restaurant review: Thai Garden

This humble little restaurant, nestled on Globe Road just off of the main thoroughfare through Bethnal Green, Roman Road , serves ‘vegetarian’ Thai, which it interprets as also including seafood. It won an award for best vegetarian meal from Time Out many years back in 1991, and although I can’t compare the quality now to the quality then, the restaurant consistently serves tasty, clean food.

With a policy of using only food that has not been genetically modified and without msg, Thai Garden delivers a large menu, divided into four sections: vegetarian appetizers, vegetarian main courses, seafood appetizers, and seafood main courses. These options include several curry variations and experiment with mock duck meat, tofu and bean curd.

For starter, I ordered the prawn dim sum, which was served with a healthy portion of cabbage radish and carrot and the requisite sticky sauce. They were extremely enjoyable, and my jealous dining companion eyed them greedily. He had ordered the skewers of barbecued seafood and vegetables, which was also served up with cabbage and carrot, as well as a Thai chilli sauce. By comparison, it was a bit boring, and the prawns were overcooked, which gave them a strange odour. The scallops escaped overcooking, as did the vegetables.

For the main course, I stuck with two dishes I’ve ordered before and enjoyed – the thai aubergine green curry and vegetarian phad thai. The Thai green curry (and I’m not exaggerating) is the best I’ve ever had – the Thai basil and aniseed permeated the fresh, light curry, and al dente green beans and carrots soaked the alternately hot, sweet and spicy flavours to perfection. The phad thai was a bit gooier than last time, but still close to excellent.

My companion ordered a mushroom-ginger-onion dish that was completely infused with ginger, which is not a bad thing, should ginger be your thing. Served with a stunning fragrant Thai jasmine rice, his dish was particularly sparkling. I admit to having helped myself to a few spoonfuls.

The service (generally just one woman) is excellent and attentive, and the small room of about 10 tables was kept quite busy, especially as it was only a Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm. The prices are reasonable – our appetizers were under £5, and our main courses around £6, though I essentially ordered two mains, as the phad thai was also about £5. Starters, main courses plus a rice or noodle dish, and a beer each cost us £38.50, including service (n the pricey side of reasonable). Definitely one to return to.

Thai Garden , 249 Globe Road , Bethnal Green, London , E2 0JD. 5 min walk from Bethnal Green tube. 2 min walk from the 8 bus. Takeaway and set lunch menu available. 0871 332 0197