Kruk — Restaurant in London

My wife told me you can’t eat spicy food all your life. I said, wife I can and ain’t no place gonna be too spicy. And then I came to Kruk. This place rocked my world. Spice should never be for spice sake. It should be in service of flavour. And boy was it. BOY WAS IT.

The menu is really cool. They have a spread of meat, fish and veggie. Half their menu is veggie. Yellow curry tinged dishes are spicier. The Sam Nam is a staple and it’s scorching but it is important to emphasise that you’re eating this for flavour. It’s not a gimmick. I would bottle the dressing and keep it in my fridge for every salad I make if I could. They also had a pork belly dish which was secretly vegetable coded but had the texture of pork and belly. A delight!

Wife had the tofu curry for a main. I had the fish and shrimp. Knocked my unit off with spice.

I got to speak to the owners, which was a real privilege.

This place is cool. It’s tasty. It’s fun. They play good music. It’s not pretentious. I’m not Jay Rayner but I feel happier having eaten here and I really hope others can try it. Not that this place needs the attention. They were booked up when we got there and we had a fat pint of beer waiting for a table and the impression I got is everyone in Peckham comes here. But it was worth it. I’ll be back. Sooner than later too given they’ve got some winter dishes coming up...

We sampled 5 out of the 7 (vegan/vegetarian) dishes on offer, the bar snacks and both sides.

The Vegan Pxrk Belly was our favourite, it was delicious. We also thoroughly enjoyed the Fried oyster & enoki mushroom — they had a spicy kick.

We weren’t a massive fan of the tofu skins (but that’s a personal taste/texture) and felt the jungle curry could’ve had more depth to the flavours.

We found the service to be of a good friendly level.

To add the 2 person table was quite small (which one of the staff even joked about) making it difficult for the plates to all fit. They were outside patio tables and the design of them limited how far you could pull the seats in and your ability to have your feet...

The food was amazing - I had the vegan chicken khao soi and I will definitely be back for it.

Unfortunately, although the staff were nice, the service was lacklustre. Things took a long time (ordering, bill). One item we ordered just didn't arrive and when we asked to take home the rice we hadn't eaten, we were told there were no containers so couldn't. This was then taken off the bill when we asked in fairness, but a bit annoying.

My main concern was that the server did not ask if we had any allergies - fortunately we don't but there were some items with ingredients we hadn't...