The weather was certainly appropriate as we made our way to Castle Thai.
It was a muggy summer’s evening with the threat of rain in the air which reminded me of the month I spent travelling around Thailand after university.
Then, as now, I was impressed by the subtle flavours and variety of Thai cooking as well as the famous hospitality of the Thai people. Castle Thai, situated on Castle Foregate, opened earlier this year. The restaurant is small but cosy and decorated in traditional Thai style and with waiting staff wearing authentic Thai clothing it all added to the feeling that I was on holiday.
Staff are friendly and polite and also incredibly attentive, no sooner had we been seated we were given a basket of prawn crackers to snack on while we perused the extensive menu. There are certainly some unusual meals on offer, duck with crab meat particularly standing out.
We decided to begin with a Thai platter of appetisers which included fish cakes, spring rolls, chicken drumsticks and chicken kebabs. There is also a small salad and various dips making this starter a perfect introduction to some of the flavours on offer.
For our main course we had kang kiew warw – chicken in green curry with coconut milk and vegetables – and pla lad prik – deep fried fish with chilli sauce and coconut milk.
The dishes are quite small. If we had ordered again we would have had a coconut rice each instead of one to share, however on the plus side the delicious mains once eaten left room for dessert.
We had lemon sorbet, which was a refreshing end to the meal, and coconut pancake which was sweet and exotic.
To accompany our meal we drank Thai beer but there is also an extensive wine list.
Although it was a Thursday evening the restaurant was reasonably busy, everyone seemed to be enjoying their food to a background of traditional Asian music which left me wanting to book another holiday to Thailand as soon as possible!
In the meantime Castle Thai will certainly provide me with a taste of Asia.
For bookings telephone Castle Thai on 01743 353117.
