Website: None that I could find…
Nearest tube: Balham
An after-work stroll on Friday evening took us in search of
a Thai BYO restaurant.
Our first stop was The Paddyfield on Bedford Hill in Balham
– which turned out to be closed for refurbishment. So we continued on to Krua,
also on Bedford Hill, heading towards Streatham.
On the ground floor, Krua has a BYO restaurant; downstairs
was the not-entirely-authentic-sounding Sean’s Thai Bar (the last night of
which was the night that we visited Krua), which served Thai snacks and
cocktails. As this was a BYO night, we plumped for dinner in the restaurant.
For starters, we shared chicken satay and gyoza. The chicken
skewers were cooked perfectly, not the least bit dry, a problem I often find,
and with a satay sauce that suited me very well but could have had a bit more
spice for Mrs BYO. The gyoza were vegetarian and crispy – I’m guessing
deep-fried, rather than boiled or pan-fried. Both came with a pile of leaves
and grated carrot.
For our mains, we both picked from the special dishes on the
menu. I chose tamarind duck with a side portion of sticky rice, only
remembering when it arrived that I had had duck at a food market that lunch
time. Poor ducks. The trouble is they taste so good, especially, it turns out,
when cooked with tamarind, which gave the dish a lovely warm flavour. The duck
was served with chunks of onion and red and green pepper, all covered in sauce.
Mrs BYO had the catchily-named gai yang som tum khao niew.
I’d recommend pointing at it on the menu if you want to order it. The dish is a
typical regional Thai dish, comprising a grilled chicken and papaya salad, served
with sticky rice (you don’t need to order this separately) and a sweet chilli
dip. It was fresh, not too heavy and came with a bit of a kick.
Sadly, no desserts were on offer, though we could have
fitted one in – the starters and mains weren’t small but were quite light, so
there was certainly scope for something more.
Corkage is £1 and a bottle of tap water is provided on each
table.
Our meal – two starters, two mains, one side dish and two
cans of Coke (£2 each) – came to a very reasonable £37.50, without service.
For your booze, there is a Costcutter next door and a big Sainsbury’s opposite Balham station.
