Baan Thai

When Eatzone shut down a few months ago after being attacked by a masked gang, I was really devastated. Eatzone was a great place to have at the bottom of my road and it’s closure was so dramatic I worried it’d be the last I heard of it operating as a restaurant at all.
When it re-​opened as Baan Thai I was relieved. When I saw Som Tum Pu and Khanom Jeen Mun Ya on the menu I was really, really happy. My husband got a takeaway menu (although when he tried to open the door at 4.30 the staff were asleep inside and not very pleased about being woken, which was a little weird as they advertise their opening hours as 12pm til 10pm Mon-​Sun) and we had a proper look. There are all the usual noodle and curry dishes, but some more exciting ones too, including a huge list of yum, or salads and 3 Thai noodle soups. There’s also Gai Pu Kao Fire, also known as volcano chicken, which I’ve never seen on a menu in England before, a whole roasted and fried chicken! Which is usually flambéed in some form of alcohol before serving.
Tonight though, we went for a takeaway of Som Tum Pu, Sai Oua, Panang Curry and Sticky Rice. They threw in a huge bag of some Thai prawn crackers. The Som Tum Pu was delicious, they actually listened when we asked for very spicy and it was blisteringly hot, as it should be! The salted crabs were too funky and bitter to eat, which is a shame because I like the salted crab usually. But they still added their flavour to the som tum. The Sai Oua was easily as good as 101 Thai Kitchen’s version, nicely spiced and not too dry, the pieces of cucumber that came with it were crisp and refreshing but the salad it was on was unnecessary. The Panang Curry was okay for what we wanted it for, as a creamy counterpart to the searing heat of the rest of the meal, but the meat was pretty dry. The sticky rice was a nice consistency, perfect for mopping up the Som Tum juice.
It’s probably a solid 3 star restaurant for the food so far, but the location is so good for me and the menu is awesome so it’s got to be a 4! Salted crab som tum in NW5 is something to celebrate. I can’t wait to go back and try the Khanom Jeen and Gai Pu Kao!