AngloThai, as the name suggests, has neatly entwined Thai and British roots. There are proudly British ingredients – Hebridean hogget, Cornish monkfish and crown prince pumpkin. And they’re cooked with Thai expertise in a kitchen led by John Chantarasak, who was brought up in Wales and trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Bangkok, where his father was born, and who, alongside his wife, sommelier and co-owner Desiree, has been beloved by the London food scene for several years now. Many new restaurants are said to be “much anticipated”, but in AngloThai’s case it has been anticipated for so many years now that many had given up hope of it ever becoming a reality.
But you realise almost the moment you walk through the door where all that time went, because creating something as beautiful as this takes money and a great deal of planning. You need an interior created by Thai-American designer May Redding, complete with strategically placed Lampang Province ceramics to help attract a clientele who’ll be happy to stump up the £30 supplement to add Brixham crab, caviar and coconut crackers to their tasting menu. This isn’t Soho or Shoreditch; this is a smart restaurant close to Edgware Road where Anglo and Thai influences collide with the requisite levels of pomp and fire.
