Samyukta Nair has turned her hand to Thai food
Just under two years after opening the doors to modern izakaya KOYN, Samyukta Nair (who also spearheads Mimi Mei Fair, Jamavar, Bombay Bustle and Socca) has opened a Thai restaurant. KOYN Thai is an entirely new concept but not a new space – it’s taken over the darker, moodier downstairs space at KOYN’s Grosvenor Street location, so now the restaurant is Japanese up top and Thai down below. Exec Chef Rhys Cattermoul is still heading up the kitchen but Nair has brought in Bangkok-born chef Rose Chalalai Singh (known for her eponymous restaurant Rose Kitchen in Paris) to create the menu.
Eat This
The relatively concise menu – compared to the Japanese one at KOYN at least – covers a lot of bases. Flavours from different regions of Thailand are showcased and there are classics like green papaya salad, chicken satay, tom yum prawn soup, pad Thai and kra paow gai alongside some more inventive plates like wild garlic, green chilli and Thai basil escargots and jumbo tiger prawn choo-chee with panang curry sauce (we didn’t order this ourselves but saw one arrive on the next table and it was the size of a lobster).
The Chiang Mai platter, with a chilli and lemongrass-heavy homemade pork sausage, crispy pork skin, sticky rice and a punchy nam prik relish, is a must, particularly if you’re partial to a bit of spice. The lamb massaman is another of the restaurant’s signatures and it’s not hard to see why. The meat from the whole lamb shank is tender and makes the dish feel even richer and more indulgent, and the sauce is so moreish that you’ll struggle to keep your spoon out of it, so make sure you’ve got plenty of sticky rice on the go. Listed right at the bottom of the stir fry section, the black pepper beef is a dish that could be easily overlooked but you shouldn’t – soft beef, sweet basil and a serious whack of pepper, it was one of our dishes of the meal.
For us, there’s only one choice when it comes to Thai desserts and that’s mango sticky rice. This one has all the right component parts, presented in a more luxe way, with mango panna cotta and coconut sorbet bookending the rice.
Drink This
Thai-inspired cocktails, like the Sabai Sabai (made with Mekong, Thai basil and soda), the Dragon Fizz (with blueberry gin, Thai peppercorn, dragon fruit cordial and cherry) and the Thai Iced Tea (with Thai premium tea, passion fruit, agave and citrus) have been added to the KOYN Bar menu, so we’d say go for one of those. Otherwise, a glass of fizz goes down well with the crispy pork skin and spicy sausage from the Chiang Mai platter.
Why Go
The food here is elevated but the dishes haven’t been fiddled with at the expense of flavour, so you still get a true taste of Thailand, just in a high-end setting. The hospitality, as you get at all of Samyukta’s restaurants, is on point, and there’s a lot of live-fire cooking, so if you want a bit of drama with your dinner, sit at the counter and wait for a roar of flame to be unleashed from one of the woks.
Key Information
Address | 38 Grosvenor Street, London W1K 4QA
For more information | koynrestaurants.com