check in on us during the meal. They didn't. My steak was more rare than medium rare and was cold on the plate. As I'm on a special diet I couldn't enjoy anything else on the menu like the delicious food my wife and kids were having. My steak was also tough. As I was really hungry I tried to just enjoy it but I should have just sent it back. In my younger days as a food critic, I certainly would have. Having given my feedback about the lacklustre experience to the waitresses, I would have thought they would given me a discount or even remove the cost from the bill altogether - I was offered a cup of tea on the house instead, despite already drinking one which seemed a redundant offer! I might go back when I'm not on the current diet but for the price we paid for the evening, it certainly wasn't worth my money. Maybe next time...

I followed my impulse, and decided to try the 'Express Lunch' today, and I really enjoyed it!

I normally walk past this place because it's quite dark inside. The lunch menu offers green curry with chicken, battered tilapia and a good selection of other choices, too - for £8.95 at time of writing it's a really good deal.

I requested a vegetable green curry which wasn't listed but they were happy to make for me; lovely aubergine, tofu squares of both the fluffy tofu and the flat version, carrots, beans... And lovely jasmine rice. As a side, I chose fried vegetable Gyozu which were so tasty. Normally I would choose steamed ones, but the crispness was an enjoyable change.

A 1L bottle of St. Pellegrino was £3 - not much of a mark up, considering. Not bad!

And it was 'Express' - it was at the table in 5 minutes. Really impressed.

I give 4 stars because the 'bar' area around the till was very messy. Food really good - will be back for...