The Great Thai Restaurant

"Here’s how to order at The Great Thai. Go to the right Great Thai, not the Great Thai takeaway place round the corner. Ignore the set lunch menu. Do not be distracted by upselling aunties. Get boat noodles, murky and ditchwater brown but so full of flavour, with the sharp nasal hit of white pepper. As good as it gets round the back of Oxford Circus. Get the yen ta fo if needing something milder.  Chilli oil status: Chopped pickled chillis instead." - Jonathan Nunn

"Per Eater London contributor Jonathan Nunn, “this isn’t going to compare to the boat noodles with pigs blood on a Bangkok side street, but it’s as good as it gets round the back of Oxford Circus.” Precisely in the spirit of this guide, “this” means not the entire restaurant, The Great Thai, but the boat noodles at The Great Thai, possibly the most restorative bowl out there in Fitzrovia, with enough white pepper to clear away shopping bag blindness. Slurp." - James Hansen

"Ordering a great meal at the optimistically named The Great Thai needs a degree of single-mindedness. Ignore the set lunch menu, don’t mistake it with the takeaway shop round the corner, do not be distracted by the aunties trying to upsell. Stick to the boat noodles: ditchwater brown and dishwater clear, but full of flavour and the sharp nasal hit of white pepper. Also of note is the Hakka-influenced soup yen ta fo, lurid pink with fermented red beancurd paste, not complex in flavour but in textural assemblage — a bouncy prawn here and there, fried tofu, soft tofu, squidgy fish balls, fried fish roll, and crispy wonton wrappers. Also consider the saltfish fried rice with little pockets of dried fish interrupting the interplay between rice, egg and wok smoke. No, this isn’t going to compare to the boat noodles with pigs blood on a Bangkok side street, but it’s as good as it gets round the back of Oxford Circus." - Jonathan Nunn