Two easy Asian ways with pork

As is often the case the best things I've cooked recently have been a happy accident; one a meal involving creative use of leftovers and another a last minute change of heart.

What was left of a slow roasted leg of pork was going to be sliced thinly and flash fried with garlic and ginger, but the joint wasn't as fatty as I'd anticipated and so the remaining meat was overdone. Moisture was needed. 

The cooked pork was suffused with a fairly strong whack of fennel, so I thought the anise notes would work well with a sticky soy marinade. Something sort of Thai in style, which of course led me to thoughts of Thai Aroy Dee and the little chewy nuggets of caramel pork that make up one of the accompaniments on their shrimp paste fried rice.

Turns it out it couldn't be simpler to make your own caramel pork. This has that addictive blend of sugar, salt and meat that's impossible not to enjoy. Mixed up with a big pile of vegetable fried rice and a generous squirt of Sriracha it was about ten times better than the original roast pork dinner. 

Here's what I used and how to do it:

Caramel pork

Enough for 2 or 3 people, served with veggie fried rice and hot sauce

300g cooked pork, cut into small chunks (mine were a bit big, no more than 1cm cubed is the way to go)

1 fat clove garlic

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 dessertspoon palm sugar

2 dessertspoons white sugar

2-3 spring onions

Crush the garlic then put it in a bowl with the pork pieces and the soy sauce, then mix everything up well. Finely chop the green ends of the spring onions and set aside.

Heat some neutral oil in a wok until it's hot then throw in the pork, soy and garlic mix. Stir-fry for a minute or so then turn the heat down to medium and add the sugar. 

Keep stir-frying until the sugar dissolves to form a syrup (if it's too dry add a splash of water), then keep frying and stirring until your syrup starts to reduce and coats the pork. It's done when the sauce clings to the pork, almost like a sticky glaze. 

Turn out into a serving bowl and garnish with the spring onion tops. Serve immediately.

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The last minute change of heart was meatball-related. The plan was Italian style, like this, but I just wasn't feeling it. I wanted something soupy and spicy, a lighter feeling way of using more or less the same ingredients.

The result: fragrant pork balls with noodles in broth. At least eighty percent the same meal (especially since I didn't have any actual noodles in the house so had to use linguine, but the Italians just copied off the Chinese so it's all the same really right?) but somehow completely different.

The meatball pan stickings lent a lovely deep brown colour to the stock, which in turn kept the noodles (linguine) all lovely and slippery and full of bite. The balls themselves were gently spiced and didn't dry out as they'd finished cooking in the broth. 

Fragrant pork balls with noodles in broth

Serves two

200-250g pork mince

small thumb of ginger

1 large clove garlic

1 heaped teaspoon sugar 

zest of half a lime (or a lemon if that's all you've got)

a good splash of fish sauce

a good squeeze of Sriracha (or other chilli sauce)

a tablespoon of finely chopped herbs (I used mint and basil, but coriander and Thai basil would probably have been better in place of regular basil)

Two blocks/strips of noodles (your choice, or use pasta if you're really desperate) 

400ml light chicken stock

more herbs and/or spring onions to garnish

Mix all of the meatball ingredients together in a bowl (that's everything except for the noodles, stock and extra herbs in case you were wondering), then put the mix in the fridge for at least half an hour to firm up.

Remove the mix from the fridge and form into little meatballs, aim to make around twelve in total. Heat a little oil in a deep pan (deep enough to hold the stock) over a moderate heat, then add the meatballs. Leave them to colour a bit before turning. While the meatballs are cooking prepare your noodles (or pasta) as per the packet instructions.

Cook the balls for a few minutes on each side then pour in the stock, it should immediately turn a darker colour from the gooeyness at the bottom of the pot. Cook for a few minutes more to finish cooking the balls and heat the stock to a simmer then throw in the noodles. 

Stir to heat through the noodles then serve immediately with extra herbs as a garnish and any other condiments you fancy. Note: it's much easier to eat this with chopsticks and a spoon rather than a fork and a spoon!

