Review - Kaosarn

Over the past few years, Brixton Market and the adjacent Granville Arcade (aka Brixton Village) have proved to be a fertile ground for the germination of a number of new restaurants. Many have been so successful that they have gone on to open further branches elsewhere - Franco Manca for instance. I first ate at Franco Manca in 2009 I think, long before I moved to Brixton, but I had heard such good things on the grapevine that I ‘trekked’ from the other end of south west London to visit. Even back then Brixton was a little bit of a foodie mecca! That day it was raining and I had the Gloucester old spot ham pizza, the hot savouriness of the pizza a stark contrast to the rather chilly market environment, which back then I was completely unaccostomed to. The sourdough pizzeria now has four branches, one of them in Stratford Westfield, which I was rather surprised to stumble across, as the location couldn’t be much more different to Brixton market. Honest Burgers is another of the market’s success stories, last year opening a second restaurant in Soho.

Kaosarn, a Thai restaurant on the edge of Brixton Village, also opened a second restaurant last year, on St John’s Hill in Battersea. Although the Brixton original is lesser-known than its above-mentioned neighbours, it is nonetheless exceedingly popular, and it can be hard to get a seat. They serve authentic Thai food, they serve it fast, and you can bring your own booze. I was excited to visit their new branch, because there, they take reservations. 2012 was the year of queuing, so these days I am relieved to find somewhere you can book, taking the uncertainty out of dinner time. I think my longest stint of queuing last year was a 3-hour wait at Pitt Cue co., although to be fair it was a Friday night, and a lot of that time was spent sitting at the bar - and when I finally ate, the food did not disappoint. Nonetheless, come 2013, the certainty of knowing I can sit down for a meal at a certain time with no hanging about pleases me very much indeed.

I had booked dinner at Kaosarn at 7pm on Tuesday night. When I arrived there wasn’t a single empty table. It never ceases to surprise me how busy restaurants in London always are midweek - you would hardly know we’d been in a recession for the past six years. As I glanced around the fairly bland interior (bar a nice selection of framed photographs lending some character) it was nice to see some familiar faces amongst the waiting staff, a few of which I recognised from the Brixton branch. It took a while to decide what to order as the menu is quite comprehensive, longer than one in Brixton I think, but we finally settled on:

Moo Ping: grilled pork skewers Bangkok style with spicy roasted chilli sauce

Poo Nim Tod: fried soft shell crab with a spicy cucumber and peanut sauce

Som Tum Thai: traditional salad with hot and sour green papaya, chilli, tomatoes, green beans, ground dried shrimp & roasted peanut

These were the starters. They were all presented in quite a pretty way on their plates (although my amateur food photography may suggest otherwise!). The first thing I tried was the soft shell crab. Now, I usually love this, and try to order it whenever I see it on a menu somewhere. However, as you can probably tell from the picture, this one was quite heavily battered – far too much batter for my liking. The batter totally dominated the crab, so that the main taste and texture was a slightly bland batter, with a hint of crab coming through. What a shame! However, after this false start it was onwards and upwards. The salad was perfect – the ideal combination of sweet, sour and fishy savouriness that characterises a lot of Thai food. The texture was great as well – crisp vegetables oozing with juice and a crunch of nut. The pork was a hit as well, its sweet flavour going perfectly with the accompanying spicy sauce.

The starters were of quite a regular size – but the mains were exceptionally generous portions.

Kao Pad Kra-Praw: beef stir-fried with fresh chilli and holy basil, served on rice with a fried egg on top

Pad Thai Noodles: oops, stirred this one up before remembering to take a photo

Thai Green Curry

The beef stir fry I had eaten before at the Brixton branch, and it was just as good as I remembered it. I’ve been told by my flatmate, who grew up in Thailand, that it's very common to serve certain dishes like this with a fried egg on top. I’d never been served a fried egg at any of the many Thai restaurants I’ve visited over the years until I went to Kaosarn, so this family-run restaurant seems to be more authentic than most. I loved the way the flavour of the holy basil (quite different in flavour to Thai sweet basil) pervaded the whole dish, giving it an almost aniseed-like, quite refreshing taste.

The Pad Thai noodles were fantastic – easily the best I’ve ever eaten. I’m usually not that keen on them, always considering them to be the boring, ‘safe’ choice when eating at a Thai restaurant. Here the flavours were perfectly balanced – not too sweet, not too tangy – and the noodles were al dente, so they had a slight springy elasticity making for a nice texture. The prawns were a good size too, not the tiny ones you sometimes get.

The Thai green curry (beef) was delicious. I’m not even going to bother trying to find the words to do it justice.

All in all, a wonderful dining experience. Friendly and fast service, very reasonably priced food, and the food is simple (in the best way), made with fresh good quality ingredients - really delightful to eat. We ended up occupying our table for longer than the 1-hour slot allocated, but never felt rushed or hurried by the staff.

If you’ve not visited Kaosarn yet, I urge you to. It’s Thai food like you’ve never had it before. Or if you have been to Thailand, the food here will probably transport you right back there!

Kaosarn

110 St John’s Hill

London

SW11 1SJ

Tel: 020 7223 7888

BYOB. Cash only.