Patara

Cuisine - Thai

Location - 15 Greek St., London W1D 4DP

Cost - premium range of starters between £7.95 - £9.95 and mains between £15.50 - £19.95

Star Appetizer - Satay Trio

Star Main Course - Poo Goong Pad Gari

My Rating – 3/5

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the joint that has been hailed as one of the best fine Thai restaurants in London. Patara, otherwise known as "gracious lady", is one of London's more modern and upscale little Thai numbers, and if you ever go you should prepare yourselves for a delightfully flavourful and exciting version of your traditional Thai dining experience!

Patara has been around for a few years now (since 1990!), and has steadily been forced to compete with the likes of some kings of Asian cuisine, such as Alan Yau's "Busaba Eathai", for the attention of London's many foodies. So, you might be asking yourselves, what is Patara doing to stay ahead of the game? Well, beside from the fact that I was forced to eat Thai food with a fork and knife I could definitely tell why Patara remains a unique dining experience. Both the decor and the presentation of the food was a fusion of old meets new, and every classical dish had a bit of a difference to it. If you are looking for Thai food with a twist, then this is the place to go.

As is a tradition, I must first mention the service. Oddly enough I don't really have much to say about the service. It was... ok? Yes, I was served with dignity and I got the food in time, but should “ok” really be the standard of a high end dining experience? I feel like the service should have been a little bit more exciting and involved with my overall experience! Maybe I am just a very snooty foodie... What do you think?

The menu itself had a very refined mix of traditional and inventive dishes that really brought forward the popular foodie styles that can be found in Thailand. However, not everything on there was for me. Green mango salad with grilled oyster mushrooms and roasted coconut seemed a bit too strange, not gonna lie.

The starters were bangtastic! There ain’t nothing like some refreshing spring rolls and a modern Thai take on tartare to start your night off. The sauces that accompanied the rolls were amazing, the rolls themselves were perfectly prepared and the mix of flavours was beautifully fused together within the wraps. I was very happy with the beginning of the night (although maybe I was just enjoying the blooming tea in my glass tea pot a little bit too much).

My review of the main course will unfortunately be a little bit more varied when it comes to overall satisfaction. I enjoyed the fact that they were being a bit daring with their dishes, but this resulted in a bit of a downfall when it came to the dominating flavours. Whilst the fish was brilliantly cooked, it was accompanied by an extremely sweet sauce, which overpowered the taste of everything else. I could have been eating tofu for all I knew. The sauce was nice, but it should not have been the only taste present on the plate. Their beef dishes were also border line to becoming overpowered by a mix of other flavours, but I would still say that they were brilliantly prepared.They did however hit the nail on the head with their jumbo prawns. They were perfectly cooked, juicy as all hell (mmmmm, yummy) and were not overpowered by any competing flavours. I guess in some cases they just wanted their food to seem a little bit different from the norm (which can sometimes be dangerous).

You can tell by the presentation of the dishes that this was no "traditional to the max" experience. Although, I would still have preferred to have some chopsticks, rather than the standard fork and knife (my half Chinese girlfriend would be so proud to hear that).

I always feel a bit odd when I order European desserts in an Asian restaurant (there is a reason why they don’t advertise it on their website), but hey, gotta do what ya gotta do to treat that sweet tooth. I am a bit of a barbarian when it comes to doing things the right way. Speaking of doing things the right way, their chocolate fondant was definitely a great little end to an interesting meal (small, but great).

Patara is a cool old fox that has been around the block and then some. They know their classical dishes really well, and although some of their more daring modern dishes can be a bit overpowering in taste there are also some real winners on the menu that make the restaurant stand out. I definitely recommend Patara Soho to those of you who need somewhere to go before you head off to a musical in the west end, but I also think that it is worth visiting any of its branches if you are in one of these areas - south kensington, knightsbridge or oxford circus.

So, what do you think? Feel like going? Send me a little comment in the section below if this has enticed your taste buds.

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