AngloThai

AngloThai opened in November 2024, the creation of husband and wife John and Desiree Chantarasak. The couple previously did a series of supper clubs and pop-ups. Chef John Chantarasak has a Thai father and worked at Nahm in Bangkok under David Thompson after training at the Cordon Bleu cookery school in Bangkok. The food is Thai but using a lot of British ingredients. AngloThai was awarded a Michelin star in the 2025 guide.

The restaurant seats up to fifty guests. The format is a tasting menu only, at £65 for lunch and £125 in the evening. A wine pairing with dinner was available at £95. The dining room had closely packed tables, and there were a lot of hard surfaces such as the wooden floor, so the noise levels were very high. This was not helped by the entirely unnecessary music, meaning that everyone had to speak a bit louder, which in turn raised the decibel levels. Incidentally, if someone in your party has mobility issues, then the only toilet is down a flight of stairs. They have an arrangement with a nearby sandwich shop for the use of their toilets, but that presumably only works during the sandwich shop’s hours. Best check in advance if that might be an issue.

The wine list had 148 labels and ranged in price from £40 to £600, with a median price of £123 and an average markup to retail price of 3.6 times, which is very high. Sample references were Weingut Dengler-Seyler 2022 from Pfalz at £45 for a bottle that you can find in the high street for £24, Thalia Viogner Vermentino Coste Rousse 2023 from Languedoc at £55 compared to its retail price of £18, and Vinhas Velhas Baga Field blend Antonio Madeira from Dão in Portugal 2021 at £85 for a wine that will set you back £29 in the high street. For those with the means, there was the lovely Rioja Gran Reserva ‘Viña Tondonia’ 1994 from Mazuelo López de Heredia in Rioja at £420 compared to its retail price of £229, and Ribolla Gialla Reserva Gravner 2010 from Friuli-Venezia Giulia in Italy at £495 for a wine whose current market value is £169. The selection was a little unusual, entirely Old World and with a range of skin contact wine. If you want a Slovenian Furmint or a Swedish cider then this list has you covered. It did have the odd error e.g. Oastbrook Estate is in Sussex, not Essex. The list sensibly has a good selection of Rieslings, which go well with spicy food.

The meal began with a cup of crab broth with marigold oil. This was pleasant enough though it was quite floral, and there was just a tiny amount (two sips) at the bottom of the cup (13/20). There was then a trio of canapes. Mackerel, rhubarb and horseradish tartlet was enjoyable, the mackerel having good flavour, its natural oiliness balanced by the acidity of the rhubarb, with the bite of horseradish working well (14/20). Candied beetroot and kohlrabi with rapeseed was enjoyable, the beetroot flavour coming through well, the kohlrabi bringing a contrasting texture (14/20). Chicken was sourced from Fosse Meadows, a farm east of Birmingham. This was made into a little canape with coconut golae, a southern Thai dish of coconut milk with turmeric spices, and ajut pickle (a Thai condiment). The chicken had quite good flavour and the sauce was mildly spicy (14/20). 

Brixham crab was tucked away under a layer of Exmoor caviar, and served alongside a coconut ash cracker that had been smeared with a little sauce made from the brown crab meat. The cracker had reasonable texture and the crab was fine, though it was a pity that the kitchen selected Exmoor caviar, a cheap caviar with a slightly muddy taste. For me the dish would have worked better without this particular caviar (13/20). Next was beef tongue in jungle curry, served with a sweet brioche bun. The curry had fairly lively spicing, but it is hard to get overly excited about tongue, even though it had been slow-cooked, so was reasonably tender. I didn’t really understand why a quite sweet bread was chosen to accompany the curry (12/20). Next was octopus caught off the UK shores, served with chilli jam and pickled courgette. The octopus was quite tender and the pickling of the courgette injected a useful sour note to contrast with the chilli jam (13/20).

Lamb from Barrett Farm in Sherborne was served as sirloin, neck and sausage. The sirloin was nicely cooked but the neck was stringy and wildly over-salted, even to my saline-friendly taste. The sausage was rather dry and didn’t have as much flavour as I was hoping. The meat was served with a wild garlic emulsion and a broccoli and olive puree, which were both fine. On the side was a bowl of grains that were OK, but for me would have been better substituted by a bowl of rice (13/20). 

Blackcurrant leaf, long pepper and beetroot sounds like an odd combination but actually worked surprisingly well (14/20).  Strawberry grachai (a rhizome) and coconut flan worked reasonably well. Grachai has an earthy, peppery flavour that contrasted with the coconut, and the flan had reasonable texture (13/20). Kanom lek is a coconut pancake, in this case with raspberry topping and tamarind gel. The fruit was fine but the pancake had a remarkably dense texture (12/20). Coffee was from Climpsons, a good supplier.

Service was friendly and capable, despite this service being packed out. Our waitress, Grace, lived up to her name. One minor thing was that one of our dishes was served on a plate that had quite a large chip out of it. We mentioned this and were reassured that it would be sorted out, yet I could not help noticing that the table next to us were later served what seemed to be the exact same plate with a chip in the same place. Chips and cracks in plates harbor bacteria, so they should be taken out of service.

The bill came to £162 per person, with just beer to drink. If you had wine, then your bill would likely be higher, say £175 or more depending on the wine. AngloThai has clearly found an audience, being very busy even on this Tuesday evening, with tables turned all around us. However, it seems to me an awful lot of money for what appears on the plate. I had a good Thai meal at The Salutation last week and it was £36 a head plus beer, and to be honest I enjoyed that more, even if the food was of an objectively similar standard.