Sema Thai

[Tom]

Over the Easter weekend, the wife and I visited Sema.

The food was pretty awful (the flavouring was as subltle as a chilli mallet on the tongue), as was the Gerwutztraminer which was actually a dry white plonk rebottled (it had to be sent back).

The starters were just about edible, the chicken used in the cooking was preformed 'chunks', the mains we left. We paid for the wine and starters and left.

I am hoping this is a unique and rare occurance, but am bemoning the lack of quality Thai food in Dulwich. The Thai Pavillion had me up all night in a monosodium fever and the Thai corner is ok (cheep & cheerful).

Can anyone suggest a local place with really good food (quality food and ingredients preferred over stylish interior and thai-by-numbers cooking).

Cheers.

[fractionater]

there is a Thai place down in Herne Hill opposite the Lloyds (or Barclays?) cash machine - been there a couple of times not bad at all.

[David Mc]

Yes - but not locally!

http://www.patarathailand.com/london/index.html

http://www.london-eating.co.uk/10.htm

[Parker's Folly]

fractionater Wrote:

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> there is a Thai place down in Herne Hill opposite

> the Lloyds (or Barclays?) cash machine - been

> there a couple of times not bad at all.

Are you thinking of Lombok? If so, I ate there once and it was very good indeed. Not cheap though, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

[andrewc]

My kids love the sema and over the years of going there we have been happy apart from the miserable boss guy who now has sensibly hid himself somewhere. The atmosphere is always a bit low key but the food has never let us down.I suggest give it another chance.

[snorky]

Parker's Folly Wrote:

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> fractionater Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > there is a Thai place down in Herne Hill

> opposite

> > the Lloyds (or Barclays?) cash machine - been

> > there a couple of times not bad at all.

>

>

> Are you thinking of Lombok? If so, I ate there

> once and it was very good indeed. Not cheap

> though, but sometimes you get what you pay for.

Careful tho' - the raw lumps of chili casually scattered throuighout their menu - althought fantastic at the time- made me weep with pain the next morning

[fractionater]

Yes the Lombok - I consider that to be local to EDul... easily in walking distance!

[James]

I think our local Thai places are crap as well. Me and my boyfriend are vegetarian; went to Sema and were assured that there would be no fish products/oyster sauce in the mains we chose. This was a total lie as we could taste it but they wouldn't back down. So in the end we paid for our drinks and left.

Someone told me the Thai Pavilion is dreadful - has anyone else been there? Can't comment on the Corner Cafe as they do not cater for vegetarians at all.

A friend tells me that Crystal Palace has an excellent thai place "with umbrellas all over the ceiling"(?) Might be worth checking out.

[karter]

Sema thai......The food is diabolical as is the owner and they are big liars. I agree with James and Tom. Sorry Andrewc, maybe they go real out of their way for you as you may be a regular and desperatly need your business.

Thai corner cafe food on Northcross Road is pretty good, always packed.

[Huguenot]

What were they lying about? ::o

[buggie]

have had several take aways from Thai Pavillion and thought its pretty good - not breathtaking, but nice and would (well have) eaten it again!

[karter]

they lied about food hygiene!!!i wont go into it

[Ko]

James Wrote:

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> I think our local Thai places are crap as well. Me

> and my boyfriend are vegetarian; went to Sema and

> were assured that there would be no fish

> products/oyster sauce in the mains we chose. This

> was a total lie as we could taste it but they

> wouldn't back down. So in the end we paid for our

> drinks and left.

>

I like Thai Corner Cafe. The Crystal Palace place with umbrellas is also good.

James - There's a new Thai opened in Forest Hill called Thai Orchard (www.thaiorchard.com) opposite the station. Vegetarian friends of mine say it is good - the website is not finished yet but it does have a small vegetarian menu. My friends say that the owner will also do vegetarian versions of a lot of the meat dishes, but to ask when you book as they have only gone during weekday evenings when it is less busy - you might want to ring and ask about the oyster/fish sauce issue. I am going to try it soon.

[Bony Fido]

Why Thai??? It's not the only decent food on the planet.

[Tom]

Why Thai??

Because I travel to Italy a lot and often need a bit of spice back on my palette without the full curry overload experience! Italian food is ok, but its really unadventurous at times. I travel to the same few areas admittedly, but trust me, there is only so much cheese, parma ham and pannini I can face!

Malay / Viet etc would also be lovely!

[Louisa]

I love Thai food, but it would be nice to see a Malaysian or Vietnamese restaurant along the lane. I think the problem for certain cusine nowadays is that it's been ravaged by chains who want to say that this is Italian or that is Chinese.. and it just completely takes away the authenticity of the cuisine... This is one reason I have gone off of Chinese, Italian and Indian food in recent years... Thai food is going the same way I am sad to say... I hate to go back to it, but you cant knock a success, and Le Moulin is a good example..

[James]

Thanks for the advice Ko, will have a look at the website for that place in Forest Hill

[SeanMacGabhann]

what Louisa says.. certainly Italian chains are rife. less so Indian and Chinese although it's not so much chains as playing it safe to please perceived preferences amongst local populace. Unfortunately what might have been true 23,30 or 40 years ago is no longer the case but a lot of restuarants haven't caught up

And the rumblings of late re: a Vietnamese restaurant are to be applauded so fingers crossed everyone

[snorky]

Ive Been to hanoi and I existed for a fortnight on DDR made biscuits and once had what seemed to be a sparrow, fried in grey pork fat with some green beans garniedh on top and eaten woth a second hand plastic fork - washed down with a can of Thai made Cocoa cola. I hope any vietmanese resturant wont replicate that grim experience.

( it was about 18 years ago tho' )

[Muttley]

Zooming past on the bus just now I spotted an empty shell of a shop that until days ago was Sema Thai. Has it given up the ghost or is this another 'refurbishment'?

[mockney piers]

Oooh given up, please.

If the latter I do hope they refurb the chef and the service. Well apart from the cute one whom i should mention on another thread.

[monica]

Tom Wrote:

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> Why Thai??

> Because I travel to Italy a lot and often need a

> bit of spice back on my palette without the full

> curry overload experience! Italian food is ok, but

> its really unadventurous at times. I travel to the

> same few areas admittedly, but trust me, there is

> only so much cheese, parma ham and pannini I can

> face!

> Malay / Viet etc would also be lovely!

Tom darling italy have the finest foods ranging from the delectable pheasant in tuscany to the delicious fish and seafood in Brindisi,hopefully you were only stereotyping when you mentioned cheese,panini and parma ham.;-)

[karter]

sema thai is refurbing, i think they got the message from the edf that lots of folk dont think much of it. I was hoping it would be changing hands when i saw it being ripped apart. what ashame.

[Jeremy]

It looks like a pretty heavy duty refurb, it has been totally gutted! Walls seem to have been stripped down to the bricks. It did look pretty grotty before, this can only be a good thing.

[Jah Lush]

It will have to be a good thing otherwise it won't survive. The last couple of times I went in there it was terribly disappointing.