A nice impromptu weekend treat was going for lunch with my neighbours! It is really great when you get to know your neighbours and they become close friends. It’s nice when you get to spend proper time with them. Staying local is a bonus; it takes no time at all to get to the restaurant and no time to return home after the meal!

Yellow tablecloths covered the dining tables at Nid Ting. This is contrasted by the blue theme going through the restaurant. There is a slightly raised level where there is a decorated bar like area.

A basket of crispy prawn crackers were given while we were deciding on our order. To start with, the Kang Chud Pak clear vegetable soup was chosen. This was a really light but flavoursome soup. The soup had slices of carrots, baby corn and mushroom in it. It was a small portion but that was okay as it meant that we would have room for the main meal.

The Tempura Pak was the other starter dish that we had to share. Broccoli, mushrooms, onions and peppers were deep fried in a light batter. It was nice enough but I always find that there is nothing too exciting about tempura.

After asking the staff which of the curries would be mild, the Green Vegetable Curry was chosen. This was a surprisingly spicy dish and I was disappointed as I had specified for a mild curry. It was hard to distinguish the flavours due to the spiciness of the curry. The vegetables that made up the curry were aubergine, carrots, bamboo shoots, mange tout and baby corn. It was a shame that the curry was too spicy, as it was a meal that I was looking forward to.  Plain steamed rice was had with the curry and this seemed to mellow it out slightly.

The Red Vegetable Curry was identical to the green one, except that it was even spicier. My friends were saying that even though they liked spicy food, this one definitely had some heat to it!

A better choice was the Tao Hu Ob Woon Sen. This dish was served in a clay pot and it was made of thin noodles, beancurd and coriander. It had a great taste to it and it is one dish that I would have again.

The staff were friendly but I wouldn’t say that they were too knowledgeable about the dishes. When we asked about how the soup was made, they said that they did not know. I guess it was better that they were honest rather than tell us something that wasn’t true.

A teapot of boiling water was served to me when I ordered the Jasmine Tea. I had to have a double take as I thought that surely I wouldn’t be just served water. The staff apologised when I told them about the error and they replaced it with the correct tea. All the plates, bowls and tea sets were matching with a blue and white design.

Nid Ting was an average Thai restaurant. Some of the food was enjoyable and maybe if we had tried some other different dishes, then we would have been more impressed. It is nice that at least we tried out a local place but the highlight was more the company than the food.

Nid Ting, 533 Holloway Road, Holloway, London, N19 4BT

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It is always nice to have family come visit. An added bonus is that it gives us a chance to explore and try new places to eat. This time, it was my cousin who had come over from LA! I was after a place near Oxford Circus as we needed to be close to the theatre, to get there in time for an evening show.

On recommendation from my brother, Patara was our restaurant for this evening. I always trust my brother’s restaurant recommendations and have never been disappointed by any of them to this day. They are always outstanding restaurants and so I was excited to try Patara!

The entrance to Patara was lit with orange and yellow panels. There was a sofa area opposite the bar. We were seated here while our table was being prepared.

Around the corner, it opened up into a big, light and airy dining area. The walls were decorated with ceramic artefacts. It all felt really clean and organised. There was attention to detail in everything. A nice touch were the little green topiary plants on each table. The staff were extremely friendly and polite and they made us feel really welcome.

While we were deciding on what to order, we were given some prawn crackers to munch on. They came in a little gold basket. The crackers were crispy and they had a slight spicy heat to them.

Now some may say this is a bit of an odd craving to have, but both my cousin and I were in the need of some aubergine, or as my cousin called it, “eggplant”! There were two dishes that we spotted on the menu, but both said that they were seasonal. It was our lucky day as the Thai aubergine was in season!

The Gang Ped Nua was right up our street. It was a red coconut curry with Thai eggplant and sweet basil. We chose to have it with chicken. This dish was perfect in every way. It was rich, creamy and had plenty of chicken and eggplant in it. The chicken was really tender and soft and together with the eggplant, they just melted in your mouth.

The red curry was presented in a gold dish and it had the tealight in the base, to keep the dish warm. To complement the rich curry, we had the steamed fragrant rice.  Both the rice and curry were of a good portion size, so much so that we were able to share the one main dish of Gang Ped Nua!

The side dish again had to be one that would satisfy our craving! The Pad Makua Yao was Thai long aubergines cooked in yellow bean sauce with sweet basil. The aubergine was soft and chunky and had not been overcooked. It had a great flavour to it with the sauce. All the dishes were presented well and the food was of a high standard.

There is no doubt that Patara does good quality fine Thai cuisine at its best!

Patara, 7 Maddox Street, London, W1S 2QB

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Spice and Rice is about a ten minute walk from Chalk Farm tube station, but don’t let that put you off! This restaurant is nicely decorated, clean and has friendly staff. There are a couple of cosy seats by the entrance as well as the regular dining area.

Both the starters of spring rolls and corn cakes came as a portion of two, with some salad, a few prawn crackers and a dipping sauce. The spring rolls were served piping hot and were generously filled with vegetables and noodles. They were real tasty and went well with the sweet chilli dip.

The corn cakes were slightly dry but still tasted good. These came with sweet chilli sauce and ground peanuts.

On the menu at Spice and Rice, the Keaw Wan Curry was described as a creamy green curry with eggplant. This green curry did have lots of vegetables which was great! The more vegetables, the better in my opinion! There were plenty of carrots, bamboo shoots, green beans, red and yellow peppers and broccoli but unfortunately there was no eggplant. It also had good sized chucks of tofu as I had the vegetarian option.

The Keaw Wan curry was lovely and creamy due to the coconut milk. It was slightly spicier than I thought it would be, as I had asked for it to be made mild. But it was still delicious!

The Kang Ped red curry that my friend had was exactly the same as the green curry in terms of the vegetables, portion size and presentation. But as expected, the red curry was spicier as it was made with red curry paste. Both curries came in a separate bowl with a dome of rice on the side!

There was room for some dessert and some fruit was in order! We chose the banana in coconut cream. After we ordered this, our waitress went out of the restaurant. I jokingly said to my friend, “Do you think the waitress has gone out to buy the bananas for our dessert”. This actually turned out to be true; the waitress came back with the bananas! It was good to know that the fruit was fresh.

There were big pieces of banana in warm coconut cream. It went perfectly together and made a change to ice cream. Looking at the menu later, it stated that this dessert could have been served with ice cream but the waitress did not give us this option. The whole dish could have been even nicer with the ice cream, with the contrast of the hot and cold!

All in all, Spice and Rice is a great Thai restaurant. The staff are lovely and do give service with a smile. One thing to note is that if you try to make a reservation, then it is best to call them in the evening as the restaurant is closed during the day. I had tried several times to call in the daytime but couldn’t get through. I’m glad that we were able to get a table that evening without a reservation.

Spice and Rice was quiet when we first arrived but that was due to it being early evening. The place did get a lot busier as the evening went on! Again, we were the last diners to leave, even though we had been the first to arrive. The staff did not rush us at any point and a nice touch was when we were given mint chocolates at the end of our evening!

Spice and Rice, 20 Malden Road, Chalk Farm, London, NW5 3HN

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