Set off Regent Street on Little Portland Street, away from the constant hustle and bustle of
Oxford Street, ORA says it brings authentic Thai Food to London...
As we entered Ora, it had a very contemporary feel and I was very excited to try their dishes.
Since we had a group booking through Toptable, we had a set menu to choose our courses from.
I was impressed that they offered a good variety of dishes to choose from for each course although
I was pretty surprised that some of the dishes were not really Thai!
Once, we made our choice, while waiting for the food to arrive, I sipped through my cute little
jug of Thai Ice Milk Tea, beautifully presented and enjoyed a good catching up session with
my friends.
 |
| ORA Thai Ice Tea |
Soon after, our starters arrived. The popular choices were the crispy king prawn tempura
and the Deep Fried Baby Squid. Quite disappointing I thought as a start to our meal ...
The Prawn Tempura was not a real tempura with the batter being rather thick to my taste.
It was more like a Fried King Prawns in batter! The portion served was big though for a starter
and could not complain about the texture of the prawns which were nice to the taste.
The other starter, the crispy squid was reasonable I guess with an innovative sauce which had chopped herbs.
Not the best crispy squid I've had ...
As the time came for our mains to arrive, it all looked very tasty.
As I had a closer look at the dishes as they were being served to us individually,
I will have to admit that my expectations were not met.
The Duck Breast served with tamarind sauce looked nice. As well as the curry.
I had ordered the Sirloin Beef in oyster sauce and mange-tout.
(Not very Thai I thought ... but still decided to give it a chance.) ... Shouldn't have!
The dish was served in a square plate trying to make it look stylish and modern
but as soon as I saw my dish ... it had failed my standards ...
not boasting but I definitely make better beef in oyster sauce in my own kitchen!
Another chosen Main dish was the Pork in Sweet Pineapple, lychee and vegetable in sauce.
The Lychee ingredient was the interesting one which had to be tried.
This dish was different but at the same time, it was very close to the regular sweet
and sour available in Chinese Take away shops ... again not very impressed ...
Last but not least, we had dessert which was just ok.
The Chocolate Cheesecake proved to be the most popular.
The Pineapple Pie served with custard was not too bad to the taste either.
Overall, the experience was saved by good company ... but on the food side ...
I won't be running back soon to be honest!!
It was not an unpleasant food experience but it definitely did not give me any hint of the
Passion for Thai Cuisine.
I eventually learned that the chef's background was from Busaba Eathai, and
the manager was the former manager at Mango Tree. I guess the professionalism of the
waiting staff came from the standards brought from Mango Tree, while for the Chef ...
what happened?? ... but I would rather go to Busaba Eathai!!
If you want to try ORA, the best is to book through Toptable for this Restaurant where instead
of the set menu, I would recommend to go for the 50% off food where you will
still be able to choose from the a la carte menu where the true Thai Cuisine is.
ORA Restaurant
6 Little Portland Street
Fitzgrovia, London W1W 7JE
No comments:
Post a Comment