Rosa’s Thai Cafe
Laughing slash sad. Joy slash unhappy. Hungry slash anger.
Apparently I am a bit behind the game as in trendy Shoreditch (well at least too trendy for me) you can be happy slash sad slash angry all at the same time. Well, at least the people around here talk like this. Reminds me of my twitter speak friend. In any case, with such an amalgamation of emotion, quicksilver bouts of rage slash hungry (I thought the word for this was hangry), I began to have doubts about whether I really should be in the area. As I’m not trendy slash cool. I would not like to end up forgotten slash hungry. That might be sad slash depressed.
Yet more hip people than me prevailed so I was led to this radically named Rosa’s Thai Cafe to enjoy some excellent Thai food.
Thai iced tea. To settle my nerves. Sweet, milky and a bit too overpoweringly sugary. I think this is probably a sign of age, when sickly sweet is just sickly. This is probably something that I would avoid in the future.
Pad thai. I know the word authentic is rather overused. Seems like you can have authentic Italian, authentic noodles and dare I say it authentic crap. Although I guess in this latter case, there is something to applaud for a place that just lets all its warts hang out. They just might not survive long. Although, if you did serve authentic pad thai like this, I would hope that long would they prosper.
Pad kra prow, chilli and basil stir fry. With a nice spicy kick, the flavourful chicken and beans uplifted a normally bland dish. Spicy slash fiery.
Mussaman nuar, beef mussaman. The yellow beef curry was excellent. Not too heavy, not too light but just right. The sauce’s potatoes and nuts served to complement the tender beef. The beef was so tender that I wondering if the meat had been subject to a particularly brutal beating by a possibly angry slash sad chef. Perhaps what I imagine all skillful cooks must feel sometimes could lead to these type of outbursts. Unappreciated genius left to mold in the back of a chain restaurant. Unappreciated slash undeserved.
Pad makhuea, stir fried aubergine. The star of the dinner. Aubergine stuffed with fish paste and fried in fragrant spices. Delicate aubergine with just the right amount of spice. Soft/pungent/intense/win!
Rosa’s green curry. Again here we choose beef. However, it was the bamboo shoots which blew me out of the water rather than the spice. These were so firm that they seemed almost crispy while soaking up the green curry emulsion. A delight.
I used to think that Thai food in London was woefully overdone. It would leave me feeling helpless slash depressed to think of the multitude of places touting their authentic green curry. Reminds me of that time when my friend extolled the virtues of his “famous green Thai curry”, only for us to later find out it just came out of a supermarket prepacked bag. Yet this cafe reminds me just how great Thai food can be in skillful hands. So I left happy slash satisfied. Maybe I should call that satisappy. Now that would be a cool word.
A quiet eating 8/10.
Dinner (main, side and drink) was GBP20 excluding service.
12 Hanbury St,
London E1 6QR