Host, Liverpool

Pan-Asian, a restaurant genre to strike fear into the heart of the purist. I'm not really one of those, but I understand their criticisms. Asia is a big place. The two most populous nations on earth have cuisines more varied than some continents, and that's just within their own respective borders. And it's not as if the vast span of Asia outside China and India eats food that's lacking in distinction either.

So can a Pan-Asian restaurant like Host really do justice to such myriad variety, or is it destined to disappoint? The classic jack of all trades but master of none.

A duck and watermelon salad with cashew nuts and thai basil was pleasing to eat on account of its textural contrasts. Fibrous meat, yielding, juice heavy melon and the snap and crunch of nuts and beansprouts. Taste wise it wasn't so much fun. Sweet fruit, sweet-ish meat and a sweet dressing left it one dimensional, needing something acidic for balance, or at least for the advertised basil to be detectable.

I couldn't resist ordering the seared beef pho to follow, partly because I fancied something soupy, and partly because at twelve quid it was by some margin the most expensive pho I've ever seen.

What does the mark up on your average Vietnamese restaurant prices get you? A very fine looking dish with a well stocked platter of garnishes, which although plentiful sadly didn't include any of the more unusual herbs, just regular coriander, mint and basil. The meat was the high point of the dish, a good slab of well seared, blush pink sirloin that wouldn't have been out of place with a bowl of frites. Springy noodles were also a hit.

So far so good, just the broth to taste, and oh... it just tastes of salt. Not offensively so, there's just not much else to it. None of the meaty depths of a good stock, no aromatic star anise back note. Ultimately what you're paying for is the European-isation of the dish, everything else acting as the supporting cast to the big slab of protein in the centre of the plate. Not unpleasant, just not really the point of pho as far as I'm concerned. It should be all about the broth.

Sadly it didn't really add up for me at Host. I hoped that the food would defy expectations, but it just served to confirm my suspicions that pan-Asian restaurants are never the place to go for genuinely good Asian food.  At £24 for two courses, one beer and service it's also not cheap.

Service, I should point out, was excellent. Everyone I spoke to was attentive, polite, and keen to check that everything was ok. Fine, I said, of course. Which it was. You can't really take up your issues with the entire concept with the waiting staff.


5/10

31 Hope Street
Liverpool
L1 9HX

http://www.ho-st.co.uk/

May's Recipes, Leeds Kirkgate Market

I'd love to bring you a festive post about all the wonderful things I'll be preparing to feast on this Christmas, but unlike last year I won't be preparing a thing. Not even another pork pie.

Instead, I'm going to write about a Thai and Chinese food stall that's recently opened on Leeds market. Not exactly Christmassy, but it's good and they deserve a mention before time flies by and I forget.

You'll find May's Recipes right at the bottom corner of the (almost certainly) doomed part of the market, just inside the door opposite the multi-storey car park entrance.

I ordered a pad ka-prao; chicken stir-fried with holy basil and chillies. What arrived was a far better rendition than many restaurants serve, firstly as it actually contained plenty of basil for that all important hit of warm aniseed flavour, and secondly as it was absolutely enormous.

I'm not sure including about fifteen different vegetables in the mix is traditional, but it made for a very nutritious lunch, my 5-a-day must have been sorted in one hit. And finally what of the jar in the background of the photo? Prik nam pla, the classic Thai condiment of chillies in fish sauce, there is no better seasoning for rice, so mine received a liberal dose.

£5 for the stir-fry with rice. Another market opening serving good food at a great price, run by friendly people. Give it a try.

Merry Christmas everyone.

7/10

1976 Hall
Leeds Kirkgate Market
Leeds
LS2 7HY

All Siam, Ecclesall Road, Sheffield

All Siam is one of the more upmarket breed of Thai restaurants, the kind with expensive looking decor and good service. There are orchids and statues of buddha, the menu is solid and cloth-bound and the waitresses are beautifully dressed and attentive.

In keeping with the surrounds the food is good but errs on the side of caution. A couple of freebie appetisers were a nice touch, little sweet potato stuffed samosa-like things with sweet chilli sauce.

There wasn't really much point to our starter, crispy baskets holding a mix of chicken and vegetables with no evidence of spicing or herbs, and no accompanying sauce. The salads and soups are probably far more interesting, but a tricky option when there's a seafood allergy to worry about and you're trying to stick to a budget.

