What’s on your Christmas wish list? I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, a KitchenAid and good food. The first two aren’t guaranteed, but for scrummy food that will leave you with a massive smile on your face (think the Cheshire Cat that has swiped the cream), head on over to Thaikhun Nottingham.
Their soft launch a few weeks ago was pretty cool, which is why I couldn’t wait to check it out again (see my original blog here).
Based in the Intu Victoria Centre Nottingham, it’s the latest addition to shape the expanding foodie landscape. By attracting big names to the mall, Intu are being innovative and giving shoppers and foodies alike more reasons to leave the warm and cosy confines of their homes.
I love the entrance to the restaurant and the warm welcome you receive from the concierge. Having been shown to our seats, we soon placed an order from one of the various waitresses scanning the restaurant. And that is one of the things I love about Thaikhun. They have a good number of eyeballs on the ground, to ensure customers are dealt with quickly and efficiently.
It’s a diverse menu and we started the evening with a generous basket of prawn crackers, which were deliciously peppery, tempered with sweet chilli sauce.
Tod Man Pla Thai Fish Cakes (deep fried fish cakes, flavoured with red curry paste and fine beans, served with cucumber relish and sweet chilli sauce topped with peanuts) were delicious little golf-balls of heaven. They were perfectly spiced and the presentation pretty as a picture. The waxed paper with a printed news article was a lovely inventive touch, which gave the impression that we truly were dining on a street-food snack on a teeming road in Bangkok. The cucumber relish is very special indeed and one that I couldn’t get enough of. I fell in love with these fishcakes and will be dedicating a standalone feature on that soon (so watch this space for #DishDrinkOfTheWeek).
For those wanting to go healthy, fear not, as the Thaikhun menu caters for all. Our second starter was Por Pia Sod Fresh Prawn Rolls (rice paper rolled with strips of carrot, mint, coriander, basil, prawns, served with a refreshing cucumber relish). These were light parcels of goodness, the translucent rice paper inviting you to munch away, and the meaty prawns a great balance, all the more delicious when dunked into the accompanying chilli sauce.
I had the Pla Pao Grilled Seabass (fillet marinated in oyster sauce with lemongrass, galangal and lime leaves, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled over charcoal), which was nice and gingery. It was a lovely fillet and a generous portion, I just wish there was a little more sauce, or some sort of accompaniment incorporated with the dish. The waitress had recommended the rice to go with this, but I had chosen noodles. Both would have been a little on the dry side, which is why I was super glad to have ordered a salad to share.
The Pla Tod Yum Mamung Seabass & Mango Salad (crispy sea bass, mixed salad with mango, tamarind, fish sauce, chilli, shallots and coriander, roasted cashew nuts) was one of my favourite dishes. The mango was on the right side of ripe, providing the mango batons with a gorgeously pungent acerbic kick. The lightly battered sea-bass had soaked up the sauce (think of it as an oriental gravy), and that accompanied with the Sen Jun Luak Rice Noodles (soy sauce, bean sprouts, fried garlic) was a great main.
My dining partner The Dude had Kao Ka Prao Gai Chicken With Thai Basil & Chilli (spicy chicken mince, stir fried with garlic, chilli, soy sauce, oyster sauce and basil, served with steamed rice, fried egg). The garlicky mince was gorgeously tender, and I could have happily tucked into this dish all night. It would have been nice to see the fried egg a little runny, but this was still OK.
For dessert, I had the Chocolate Fudge Cake (beautiful, unctuous, chocolate heaven with oozing buttercream and caramel sauce), whilst The Dude had Pancake Sankaya (traditional Thai pancakes with pandan custard served with a dollop of ice cream), that he loved as it wasn’t too sweet.
I’m a little bit in love with Thaikhun (their Thai fishcakes are out of this world and I will be back for that giant wodge of chocolate cake). See you there – miss it, miss out.
Star Rating 1-10 (1: “I hate it, I’d rather eat my own shoe” to 10: “I’d pillage for a meal here”.)
Food: 10
Value for money: 8
Ambience: 10
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Address: Intu Victoria Shopping Centre, Nottingham NG1 3QN
Tel: 0115 838 9950