Thai House

Not all restaurants are out there to impress. Some only there to do the minimum with their sole purpose to provide people good enough food for them to come back.
Thai House is one of those restaurants. A no fuss small budget Thai café on Strutton Ground near Victoria, feeding mainly the hungry lunch people working in the area. It’s also one of the restaurants that has the old tacking fading food pictures stuck on the outside demonstrating what each dish is. Décor inside is very basic, painted pink, simple canteen tables with paintwork somewhat left unfinished. You can still see the old original white walls on the top of the storage room under the streaks of pink where the paint must have ran out.
So I was here meeting my partner here for lunch and to accommodate those after something quick they have a buffet counter where you can choose a main and a side of rice for no more than £5.95. Soup noodles and more complex mains on the a la carte menu goes up to £6.70. Pretty decent for the amount given.
Penang beef curry
Off the buffet counter we ordered the Penang beef curry with plain rice. It was pretty good with the generous amount of beef, being quite tender and fragrant from stewing in the curry. With it was a lovely mix of crunchiness from the bamboo shoots, peppers and carrots although amount of each can vary as its scooped up quickly from a big heated container. I think I got one slice of carrot. It was lovely on rice that soaked up all the lovely thick sauce. It was obviously not authentic, lacking some heat, a lot sweeter than usual and served with long grain rice but for £5.95 for the portion given, I’m not complaining.
Tom Yum Noodle Soup
I was quite shocked at how good this was. Bypassing the fact the noodles were rehydrated ones the broth was rich, with complexity and depth with help from the shredded chicken, greens and bamboo shoots. The flavours were balanced in sourness, citrus, saltiness and with a good punch to it too. On a cold winter’s day it was the perfect dish to warm me up and very filling too.
I can understand why my boyfriend keeps coming back here. Service is friendly, cheap prices, good food and decent portions too. Just don’t judge it by its cover!