Kiln
58 Brewer Street
Soho
London W1F 9TL
Nearest Tube: Piccadilly Circus
4.3 Yummy stars
Price ££ £2.90-£43 (most dishes under £9 (at time of writing)
☏ No telephone number
Langoustines with Kaffir Lime and Sweet Mint at Kiln Soho
Buzz factor 4/5 stars
Food 4.5/5 stars
Value for money 4.5/5 stars
Kiln, the latest offering from the chef, Ben Chapman in addition to his first restaurant, Smoking Goat, shows that his cooking is going from strength to strength. The food here is much better than at Smoking Goat. The name, Kiln, describes the wood-burning cooking area (which does not use any electricity or gas), all for everyone at the bar counter/walk-ins to take in the theatre and the aromas of the spices. Downstairs sit a few tables with reservations for 4 or more people. The place is full of life in the evenings but be prepared to queue for quite some time (unless you managed to find enough friends together and book in advance).
The menu is pretty small (with no dessert). You won’t find any of the usual Thai fare of Thai green curry or Pad Thai here. Their regional Thai food (with influences from Yunnan, Burma and Bangkok Chinatown) is generally terrific here and the waitresses were always on hand to help decipher the menu.
One of the star dishes for me was the Langoustines with Kaffir lime and sweet mint. They were in ceviche style – “cooked” by the lime juice and so, retained their freshness to resounding success. Their Aged lamb skewers are a firm favourite of mine, the lamb being a “mature” lamb (up to 5 weeks). Don’t be put off by a bit of fat on the lamb. Eat it all – fat and all - to get the maximum taste sensation. You get a serious hit of cumin and Szechuan pepper, chargrilled to perfection. I can eat so many…. Their Claypot baked glass noodles with Tamworth pork belly and brown crab meat came with a strong lime juice based sauce. You can order this as a starter or main course portion. It may not look Instagram worthy but the pork (with a bit of fat on) was full of flavour and tender, though I would have preferred to have a bit more pork in the dish. Their Wild Ginger and Beef cheek curry from Burma had an intense sauce which went very well with some rice. Beware that some of the curries could be pretty hot. Suggest that you check with the waitresses and ask for dishes to be toned down in heat to your taste or you can find yourself teary-eyed or speechless or both. A great excuse to go for ice cream afterwards.
As with most Pan-Asian food, best to come with a few friends, so that you can try a good number of dishes. Some seriously good cooking with deep flavours here and still really good value too.