Mains were much better, a lamb massaman curry brought generous quantities of beautifully cooked, tender meat and a penang chicken curry was fragrant with good depth of flavour. I enjoyed them both but the spicing was a bit off-kilter, overly sweet at the expense of the more assertive Thai tastes.

Service was lovely as expected, and tap water was readily topped up throughout. Our bill came to just short of £38 for one starter, two mains and rice, and an alcoholic drink apiece. Not cheap but a good option for a date or special occasion. Go elsewhere for Thai face-sweats.

7/10

639 Ecclesall Road
Sheffield
S11 8PT

Thai Aroy Dee, Leeds (revisited)

Since I first discovered Thai Aroy Dee last November I must have eaten there seven or eight times. It's never been anything less than brilliant, and a recent visit was possibly the best yet. The salads, stir fries and one plate meals are so good I've yet to even try one of their curries.

Some of the better dishes were previously only listed on the Thai language menu, but happily the whole lot has now been translated. Order anything from the sections of the menu titled 'Special' anything and you'll not go far wrong.

Here's a photo post of some of the fantastic dishes I've eaten there in recent months. My original reviews can be found here and here.

Pad Prik Kraduk Moo - Pork ribs stir fried in red curry paste with Thai basil, lime leaves, chillies and fresh green peppercorns. This isn't on the menu but call and order it in advance and they'll prepare it for you. Thanks to Jools for this one!

Seafood Yum Wun Sen - glass noodle salad with mixed seafood, lemon juice, chillies, shallots, coriander.

Som Tam and Gai Yang - pounded papaya salad with grilled chicken. Beware this is spicy!

Yen Ta Fo - seafood stock soup with fish balls, noodles and tofu. Strange but delicious.

Khao Kluk Ga Pi - Shrimp paste fried rice with all the trimmings (which include caramelised pork, mango, peanuts, shallots, chilli, chopped bean and crispy shrimp). This is vying with Pad Prik Kraduk Moo for my overall favourite.

Gung Chae Nam Pla - raw prawn salad. Basically just prawns doused in fish sauce and lime juice, then covered in chillies and garlic. Surprisingly delicious. Seems to have disappeared from the recent menu though...

Kai Dao - crispy fried eggs. Not on the menu. Ask for them, then mash them up in plain steamed rice. Bloody brilliant. Crispy, yolky loveliness.

Tod Gratiem Prit Thai - Garlic and pepper stir-fried chicken

This is consistently a 9/10 place. Please go.

www.thaiaroydeeleeds.com

Kebab week: Chicken satay

This week on Northern Food I shall be celebrating one of humankind's greatest inventions. Not the wheel or the steam engine; not the internet, sliced bread or the Dyson vaccum cleaner; not even the flushing lavatory.

The pinnacle of civilisation is this: the kebab.

Two points of order: firstly I'm using a fairly loose definition of the word 'kebab' as propounded by the internet Oracle. Secondly there will absolutely, categorically not be any processed doner meat involved.

I'm kicking things off with a South-east Asian classic, a kebab usually eaten as a snack or more often, in Europe, as a starter. An appropriate starting point for kebab week.

Chicken satay, little nuggety bits of charred yet juicy chicken in a salty sweet marinade, dipped in a spicy peanut sauce. These are very delicious, and exceedingly more-ish.

I use chicken thigh meat which won't dry out so much as breast and is tastier anyway. I think chicken livers and hearts would also be good if you can get your hands on them. The recipe is probably inauthentic, but it's easy and tastes great so who cares.

This makes enough for about 6 skewers.

For the chicken

3 tbsp dark soy
1/2 tbsp jaggery (palm sugar)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tbsp oil
salt
2 cloves garlic
1 small lump ginger (2-3cm)
1 tsp turmeric
2 chicken thighs (about 100 g each)

for the peanut sauce

1 1/2 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
1 1/2 tbsp shop bought tamarind sauce
1 tsp garlic ginger mush
1 tsp tsp chilli powder
water to loosen

1. Mash the garlic and ginger to a paste, set aside 1 tsp worth of it then mix the rest up in a bowl with all of the other marinade ingredients except for the chicken.

