Thai Thai

110 Old Street

London

EC1V 9BD

Took A here for a free dinner from Toptable. Generally I don't have many expectations when I go for a free meal, but it was reassuring to see that the restaurant was full and bustling when I walked in - if there are a lot of people it should be ok, right? To start I ordered the tom yam gai (described on the menu as "The famous Thai spicy and sour chicken with lemon grass and fresh herbs soup") and A had the tom yam hed which was the vegetarian version of the same soup. I liked the soup - A and I are both feeling a little under the weather so a spicy soup was perfect. Also, the chicken in my soup was incredibly tender - often you get overcooked chicken in soups, but this tasted like it had been delicately poached and then added to the soup for serving. For the main I chose phad ke moe chicken, which is "stir fried flat rice noodles with holy basil leaves and chili" - it came packed with more chicken and veggies than noodles. Man, they were not kidding about the chili. The menu has two red chilies next to this dish, which means it is hot, but it was really making my whole mouth numb. Thankfully after the soup I wasn't too hungry so I packed a little over half of it away to take home. A had the beef in black pepper which tasted more like a Chinese stir-fry than a Thai dish, but it was also tasty and thankfully not as spicy. Nothing remarkable about this place but it does solid food in a nice atmosphere, so while I wouldn't go out of my way to eat there, I also wouldn't mind going back if it was convenient.