The Begging Bowl

[IJJ1963]

Jeremey-I agree with you, I (for the first time ever) wrote a review about a place which, frankly, astonished me with the quality of the food. Maybe we got lucky with the portions but I can honestly say I have never eaten thai food of that standard at that sort of price-and we got the same level of satisfaction on another 3 nights in that first opening week. Saying that and giving details of opening times and ownership of the establishment etc etc hurled me in to a world of snide, malicious accusations which questioned my integrity and which, took me completely by surprise. I am an old school pensioner and believe that such slander and accusation should be made to your face and I think that has caused me to over-react and become rather aggressive. I would like to apologise to all forum members for my reaction to the unfounded slander aimed at me and I would welcome any information as to the whereabouts of Giddyaunt in order that we can settle this matter man to man without wasting any more of this forum's time. my anger may be properly channelledshall no longer post any messages on this topic, but, obviously in modern times wankers can say what the fuck they want to us working class shit and hide behind their computers

[Alan Medic]

22.28.........you haven't been deactivated yet. The moderators must be on the pi**.

[Alan Medic]

One of my best ever posts was deleted from this thread a few minutes ago.

[Administrator]

No way was that your best ever post.

[JesusCappuccino]

Highly recommend.

[Alan Medic]

I wonder will this thread go the same way as the last one on the BB?

[LadyAvon]

Didn't that one disappear?

[alice]

great food buzzy atmosphere loved the endless free rice

[Alan Medic]

LadyAvon Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Didn't that one disappear?

Yes, probably because it got too heated.

[paul*]

I thought it offered tiny portions at shocking value, even with the 'free rice' thing, and had quite a short menu. Some nice changes from the usual green / red curry fare though, for sure.

All in, glad I went but won't be going back.

[Jeremy]

I don't think a short menu is a bad thing. If there were 40 dishes on the menu, you'd have to ask yourself how they can cook it all from scratch, and keep all the ingredients fresh.

[paul*]

Yeah, good point Jeremy.

I guess it's that they're going tapas sizes and so if it's a big group you have to order the whole menu, almost.

[KidKruger]

Tamnag Thai in CP have a HUGE menu, the food always seems fresh, but that's only place I know with such a comprehensive list of dishes. Perhaps the sheers size of the place and antciipated no. of diners supports their having such an array of choices.

[DaveR]

"I don't think a short menu is a bad thing. If there were 40 dishes on the menu, you'd have to ask yourself how they can cook it all from scratch, and keep all the ingredients fresh."

It's not the number of dishes on the menu that's crucial, but the number of unique ingredients and the amount of pre-service prep needed. There are many stir fry dishes that you can cook to order from a relatively limited set of prepped fresh meat and veg, plus herbs, spices and condiments. Conversely, a classic French menu will usually need to have a mix of some dishes that are cooked to order and others that are largely prepped in advance, and also that spreads the work during service between different bits of the kitchen. Try taking a party of 12 into a restaurant and everybody ordering steak, at different levels of done-ness. If you listen carefully, you may be able to hear the grill cook swearing as the ticket arrives in the kitchen.

[annabel42]

Completely agree with Kidkruger about Tamnag Thai. First class restaurant, loads of choice, excellent food and service, competitively priced.

[cescau]

Our experience was very mixed. The service was friendly and welcoming. We ordered a selection of dishes and although I get the concept of thai street food and the tapas culture of this particular restaurant, we thought the portion sizes very out of proportion to the cost. If the food was amazing, then I don't think we would have minded this and just kept ordering, but unfortunately we didn't really like anything that we ordered. We both love Thai food and have travelled around south-east Asia, so it wasn't a dislike of thai food.

Although, this wasn't our biggest problem with the experience: we really (REALLY) did not like the way we were crammed in like battery hens. It was impossible to have a conversation as all we could hear were our neighbours. - you definitely would not go there for a romantic / important or even remotely private dinner. Our waiter could not actually get to our table so all dishes we passed over peoples' heads or across their faces which was quite unpleasant. I thought it a real shame and would strongly advise them to cut out about a third of the tables just to give people a little more space, yes they would lose money in the short term but keep customers in the long term.

[cactus]

Totally agree about the cramped dining experience. The food was pretty tasty, the staff delightful, but

the tables for two in the middle of the restaurant are way to close for comfort. A few times tonight various staff members

nearly swiped our glasses, bowls and cutlery off our tiny table as they walked back and forth to the kitchen.

A little more space please!

[Oggie]

4 of us had dinner there 2 weeks ago. As it was our first time we ordered the whole menu minus 4 things and loved the range of flavours. The food was delicious and the staff lovely. I'd change 2 things, make it less crowded and make the colour contrast on the menu stronger so that it is easier to read. But will be going back for more delicious food! : )

[NickDan]

Loved it.

Pricey, a little cramped, but amazingly delicious food. Very original dishes too.

If you love your food and don?t mind spending a bit more, go for it. If you are after value, big dish sizes and dishes you recognise from other restaurants give it a miss.

[jimmyraj]

Went for the first time last week despite just living 100m away. Very impressed. It wasn't that cramped - it's a small restaurant with a buzzy atmosphere. Nice flavours - good to see the likes of rabbit curry on the menu? The stir fry of morning glory definitely worth coming for. Friendly and enthusiastic service too. Great to see a restaurant on the site doing well at last.

[catma]

Like the food, but it's TOO LOUD IN THERE! They seem to rely heavily on the outside space, waiting to see how that goes in deep winter. Get in before half 6 or practically no hope of a table for a while...food good but some portions tiny.

[cherrybear]

Went last night for the 2nd time, really enjoyed the food - fresh, original and tasty. Agreed the music was a little loud, but the staff turned it down immediately after the couple sat next to us complained.

We had 5 dishes and 2 cocktails, the bill came to around ?50 incl service. Not cheap but worth every penny. Definitely go back for more.

[Jeremy]

It really is head and shoulders over the other local Thai places. Fresh ingredients, no platters of grim deep fried starters. It's proper restaurant food.

I don't think it's particularly expensive, you just need to bear in mind that it's not the place to go if you want a big plate of pad thai and a beer for a tenner.

[reren]

Went last night and thought the food was lovely - only small gripe is that when I asked the waiter which were the less spicey dishes - he sneered at me that it was thai food and all hot. I can see that he might feel it was unsophisticated to turn up to a Thai restaurant and not want hot food - but I don't think he should make the customer feel like that... And a really good restaurant would offer to customize something a little for the customer. As it was we ordered a range of dishes and only one of them was particularly hot - so in fact he didn't need to be so dismissive...as actually a number of things on the menu were quite mild and I'm not sure why he didn't tell us that...

Also felt it was a bit wrong to suggest 5 dishes between 2 - was way too much food - we could have easily done with 3...will go back but perhaps won't rush because of the service. Prefer ganapati - they aren't at all up themselves in there.

[Sophie1981]

This place is amazing- the fact it's so busy shows how great the service good and atmosphere is.