Krua

Address: 90 Bedford Hill, Balham SW12 9HR
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.