David Ellis reviews AngloThai: How to make a stellar Thai? Slow cook for six years

 (Ben Broomfield @photobenphoto)
(Ben Broomfield @photobenphoto)

Review at a glance: ★★★★☆

Punctuality is a trait I deplore in others. How dare you turn up on time when the rest of us are running late? Tardiness is a virtue. Even so, John and Desiree Chantarasak have been pushing it. The couple, him the chef and her the wine head honcho, were meant to open this place in 2021. Even that felt a long time coming: as a travelling roadshow, AngloThai has appeared just about everywhere since 2018. Could it really now commit to one place and settle down for good? I had visions of arriving to a door marked gone fishin’, or spotting it on Hinge.

But here it is, famous before its first service. AngloThai is somewhere that British and Thai heritage coalesce, just as they do in John himself. Mostly this means Thai cuisine conjured with British ingredients. Thai techniques dominate. The approach is not so different from that deployed by Mexican wunderkind (niño prodigio?) Santiago Lastra at Kol. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — the Chantarasaks and Lastra share a backer, restaurant group MJMK.

John and Desiree Chantarasak were meant to open this place in 2021 (Ben Broomfield)
John and Desiree Chantarasak were meant to open this place in 2021 (Ben Broomfield)

MJMK’s wallet, monogrammed presumably, has visibly been opened. Past AngloThai’s Purple Rain frontage, the room is a billionaire’s beach shack, with white wood cladding and an endless collection of crockery. Lights are low, the stereo not so: early Eighties Madonna and plenty of Prince. Tables here are busy with types interrupting each other, though a few sit empty for walk-ins. Diners choose between à la carte and the chef’s selection (£75), and eating from either will cost much the same. Wine, mostly charged at around twice what would be paid in a vintner, goes up quickly from about £40. MJMK has opened its wallet and now you will need to open yours.

This is elegant food, understated but marked by a sense of absolute confidence in the kitchen

Happily, it is worth opening for. This is thoughtful, elegant food, understated but marked by a sense of absolute confidence in the kitchen. Talent is not in short supply. Thai — as fans of Singburi, Kolae or Kiln can attest — comes in many forms (see also: half of Shepherd’s Bush; Earl’s Court). This is not the Thai of Speedboat, delicious only until the heat peels off the roof of your mouth. This feels closer to somewhere like the ever-underrated Farang, only with its hair combed, wearing its Sunday best.

AngloThai Cornish Monkfish, Woodland Curry & Wild Mushrooms
AngloThai Cornish Monkfish, Woodland Curry & Wild Mushrooms

What does this taste like? Like a crab bisque not just rich but tart (and who doesn’t like a rich tart?), where besides the gentle crab taste is a fragrant, orange note, which intrigues as much as it pleases. Or like the cuttlefish buns, two on a plate crowned with a cluster of seeds and spices, a hairstack haircut topping a cumin bomb. What else? John’s signature, a coconut ash cracker shaped much like the Michelin flower (I wonder what he’s after?), topped with crab and a coal pile of caviar, was not ordered (£35, crikey) but arrived as a gift. It was expertly crisp, but powerful crab made a mockery of the timid caviar. Breads were offered as a course, something I never understand, though the shellfish number with potent shrimp butter was gorgeous — just ask for it to arrive at the start, with cocktails, not midway through proceedings. Later, trout, swimming under lilipads of tomatillo, was drowned by a green chilli sauce; far better was the clever, sunflower seed satay that pooled beside burly, square-shouldered slices of lion’s mane mushroom. Meat in all but name. Of which, Hebridean hogget raised on Desiree’s family’s farm was an expertly stewed and brawny base for an massaman curry, excellent if a little tame.

AngloThai Delica Pumpkin, Fig Leaf & Pumpkin Seed Ice Cream
AngloThai Delica Pumpkin, Fig Leaf & Pumpkin Seed Ice Cream

The best of it all came last, an aubergine sliced and then tossed on a plate with sweet basil and a tiger-orange, soy cured egg yolk. Its spice came and went like flickering flame. They do like heat, it turns out; I only wish I’d seen it before. The wine was handy here — ours the house, in a sense, being Austrian stuff made and named for the restaurant — as it neutralised the spice. Forget water, beer, milk — this is the stuff for a mouth on fire. One to syphon into a hip flask, in case of emergency. But the aubergine was a sign that, when bold, when John lets loose, AngloThai can astound. Perhaps it took a while to get there — but then, so did the restaurant. All together now: better late than never.

Meal for two about £230. 22-24 Seymour Pl, London W1H 7NL, anglothai.co.uk