2. Using scissors, cut the chicken into small pieces about 2 cm across and throw into the marinade.

3. Mix up well and leave to marinade for at least 2 hours, ideally 12.

4. Mix up all of the peanut sauce ingredients in a bowl including the leftover garlic/ginger, then add water and keep mixing until you get a sauce. It should be runny enough to coat the back of a spoon with the excess running off, not sitting there in a big splodge.

5. When you're almost ready to eat thread the chicken onto kebab skewers and grill on the highest setting as close as possible to the heat (or better still, barbecue) until done. They should only take a couple of minutes.

6. Serve immediately with the peanut sauce and cold beer.

Coming soon - stay tuned for falafel. 

Bangkok Café, Hyde Park, Leeds (takeaway review)

We're doing rather well for Thai food in Leeds right now. There's Thai Aroy Dee, Saengarun Thai and now Bangkok Café.

Located on the main drag at Hyde Park Corner, Bangkok Café is by far the smallest of these three, a takeaway really with just three little tables in the front for dining in. I picked up some food from there there the other night and was pretty impressed.

The menu covers all the usual curries and stir-fries, with some interesting and less common variants particular on the curry front, but I was drawn to the section headed 'Bangkok popular dishes' which is where you'll find the salads and a range of one bowl rice and noodle meals.

To see how they measured up (and because I bloody love them) against the competition I chose two of my favourites from Thai Aroy Dee, som tam with grilled chicken (B11 - Som Tum Gai Yang on the menu here) and the shrimp paste fried rice (B8 - Kao Pad Num Prim Kapi).

Expectations were high as I watched the staff prepare the meal, it's a one room operation so everything is made in front of you. The wok burner was properly cranked up for the fried rice, there's a flame grill for charring the chicken and a gigantic pestle and mortar appeared and the salad was pounded from scratch.

The tasting lived up to it. The grilled chicken was faultless. Two fat wings, succulent flesh, crisp salty sweet skin. The som tam started off gently but soon revealed a fierce building heat. Fiery and crunchy and delicious. If I had a criticism it seemed a little bit underpounded (not sure that's a word but it describes exactly what I mean so I'm sticking with it), the dressing not quite melded properly with the papaya and other bits and bobs.

The fried rice tasted a whole lot better than it looks. Takeaway never looks pretty when you get it home, and a dish of several components all squashed in together isn't going to win any prizes for presentation. Ignore that and focus on the flavour and textures. Chewy (a bit too chewy, but that's a minor gripe) sweet pork, soft omelette and perfectly fried rice shot through with shallots, chillies and pungent fishiness from the prawn paste.

These two dishes cost £5.95 each, good value, and presumably eating in would cost the same. The staff were friendly and service efficient. I'll be back. Recommended.

8/10

12 Hyde Park Corner
Leeds
LS6 1AF


http://www.bangkokcafeleeds.co.uk/

East One, Sheffield

East One is a noodle bar, very much in the Wagamama style. One bowl dishes, seating at long wooden benches and so on. The menu leans more towards Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai rather than Japanese, but the styling is similar. I like these places, and am always hopeful that independent ones will come up trumps with better food than the chains.

Sadly East One wasn't that great. Vegetarian spring rolls were crisp and greaseless, but otherwise boring. Probably straight from the freezer catering pack, but certainly no better than that if they were made in house.

My Thai fried rice (chicken, onion, tomato, stir-fried with chilli paste, basil and fish sauce) was underseasoned in every way. Not enough chilli, basil or fish sauce. I asked for fish sauce and chillies so I could pep it up a bit, only for the waiter to explain that fish sauce wasn't used as a condiment as it was too salty. News to me. He brought me a tiny dish of chillies in vinegar instead.

AS had roast pork and duck on rice with greens. I tried the duck;- good flavour but a bit chewy. The sauce was too gloopy.

The chap, who to be fair was friendly, came back for another chat when we'd finished, and decided to explain the situation vis a vis appropriate use of fish sauce in more detail. I wouldn't have minded had I not known he was talking bollocks. Thais eat fish sauce laced with sliced chillies all the time. It's a condiment called nam pla prik (annoyingly I couldn't remember the name at the time).

