A Thai restaurant without rice? This Michelin star hotspot is serving up something entirely unique
It's a brave chef who opens a Thai restaurant that doesn't serve rice. But then AngloThai is no ordinary Thai restaurant, rather a place, according to chef and co-proprietor John Chantarasak, that is 'rooted in Thailand ', but 'uniquely British'. You can say that again. If you come expecting fiery larbs, pungent priks and fragrant curries, you'll leave disappointed. Because AngloThai is something else altogether, with cooking that mixes the haute with the hearty, the traditional with the cutting edge.
The room is dim and warm and lovely, imbued with the sort of atmosphere that is born, not made. Despite opening only a few months back, it feels like it's been here for ever. Chantarasak's wife, co-owner Desiree, looks after front of house, as well as the (rather excellent) wine list, and there's very much a family feel to the restaurant – service straddles that fine line between the professional and sweetly personal.
After being awarded a Michelin star in February, there is only a set menu. But don't let that put you off. The atmosphere is more local bistro than purse-lipped mausoleum. And while the presentation may be pretty, this is all about the flavour. There's Carlingford oyster, drenched in a crimson fermented chilli and sea-buckthorn sauce. It has a sly heat and bracing sharpness, but allows the briny sweetness of the oyster to shine. Exmoor caviar and Brixham crab, pretty as a hidden Devon cove, are served alongside a crisp black cracker, shaped like a flower and flavoured with coconut ash. The artistry is incredible, but there's a cool purity to the flavours, the very essence of the English sea.
Salted beef cheek is spoon-soft and mellow, served on brioche, and anointed with a gently citric makrut-lime curry. Next come slices of Chalkstream trout, doused in a chlorophyll-green chilli sauce. The dish is not so much about heat as perfectly judged acidity; delicate crunch comes from paper-thin slices of radish. A lozenge of sirloin steak, cooked rare, sits alongside a startlingly intense blob of peppercorn curry. Instead of rice, kernels of tender barley, transformed from dull to lusty by a judicious coating of beef fat.
AngloThai may be more Anglo (and French) than Thai, but this is sophisticated, ambitious, highly intelligent cooking that's both quietly thrilling and utterly unique.
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