Greyhound Cafe
37 Berners Street
Fitzrovia
London W1T 3LZ
Nearest Tube: Goodge Street
3.8 Yummy stars
Price ££ Small plates/salads £5-£13; Mains £12-24 (at time of writing)
☏ 020 3026 3798
Spicy Fish Balls
Buzz Factor 3.8/5 stars
Food 4/5 stars
Value for money 3.5/5 stars
No Thai Green Curry on the menu. That sounds promising; I am always looking for something other than the bog-standard. Even more promising is Greyhound Café’s provenance. It started life as a fashion line in Bangkok in 1980. It branched out into its first restaurant in Bangkok in 1997 (with Fortune magazine, a business-related magazine in Asia Pacific) describing it as having ‘`the hottest seats in town” within a few weeks of opening. It is known for its restaurant design as well as its food and now has over 20 branches in similar modern stylish surroundings all over South East Asia.
Their first venture in Europe is in a bustling part of Fitzrovia at a prominent corner site with huge windows, outside seating and plenty of greenery and vibrant yellow flowers to make it look inviting. The interior had a contemporary and relaxed feel with rows of wooden tables and chairs and subdued lighting from globe-shaped glass baubles that appeared to float from the ceiling. A massive fish trap dangled from the ceiling as a Thai symbol to bring good fortune, with its opening facing outwards to attract customers in.
The restaurant has been described as having “Global influences add[ing] invention to the Thai menu…” or should it have read: “Global influences add confusion to the Thai menu…”. I just don’t get Thai food with spaghetti, bruschetta nor burger and chips. Chips in a Thai restaurant? Really, in London?
We didn’t bother trying the fusion dishes. Most of the food that we ordered was really delicious though. The Rib-eye satay was very well marinated. It was so tender; we had no difficulty prising it off its skewer. The sauce was rich and thick with curry pastes mixed into coconut milk, some sweet and sour notes from tamarind and a bit of crunch from the crushed peanuts. It had a slight kick to it, though it was not as peanutty as others that I have had. The Todmun Pops (spicy fried fishballs) with a slightly chewy skin were delicious, especially when dipped in its sweet and spicy sauce.
Dish of the day was the “German-style” fried pork knuckle in a spicy tamarind paste. The crunchy skin didn’t have the crispiness of Chinese roast pork but was more than compensated by the meat, still moist and soft like a baby’s chubby cheek. Eating the bit of fat still attached to the skin and meat, together with its jaew sauce (Thai chilli sauce with its sour and salty notes) just made you want to go back for more. It was a hearty dish that you would want to share with others, which would make the hefty £22 price tag seem better value.
The only disappointing dish was the rather bland Grilled FakThong (Thai Pumpkin) Tofu Salad. The tofu (beancurd) was mushy and came with a sesame dressing lacking in flavour. But, given the overall standard of the cooking and quality of the ingredients, I would definitely go back and try some more dishes, also as the staff was pretty chilled. I was impressed that no one waved the bill at us even though we sat there for nearly 3 hours, deep in conversation, solving the world’s problems.
I just wish that they would ditch the European style dishes and come up with some more delicious Thai dishes. Nothing that we had was terribly spicy at all, unlike at some other Thai restaurants in London (ironically with British chefs, like Som Saa in Shoreditch and Kiln in Soho). The European palate for Asian flavours has progressed so much in recent years. Go on, we can take it!