Anyhow the food was ok, and was served quickly. Service was friendly but irritating. We paid around £23 in total, reasonable but not particularly cheap for this sort of thing.

5/10


13 The Plaza
West One
8 Fitzwilliam Street
Sheffield
S1 4JB

www.east1noodlebar.co.uk

Saengarun Thai, Leeds

I enjoyed a takeaway from Saengarun back in June last year, and made a mental note to return and dine in. What with one thing and another it's taken me nine months to get round to it, but I'm glad I finally did.

A group of us had a great meal there last weekend for a friend's birthday, so much so that I'm officially declaring it to be the second best Thai restaurant in Leeds (number one is Thai Aroy Dee of course). Officially as voted by me that is, which isn't really that official but never mind. It's very good, that's all you need to know.

We didn't share everything between everyone, splitting into smaller groups to order. I went three ways on a bit of a feast starting with a couple of salads and some dumplings.

We stuck to the classics with the salads, a som tam and a laab gai. The som tam was just as I remembered it, fresh, fiery and crunchy, an excellent rendition.

The laab was also pretty much perfect;- tender chicken, generous quantities of herbs and an assertive but balanced dressing.

Steamed pork and prawn dumplings (kanom jeeb) were fine, with a succulent filling but slightly overcooked skins. Nice but not quite up to the standard of the salads.

The highlight of the mains was this vegetarian mussaman curry. CW, if you read this, congratulations on a fantastic choice. I never think to order vegetarian curries or stir-fries in Thai restaurants, but I really should. In most cases the curry is all about the range and balance of flavours in the sauce, the meat being little more than inconsequential lumps of protein, providing a bit of texture but not much more.

Other things can do this job better, in this case cashew nuts and soft slices of tofu providing a wonderful contrast in textures and also adding flavour to the rich sauce. Crunchy, splintering cashews, their nutty taste enhancing the coconut rich broth. Spongy tofu soaking it all up as the spice builds. Really lovely.

A jungle curry with beef was good too, hot but refreshing with it, the broth zingy and herbal. The beef was a little bland and chewy though, it almost left me wishing for more tofu (never thought I'd ever write that).

The final dish was a pad ka prao (chilli and basil stir-fry) with pork. It tasted very good, no skimping on the basil as is often the case, but was a little wet for my tastes.

With jasmine rice to mop up the sauces and loads of beer (three each? maybe four?) the bill topped out at £25 a head including tip. Service was friendly but they did mess up a couple of things on our order, though the problems were quickly rectified. It's not an upmarket looking place but it is up a notch or two from Thai Aroy Dee in the decor stakes.

Recommended. I'll be back.

8/10

159 Briggate
Leeds
LS1 6LY

http://www.thairestaurantinleeds.co.uk/

Viet-Thai-Cuisine, Stanningley, Leeds

I found pho in Leeds! Ever since returning to Yorkshire I've been moaning about the dearth of South-East and East Asian dining options in these parts. It's still proving a bit of a challenge. Thai Aroy Dee have come up with the goods for great Thai food but there's still no sign of Korean or Malaysian, and Vietnamese continued to prove elusive. Until last week that is.

Viet-Thai is a lovely little neighbourhood restaurant in Stanningley. When I paid a visit one lunchtime last week it was clear this is a popular place with the locals. There was a steady stream of customers, most of whom seemed to be on first name terms with Huong, who runs front of house with husband Minh in the kitchen.

I ordered beef pho, upgrading to a large portion because the normal size is listed alongside Tom Yum on the menu as a starter portion. What arrived was still in the small sized bowl  rather than the huge vats pho tends to be served in, but there was a more than generous amount of beef in the dish and I was brought an extra bowl of stock to top up from if I ran dry.

So what about the all important stock? Intensely savoury, quite salty, just a hint of anise and all round good depth of flavour. That, combined with nice, bouncy noodles made me very happy. The beef wasn't the thinly sliced flank or brisket usually used for pho, rather the same stuff they'll be using in the curries and stir-fries - cut into strips and tenderised using cornflour, like Chinese takeaway beef. It was tasty enough though and I ate every last morsel.

The platter of bits and bobs to throw in to the soup included beansprouts, hot chillies, lime, mint and coriander. All standard stuff but a more generous hand with the herbs would have been a bonus.

