The Salutation

The Salutation is a Thai restaurant within a historic pub that can trace its history back to a coaching inn in 1750. The format is a little unusual in that you order drinks separately at the bar, but are then seated and served as in a regular restaurant. The menu was extensive, with assorted specials from northern Thailand as well as more familiar fare. The clientele here appears to be mostly Thai. 

Our meal began with a seemingly bottomless bowl of prawn crackers (£3.50) that came with sweet chilli sauce.  Som tam is a salad made with raw papaya, and here comes in several variations on the menu. The default version (£13) that I had contained beans, carrots and tomatoes as well as garlic, chillies, lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar and a few peanuts. The dressing was quite spicy, the lime juice and palm sugar providing a pleasing balance of sweet and sour (13/20).

 Kor mu yang (£12) is a grilled pork dish with Thai chilli sauce. The sauce was lively and enjoyable, the pork having good flavour but being cooked a little longer than ideal to my taste (12/20). Prawn fried rice (£15) was well made, the prawns being tender and the rice nicely cooked (13/20). Pad Thai with prawns (£14) was very good. The noodles had good texture, and the sweet and savoury sauce with it was nicely balanced, with the traditional peanuts on the side to provide an extra texture (13/20). Egg-fried rice (£3.90) was fine, being correctly cooked. 

The bill came to £35 per person including service, though any drinks that you have are additional, as you order and pay for these separately at the bar. Realistically £45 or so per person is a typical price you might pay if you had beer to drink. This seems pretty reasonable in this day and age, given that the standard of food is quite good. Service was welcoming, and even on a Tuesday night the restaurant was full.

Further reviews: 26th Jun 2025 | 21st May 2024