Plaza Khao Gaeng Tottenham Court Road — Restaurant in London

Undeniably one of the best Thai restaurants in London. Be ready to be transported to the South of Thailand from the heart of London.

Ambience

I lived in Thailand for many years, and my experience at this restaurant felt like a nostalgic trip back home.

The decor, choice of white lights, the aromas, and the Thai hospitality (which deserves its own commentary), were all reminscent of a family restaurant by the roadside in Thailand. Maybe just missing out on blasting some Thongchai.

If I was blindfolded, and taken here, I would not know immediately that I was still in London. The only give away would be the music and noise from the neighbouring Arcade / TCR.

Service

As mentioned, expect Thai hospitality here. We had tremendous service throughout the night despite having arrived very late into our booking. Apologies!

Staff were attentive, and even gave us extra rice on the house as we were approaching closing time.

Being honest, the only minor hiccup here was one of the staff being a little sarcastic / passive aggressive when we arrived late. Fair enough, we were late. Not sure if they intended to come across as slightly rude or just playful. But not sure we deserved the former, especially given we apologised, and were not rude to begin with. Nonetheless, the spectacular service that proceeded this more than made up for it, and we cannot be thankful enough.

Food

We went for the Deep South Menu for 2, and were sufficiently full by the end of the service.

They do not shy away from spiciness or taming the flavours for farang. It was quite spicy, but again, true to how it is in most parts of Thailand.

Portion sizes were also arguably true to how it is in Thailand, leaving you wanting more, with lots of space to try a bit of everything.

To do it right, make sure to use every last bit of the sauces/gravy on your rice.

Worth mentioning that this restaurant does not serve the conventional Thai food most foreigners might be used to at a Thai restaurant (serving more Central and North Thailand recipes). That is, you might want to look elsewhere for fried rice, noodles, etc.

Price

Thailand portions, but London prices.

We can barely blame them for it considering the area, the quality of the food, and the service.

I do feel it was value for money, but to each their own. Just be prepared to feel a pinch, not just from the chillis.

Closing Thoughts

We will definitely be back again as we still have lots to try.

We had a great conversation with one of the staff about good Thai food in London, or rather, the lack of it. I loved how passionate their staff were about Thai cuisine, and their awareness of the local ingredients that makes up some of the dishes. Not many restaurants have their staff also live, and breath what they serve.

Glad we tried this out.

Accomodating service. Electrifying and...

One of the most overrated restaurants I’ve been to. 3 stars for the authentic but overpriced Thai food and 1 star for the chaotic service. It was a very bad dining experience and I will never come back nor recommend to anyone.

I visited this restaurant with my friend by walk-in in an early evening. The table settings were very packed. We were fine with that as it aligned with its Thai street style dining though it might not be ideal for dating. We were told that the dining time would be limited to 1.5 hour and we agreed. We ordered food right away when we’d got our table. We ordered two starters, two main dishes, two desserts and two drinks but we found the portions were so small that can barely fill up two ladies. When we were still having our main dishes (not to mention the dessert we ordered), the reception lady came to our table and reminded us that our dining time was almost up. She kept standing next to our table and staring at us in unfriendly and disturbing way throughout the dinner. Although we’d still got some time within the time limit, I swallowed the remaining curry and rice and waiting for the dessert. During this waiting time the reception lady complained about us to the waiter just a few feet from our table so we clearly heard what they said. Then the waiter came apologising to us because he had to move us and our food to the bar counter as the next reserved customers arrived early. We had no choice but agreed this arrangement. But a few minutes later he came back and said we didn’t need to move and brought us the desserts we ordered. With the nonstop anxious stares and murmurs, we finished our desserts within 5 minutes just to get the dinner done ASAP. By the second we finished, no exaggeration, the reception lady popped up to pick up the plates and requested us to pay the bill in an unfriendly way. After all the chaos, we exceeded our dining time by 6 minutes by the time we stepped out the door. Sorry to say that we reckoned this dining experience was utterly ridiculous. Dining time limit comes with time management and control between kitchen and front of house, not merely urging the customers to swallow their food faster. It was embarrassing for me to bring my friend to this place. To be fair the food was great despite very small portions. But we’ve got plenty of choices in London for amazing food and a lot better service. So, no...

Plaza Khao Gaeng, a place that has been a huge hit within the local Asian community for a while. The reviews regarding the space did not lie - it was one of those spots where you get seated, order asap, gobble up the food then leave with a full belly. The space was cramped, and if you’re not a fan of being seated closely with people around you then maybe this place is not for you.

FOOD REVIEW:

Gai Tord Hat Yai: 4.5/5⭐️ Fried to perfection, the chicken was juicy inside it’s golden crispy exterior. The shallots added so much fragrance to this dish, to the point where I barely needed the sweet and sour sauce on the side. I would simple come back again for this spectacular dish. Highly recommend.

Gaeng Massaman Neua: 3/5⭐️ Phenomenal sauce with not so phenomenal beef. The sauce was coconuty, aromatic and mildly spicy - trust me you’ll want to order a side of rice or roti to scoop up all that savoury goodness. The beef shoulder, on the other hand, was a bit of a letdown. The meat was quite lean - Some pieces were nice and tender, but the rest are just tough, chewy and bland as if it was cooked in water before adding to the sauce.

Khua Kling Muu: 3/5⭐️ Not bad for UK standards as the spices did hit the spot and they stayed true to the spiciness! The long pepper added such a nice crunch to each bite and you just can’t help but keep going back for more. However the pork was again, quite lean and lacks the kind of fattiness that is quite essential to this dish. It was also a tad bit too salty for my liking and requires a whole bowl to rice to balance everything out.

Roti: 2.5/5⭐️ The flavour was actually really nice as you can taste the buttery fragrance. However it’s just not flaky enough, and some chunks are even a bit hard… like crisps? Not the ideal texture but great as a way to scoop up the curry sauce.

OVERALL: 3/5⭐️ Not a bad spot to stop by for a quick meal if you’re in the area but there’s no need to travel all the way here for the food. It will satisfy some cravings, but then again the price tag does not do the food justice. With that said, Plaza Khao Gaeng will still probably be one of the best, if not THE BEST vendor in...