Service was lovely and the bill was £8.40 including a large pot of jasmine tea (£1.80). I've had better pho, but I doubt a little place like this would sell enough of it to make stocking the little extras worthwhile (pho specific beef, rarer herbs, enormous bowls), and it was still very satisfying. If I lived in Stanningley I'd be a regular. Good food, small, basic, clean, friendly and you can bring your own booze.

7/10

132/134 Bradford Road
Stanningley
Leeds
LS28 6UR

www.viet-thai-cuisine.co.uk

Larb / Laab / Lahb / Larp / Laap

Don't worry I haven't gone mad. The title of this post does make sense. Larb is a Laotian or Isarn (Northeastern Thai) meat salad that you'll probably have seen on Thai restaurant menus spelled in any of the various ways listed above. It's all down to the difficulties of transliterating Thai or Lao script into the Roman alphabet.

Linguistic challenges aside, laab is a wonderful dish that I've been meaning to try and make for some time. It's got all the best qualities of Thai food, the strong yet balanced tastes, the spice, the freshness, the herbal fragrance. And it's a salad made from meat. Just about any meat can be used by the way, though chicken is most common.

Rather bizarrely it was turkey that spurred me into action. Yes, turkey as in Christmas turkey. Morrison's was selling packs of diced turkey thigh at a ridiculously low price, so I bought some thinking there must be something good I could cook with it. More out of hope than expectation to be honest.

Then I thought about lahb. The turkey meat would work well chopped into very small pieces and cooked very briefly, no chance for it go tough or stringy. The flavour would also suit, meaty enough to standard up to the strong seasoning and still lend something to the dish.

I'm not going to recreate the recipe in full here, because the one I used can be found here on the She Simmers blog which I've found to be an excellent resource for Thai food info and recipes since I discovered it a while back. It was this blog's author who kindly translated the Thai Aroy Dee menu for me.

I deviated a little from the original recipe, using spring onions in place of shallots, the turkey in place of chicken and missing out the galangal powder. Apart from that and halving each ingredient for a smaller batch it was faithful.

I also had a go at making the toasted rice powder, but had to cheat and use basmati rice in place of Thai sticky rice. It was still worth it though, perfectly simple to do and the final dish had a subtle but distinctive nutty flavour in the background.

The resulting salad was a great success. The first taste gives the forward freshness and fragrance of the herbs which then gives way to salty, sour and spicy, all assertive but balanced. The savour of the meat and toasty rice flavour round things out nicely.

I served mine with rice as a main dish, but its probably more commonly served alone as a starter or a side dish, scooped up with lettuce leaves.

I'll make this again and will probably change just one thing. I should have chopped the meat a little bit finer, you don't want mince but some of my chunks were a little too hefty and went a bit chewy as the meat cooled.

Thai Aroy Dee, Leeds (revisited)

On Saturday I paid another visit to Thai Aroy Dee, this time with a couple of willing guinea pigs in tow (my parents) to give the Thai menu a good workout.

I'm happy to report that it's good, very good. We shared five different dishes, none of which disappointed. I'll be back again soon as there are whole host of pork and beef dishes that also merit further investigation (the folks don't eat red meat).

Here's what we ate. Some of the servings may look a little small or scruffily presented. That's because we'd already started eating them by the time the photos were taken, not because any of it was small or scruffily presented.

Shredded papaya salad (som tam) with grilled chicken was excellent. The salad crisp and fresh, yet searingly spicy and pungent with dried shrimp. The chicken was also spot on, tender with charred, smoky skin.

Chilli and basil stir-fry (pad ka prao) with seafood was probably the hottest thing on the table, though it was difficult to tell after the first few minutes. We were asked twice how spicy we wanted this, but I'm sure they still toned it down a little. No matter, as it was fantastic. Sweet, hot and fragrant with aniseed notes from the basil and the squid wasn't too chewy either.  Note to Sukhothai, stir-fries with basil and chilli in the title should use plenty of both. This is how it's done.

