Kin + Deum — Restaurant in London

I read a great write up about Kin Deum on Rest, and was excited to try it out! I was in Thailand for yoga teacher training for 2 months many years ago, and have been there a few times, so I'm familiar with Thai food.

The decor was modern yet inviting, when I entered. It had an inviting feel to the place.

My friend highly recommend the orange juice as neither of us were drinking, and I wasn't disappointed. The orange juice was fresh - and sweet! And the prawn crackers with spicy sauce was fab.

The service was friendly at first.

Then it all started to go quickly downhill.

I normally learn towards vegetarian or vegan options but, occasionally I do choose to eat some organic or free range chicken. High welfare meat IS important, especially if the restaurant is billing itself as more upmarket.

The menu made a point of saying 'free range egg fried rice' so I called a staff member over and asked her if the chicken was also "free range". She became all bristly and said "no, it isn't." No concern, no dialogue, nothing.

The reason caged factory farms exist is because too many restaurants support this type of production. I don't.

So that's a fail from me.

I then ordered the "Gra Pow" (Kra Pow?) with aubergine, as I wanted to try that dish from Bang Kok. I had always passed through BK in Thailand but never dined there!

The dish was spicy, as advertised, but it was oily and rather on the salty side, so I wasn't that impressed with it.

I then decided to order a dessert - a mango cheesecake. However, when it came the mango lacked any real flavour, and there really wasn't enough of it. It was mainly "cheese".

All in all, I wouldn't go back in a hurry. Sorry.

I'd advise the staff to be more polite to customers' concerns, and for the restaurant owners to buck up their game when it comes to their produce. I also asked about the quality of the prawns in some dishes - they were 'from frozen'...

It’s an okay restaurant, I would not choose to come back by any means but it’s not terrible.

The food is decent, the two dishes which stood out was the curry and the chicken skewers. They had lovely flavours, I just wish the curry came with more than 5 prawns for the £15.50 price tag. Coconut rice was fine. The pork was super disappointing, it was soggy and dripping in sauce instead of crunchy and crispy. The parts of pork we had were also generally dry and it cold. The chicken bites were just okay but the sauce was too strong and overpowering. The tom yum fries had a lack of flavour and in the picture you can see that it’s pale and the seasoning is not distributed well. Drinks were just okay.

Service was appalling. We came as a walk in, and were happy with any table we could get. The guy was so passive aggressive when telling me I could only sit at the walk in table if I wouldn’t be out by 6:00 on one of the reserved tables. I took the walk in table because I knew me and my friend would want to talk and catch up without being rushed. However, despite that, they still rushed us. Hovering over us and swooping in mid conversation to clear up the plates, and interrupting our conservation yet again to push us to paying our bill or having dessert. I understand that it’s a restaurant based in the heart of a corporate city which means it can get busy, but it’s no excuse to make paying customers unwelcomed, rushed and uncomfortable. It also doesn’t help when the waiters don’t even try to put on a smile or hide that they just want...

Nice little find hidden away from the main streets. Kin + Deum is a converted pub and the indoor decor pleasantly surprises you as from the outside it looks like a traditional pub. We tried the chicken satays, wings and handmade vermicelli tofu spring rolls for starters, the satay was nicely coupled with a sweet peanut sauce, the chicken wings had a slight crisp and nice marinade similar to the satay and came with a sriracha sauce on the side, both went very well together. The spring roll was ok, I wouldn’t recommend trying it as I found they were overfilled and not the best option on the menu. For mains I had the Gra Pow which is minced pork with a side of jasmine rice, the pork was excellent my only disappointment was lack of spice as supposedly it was the hottest option on menu. For dessert I had the traditional Thai option of bananas slowly simmered in coconut milk, which I really enjoyed, the banana melts in your mouth coupled with the sweet milk it was perfect. I give this 4* purely due to a issue with service, it all seemed a bit rushed, the waiter literally took a empty plate while I had a wing in my hand, the second issue was how quick the mains came, there was 0 time between courses.

I would definitely come back here as there are many other options on the menu I would like to try. It’s difficult finding a good authentic Thai place in London however this little gem is now...