ORA - Passion for Thai Cuisine

ORA.  I have not heard of this restaurant until this visit with some friends.
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

Sa-wat-dee Kah : Busaba Eathai

Busaba Eathai, another restaurant chain conceived by Alan Yau, offers modern Thai
cuisine in a very casual atmosphere.

The story of Busaba Eathai : "Busaba is a Thai flower. Eathai is a fusion of the words
eat and thai, it replaces the term restaurant, which is associated with formal/fine dining
establishments. Busaba Eathai is a casual dining venue offering a single course
eating experience devised to feed you with minimum fuss."

I have been to Busaba Eathai several times now and each time did not disappoint.
The diverse but simple menu offers a flavoursome selection of Thai salads, noodles,
curries and stir-fries with an authenticity and freshness that surpasses expectations.

Let me share with you a few of the dishes not to be missed when visiting Busaba Eathai.

Pandan Chicken with garlic and coriander root wrapped in pandan leaf

Delicious Thai Calamari - You won't find better anywhere else!

Cod Fillet with Thai Garlic, Krachai, Kaffir lime and Chillis

A delightful dish filled with flavours and I just love the Tamarind Sauce! Yummm!!

Of course, the Green Curry is a must - we had the veggie option this time but the chicken one is also nice!

Accompanied with a refreshing glass of tamarind juice, Enjoy the delicious Thai Cuisine from Busaba Eathai ! 

There are many branches of Busaba Eathai all over London.
Simply check out their website to find out the nearest one to you!

www.busaba.com

Enjoy!

Dinner @ Mango Tree - Belgravia

Mango Tree in Belgravia - This is a restaurant I have heard so much about for their
great thai dishes and has been one I wanted to visit for a long time.

Finally, I had a reservation and would finally have a taste of what all the talks are about!

Upon arrival, the staff was extremely friendly and polite. 

We were escorted to our table and seated very comfortably in their quite big dining room. 

As we were going through their menu, we could see that their cocktails were very 

popular as the waiting staff were going back and forth with wonderfully 

presented drinks on their tray.  So we had one! It was fun and fruitilicious!! :)

We chose one made of lychee, passion fruit juice and grenadine - 

named the Director's Choice Cocktail.

The starters arrived and looked absolutely amazing. 

The Mixed Skewers (Chicken, beef and lamb) were well marinated and nicely flavoured.  

My favourite one was the delicious chicken skewer dipped in freshly made satay sauce, 

and then the lamb. The Beef was slightly tough to take off the skewer and a bit chewy 

(not recommended). Then of course, typically Thai, we had to have the
Tom Yum Goong Soup. Full of flavour, with big fresh prawns and with just
the right amount of spice I loved it!

However for the price on the menu, it was a very small portion!

One not to be missed as a starter is the Green Papaya Salad which was exquisite! 

I never would have believed  that it would be so good as I am usually 

not a big fan of green papaya...  Now definitely a favourite!

Next, the Mains :

LEFT - Grilled Duck in sweet and tangy tamarind sauce

RIGHT - Chicken in Spicy Green Curry

Served with Jasmine White Rice

Excellent combination for mains although again, I found the portions extremely small! 

Luckily Mr. A and I are not big eaters and with the starters, it was just enough for us two. 

The Duck was very nice served on some greens and the green curry was irreproachable. 

Right amount of spice (despite the big chillies used as garnish), soft and juicy pieces 

of chicken and I just love the thai aubergine in the curry sauce!

Lastly, dessert time! Cannot leave without trying out their dessert! 

A Sweet Lychee and Ginger Cheesecake served with lychee jelly. 

The cheesecake was simply wonderful. Light and springy cheesecake 

as should be with a crumbly layer of biscuit base - Oh so Yummm!!!

Overall, the experience was not disappointing. 

The atmosphere was nice although I do not recall any music playing ... 

Maybe I was just too busy chit chatting with Mr. A  - (^.^) -

The Staff were very smartly presented, polite and very attentive. 

Also what caught my attention is the impressive teamwork of the waiting staff. 

It is always nice to see this as it has become quite rare!

Definitely worth a visit but be ready to be spending quite a bit! 

A bit pricey to my liking but book through toptable  

and it'll be a bit more reasonable.

Mango Tree

46, Grosvenor Place, Belgravia 

London SW1X 7EQ