Sam “SJ” M.
Google
Alright hear me now I found out about this small family owned and run Thai restaurant from a friend, Thai duck deli situated on West Norwood high street run by Da and her husband Mustafa. She is the chef, waitress and co owns the restaurant with amazing service, great food. Cooking with limited resources and miraculously comes with a culinary journey of wonder. This review is only the first part one and me and my friend got the mixed platter to give us a taste and fuel our excitement for the next visit. It consisted of chicken wings, ribs and their traditional spring rolls and severed with a sweet chilli dip. This culinary journey began with some complementary prawn crackers but not any generic crackers they came with uniqueness, a bit of a black pepper twang to it and with that sweet chilli sauce we were off to a very good start.
Spicy chicken wings
This wings were simplistic, beautifully cooked and tender perfectly glazed with a combination of chilli and basil that teased the palate. They had a subtle kicked to them so don’t get scared of the label but they were flavoured well and they were succulent so much so you could probably want to eat a whole plate full. 7/10
Pork spare ribs
These ribs had a good flavour to them, delicate, fall off the bone meat. That oyster and hoisin sauce brought a unique experience to the ribs, a flavour combination I hadn’t had before and with that chilli and onion garnish on that top that gave that slightly sweet and spicy element to it from the onions and chillis. Very satisfying. 7.3/10
Spring rolls
Everyone knows you can go wrong with spring rolls, these were hefty in size and came piping hot and ready to be in that sweet chilli. Cooked perfectly no burnt edges and a crisp to that pastry. 6.5/10
This cosy restaurant was so accommodating and friendly. It’s a great place for a small catch up or hang out with friends or family they are normally quite busy on Fridays and Saturday so if you local or just in the area it’s definitely a place to try out!
This authentic Thai food is chock full of fresh ingredients which take you on a flavourful journey which explores flavours you probably are normally exposed like a mixture of sweet, citrusy and spiciness which creates and explosion of uniqueness I haven’t experienced before. It truly shocked me that that a dish so simple could be such a rich culinary experience. The owners of the restaurant are absolutely lovely people and are truly enthusiastic about their food and try there best to make it as authentic as the food would be from the area of Thailand it is inspired from. They have utilised they’re previous knowledge to create a menu that is fantastic and can appeal to anyone who wants to try Thai food. I got the pork spare ribs and the Thai duck combo. I have already reviewed the ribs before but I can say that the ribs as a side was surprisingly substantial normally when you go to restaurants you only get 4 ribs with little meat on the bone and maybe if your lucky like 6. However, I got 7/8 ribs marinated beautifully and with a decent amount of meat on it.
Thai duck combo
Everything was cooked brilliantly from the sticky rice kept in a bag in a bamboo bowl used in Thailand to keep flies away. To the succulent chicken that was brilliantly marinated in the fresh turmeric, lemongrass, black pepper and oyster sauce. Along with the papaya salad with completely fresh ingredients it was a mixture of sweet from the papaya, spicy from the chillis added and citrusy from the whole lime. The salad tasted so fresh and worked perfectly with the sticky rice and a homemade spicy ginger dip. The ginger dip has a very strong taste of fresh ginger so if you don’t like ginger probably avoid that. I do love it when something as simple as rice, chicken and salad is executed so well and to think that they don’t even have fancy equipment as well and they’re putting out high quality food that can even be considered as healthy. If you go gym this meal could be a good way to finish a session. 8/10
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