We loved our visit to the authentic and traditional Thai Cuisine abode - Nipa Thai Restaurant situated on the first floor of Royal Lancaster London. Read on further to learn all about it.
Have I ever told you that Thai Food is our first love after Indian Food?? When we visited Switzerland in 2005, we were famished with hunger and landed into a Thai Restaurant in Interlaken. Without much expectation, we asked the waitress to help us out with Vegetarian food. She suggested us to order some Thai Green Curry, Rice and some Pad Thai Noodles.
When our dinner actually arrived, we just loved the aroma. We immediately found comfort in the meal ... Coconut flavors in the curry were the love link... Since then we would frequent Thai Restaurants often..
12 years later, our love for Thai Food is still going strong and we visited the Nipa Thai Restaurant at the Royal Lancaster London.
The award winning Nipa Thai Restaurant is situated on the first floor of the Royal Lancaster London, overlooking London’s most famous royal park - Hyde Park. It is also rated as one of London's best Thai Restaurant. This 55 seater restaurant features a teak paneled interiors with traditional soft Thai furnishings and ornate decorations. The authentic décor compliments the food which is served by the Thai staff dressed in their traditional outfits, making our experience a little more authentic.
As one of the most iconic hotels in the Capital, Royal Lancaster London has an illustrious history; from Michael Caine being filmed for ‘The Italian Job, to events attended by Mohammed Ali, Princess Diana, and countless other royals. The hotel also famously hosted the after-party for The Beatles’ Yellow Submarine film premiere, which The Beatles’ attended in the Yellow Submarine Nightclub.
Royal Lancaster London is one of the largest banqueting venues in Europe with a capacity of 3,000 guests across its 16 refurbished meetings and events spaces. These include the renowned Nine Kings and Westbourne Suites holding 2,400 guests collectively for a seated dinner.
The Nipa Thai restaurant also features an English sign board and in Thai carved in the teak wood right at the entrance. With an all women kitchen brigade led by Chef Sanguan Parr, this restaurant delivers an authentic dish every time, carefully prepared individually for each order.
The restaurant has an extensive ala carte menu, but we were pretty clear that a Vegetarian Set Menu sans Wine was what we wanted to try. Let me tell you, the standard and quality of food is just mind blowing and one must literally walk in with empty stomach. I am not exaggerating at all... Please allow at-least 2 hours to enjoy the dinner over the full course of Set Menu.
We started with a Glass of Orange Juice and Pineapple Malibu between the 2 of us. As we were enjoying our time talking about the beautiful ornate and decor, our first course of the vegetarian set menu arrived.
The platter had portions of Sweet corn Fritters, Fried Beancurd, Spring Rolls and Papaya Salad along with sweet chili sauce and chili oil. After every bite of the sharing platter, we went Mm.. and Mmm and Mmmm... Papaya salad was amazingly fresh with the right balance of texture, crunch, seasoning, and heat. A few drizzles of Chilli oil and Sweet Chilli Sauce on the Fried Bean Curd uplifted the flavors too... Sweet Corn fritters were slightly sweet, crunchy and perfect for mouthful bites.
Right after the starters, arrived portions of clear Soup with dried mushroom, carrot and spring onions.. Very mild and refreshing again... But maybe I would have preferred it along with the starters... The team at Nipa Thai customised one portion of the soup for me, sans the mushroom and topped it abundant vegetables. I really appreciate that extra effort they put in to make my soup special.
By then I literally very little appetite for the main course.. A few minutes arrived the Thai Green curry with Bean Curd & Vegetables, Stir-fried asparagus with fried bean curd, Pad Thai Noodles, and Steamed Rice.
There was so much harmony in the flavors and we found the perfect Thai Green Curry our taste buds has been looking for. I really cannot put into words to describe the Pad Thai Noodles as they were marvelous along with crunch from coarse peanut powder.
At the end of the main course, we actually decided to give the authentic Thai Dessert - Icecream Kati served in coconut shell and Tea a miss. We were literally overloaded with the generous 3 courses in the Menu that I actually felt the Set meal could be shared among 3 people.
Price £35.00 per person excluding wine for 2 person minimum.
I have recently visited Golden Dragon Restaurant in Colindale & Hunter486 . Read all about my fabulous experience !
Disclosure: We were guests of Nipa Thai Restaurant. All opinions expressed here are of my own.
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