Minced chicken salad (laab gai) was served warm. Other versions I've had were cold, but warm or at the very least room temperature seems like a better idea. That little bit of heat really helps the flavours sing. I'm not sure exactly what the ingredients are, but I think it's fairly simple. Chicken, shallots, fish sauce, lime juice, a little chilli and absolutely loads of mint is pretty much it. The resulting salad is just amazingly vibrant and bright tasting. I really can't think of a better pick me up on a dark December night.

Herbal shrimp salad brought fat juicy prawns dressed primarily in lemongrass, chilli and coriander. Very simple but delicious nonetheless.

And finally, something a little more mellow to cool the spice. Thai style Hainanese chicken rice. This is a dish of poached chicken served with rice, chicken stock, sliced cucumber and various condiments. I've had the Chinese version before but never the Thai. Assuming it would be more or less the same I ordered it to provide contrast with all the spicy salads. Everything was as expected; soft, mild poached chicken and rice and an absolute belter of a chicken stock (not pictured) served scattered with spring onions and chillies (there's the Thai influence) in a little bowl on the side. There were two condiments, one a chilli sauce and one peanut.

A lovely meal, this is far and away the best Thai food I've eaten in Leeds. My only slight criticism is that I'm sure they still toned the spice down a little. It was hot, the endorphins were certainly flowing (I had a proper spice 'high') but not quite at the level I know the Thais tend to eat themselves. Other than that it was wonderful and I'm planning to return regularly.

The staff were also lovely. They seemed astounded at our request for the Thai menu but were more than happy to offer assistance. They may as well get used to it as I've e-mailed the translation to four people already. The prices are reasonable, we paid £45 in total for all of the food described, extra rice, jasmine tea all round and service.


9/10

Thai Aroy Dee
112 Vicar Lane
Leeds
LS2 7NL

http://www.thaiaroydeeleeds.com/

Thai Aroy Dee, Leeds

I'm not sure yet, but I think I might have chanced upon the best Thai food in Leeds. Thai Aroy Dee is up the top end of Vicar Lane, in the midst of Leeds' closest thing to a Chinatown.

It was the large poster in the window that grabbed my attention as I walked past a week or so ago. Dense with Thai script and no sign of the Roman alphabet, it was clearly aimed solely at Thais. I didn't go in at the time, but filed it in the memory bank for a future visit.

I was in town doing some shopping yesterday afternoon so thought I'd go there for lunch. They do indeed have a separate Thai menu. This is an annoying but not unusual feature of Asian restaurants, I've seen it in Thai and Chinese places. Presumably the expectation is that British people can't handle the more challenging flavours of the native cuisine. The spice levels, the funky, fishy flavours, the unusual cuts of meat. Whatever the reasoning behind this menu segregation, we're often missing out.

My ability to read Thai script not really being up to scratch, I had to ask the waitress to explain things for me. She was lovely, but not the best English speaker so we got as far as noodle soup with beef and I settled for that.

First impressions were good. A huge steaming bowl, plenty of meat visible and a decent selection of condiments (chillies in vinegar, fish sauce, chilli powder, sugar).

Second impressions were equally favourable, the broth was deeply savoury and satisfying. Stock based, similar to a Vietnamese pho but with lemongrass and celery in place of star anise and cinnamon. The meat was fantastic, fat chunks of braised, tender, slightly gelatinous beef (brisket at a guess) and also chewy, salty beef balls. Both present in more than generous quantities. Spring onions and beansprouts added a bit of textural variety and the springy noodles (flat rice sticks) weren't overcooked.

Great food, very reasonable prices (£5.95 for the noodle dish) and lovely, smiley service. I'll be back.

The secret list of goodies

Thanks to Twitter and the kindness of random strangers I also now have a full translation of the Thai menu (e-mail me if you'd like a copy). I took a photo of it and speculatively tweeted it asking for translation help. By the magic of re-tweets or hashtags I somehow got a response from a blogger based in the San Francisco bay area suggesting another blogger in that vicinity who may be able to assist. She duly translated the lot for me. By way of thanks here are links to their blogs, both of which are well worth a read if you're interested in street food or Thai cookery.

http://geezericious.blogspot.com/
http://shesimmers.com/


8/10

Thai Aroy Dee
112 Vicar Lane
Leeds
LS2 7NL

http://www.thaiaroydeeleeds.com/