Thai Modern — Restaurant in Milton Keynes

I first visited Thai Modern in 2014 and then again, off and on every six months or so, until early 2017 - it was always consistently good quality. I couldn’t, therefore, turn down the chance to go back this week when it arose. The nostalgia factor was strong on this occasion; memories wherever I looked. Rare.

This is an unassuming restaurant, situated just off the main Midsummer Boulevard in MK with discrete signage, it can be easy to miss. Look for the elephants outside, but don’t sit on them.

Inside, the welcome is warm, and the restaurant has traditional vibes, with carved wooden furniture and those tables you get with a glass top and a little carved diorama inside. They alone invoke nostalgia, as well as reminding me of the House of Flavours. On this occasion we were seated straight away as the restaurant was quiet - a Thursday evening. The mobile signal in there is poor, but that isn’t a bad thing - it drives conversation.

The menu is impressive, with a good range of choices (also banquets if you have friends) - I miss the classic Gai Pang na Moo they used to do (Thai minced pork on toast) but found an excellent substitute in the fantastic calamari - this was coated in a lovely crisp batter and had a good spice to it, being scattered with little chilli slices. A dipping sauce to the side sealing the deal - I liked this dish and would commend it to you.

For a main, the chicken pad kra pao, with a good amount of holy basil and chilli included - this is still one of the hotter versions of this dish I have had I the UK. I like this dish to be fiery and this version delivers with a punch. The dish was served on a little warmer thing, which is novel. The perfect accompaniment to this was, naturally, egg-fired rice, served in a little pot. I like the rice here, it’s safe, there’s no hidden sweetcorn like some places. A firm yes.

Overall, an excellent meal, service was swift and the beer was Singha - everything you could ask for. I am glad to see this place has kept its standards and I will try not to leave it 8 years this time before...

First of all let me say the food was fine. The service was quite disappointing. We came for a mothers day meal, four of us, quite happy to spend whatever was needed. The first thing we were told is that we could not have any prawn crackers before we had ordered the meal, I found this quite strange so I spoke to the manager. Seems the problem is people get the sauce on the menus and that causes future complaints. It is quite obvious that this problem is created by the fact that no side plates are served with the prawn crackers, therefore if is very easy for the sauce to get dripped on the table and hence transferred to the menus. Simple solution PROVIDE SIDE PLATES instead of taking the easy option of just telling your customers you cannot have a cracker before you order a meal. This might not be an issue for most, but I have a conference in November and this very point has just cost the restaurant a order of over 20 people. We came on a Saturday night so they might have been under pressure, but the service was very poor, long wait times, staff reaching over people to pour wine, bit poor. If you do not mind not having prawn crackers whilst you think about what you want to eat and you are happy with slow service this place is fine. I'll give it a...

After hearing many good things I was really looking forward to my meal here !

I would like to start by saying this is one of the most amazing looking décor I have seen in a UK restaurant. Every single detail was amazing, caved tables and chairs, beautiful walls and plants around. Visually very stunning!!

A very lovely menu choice, had something for everyone on there ranging from bland to very spicy.

I ordered Calamari for starter, which came very very quickly. (not even 10 minutes after ordering) it was a nice size portion but not quite cooked enough for my personal liking

For Mains I had Garlic Fried Rice and Massumum Beef Curry. Again service was very quick and served on some lovely warmers to keep everything fresh.

The rice was very pleasing to eat, but the curry was watery and quite bland tasting. Although service was extremely quick - I feel like taking a little extra time cooking would have been much more beneficial to the taste.

Overall I feel like this is somewhere people should definitely go to - even if just to sit and admire the beautiful décor. The food was nice, but not of the highest standards for myself, although I would like to go back and try something...