Benja

A Thai Bib Gourmande, I was definitely intrigued, especially since I’ve been searching for good Asian food forever in London.

Food

We took advantage of the 2 course + drinks set menu, which actually had quite a bit of choice. I had:

• Argento - Vanilla vodka shaken with cinnamon, lychee juice and fresh lemongrass topped with champagne - this is very refreshing. The alcohol doesn’t hit you until later on, the cinnamon and lemongrass makes it different from your run of the mill cocktails.
• Peanuts and betal leaf starter - a bit of a surprise to be given this. The flavours are bold and pleasing, and shows that they can experiment.
• Crispy deep-fried of prawns and squid served with chilli mayonnaise dipping - this was very ordinary. The batter was not bad and the dipping sauce pleasant, but there was nothing that says this is a Bib and not any old takeaway joint.
• Tom Yum soup with king prawns lemongrass and kaffir lime leaves - I love this one, and is definitely the dish of the night.
• Lightly battered Sea Bass with benja chilli sauce
  - The batter was nice and light, the fish was of good quality, I only wish the chilli sauce had more kick.
• Lamb steak char grilled on thick red chilli paste with finely chopped lime leaves - the red curry like paste was a bit too sweet and smothered the lamb, not allowing the natural lamb flavour to shine from the good quality lamb.

All in all, the food is definitely above the average Thai place, for London. You can get Thai this good at quite a few places back in Oz, but it’s a rare find in London, so it should be encouraged.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

Benja was very busy on this Wednesday night. We were seated upstairs, where there were a few tables and a small bar, there is more space and a much bigger bar downstairs. Décor wise, it is luscious, jade green being the dominant colour on the walls, and gold being the supporting player. It reminds me of the top hotels in Thailand really.

Clientele wise though, there are no Asians, and no Thais, so I guess their business is to Westerners. The bathroom seemed to have been an afterthought. There was only one unisex bathroom to serve the whole upstairs, so it was not in good condition by the end of the night.

Rating - 2

Service

The waiters are very attentive, if a bit slow. It took ages for our drinks to arrive and just as long for the bill.

Rating - 3

C-factor

All up, it was £22.50 for 2 courses and a cocktail. For a normal meal, it wasn’t too bad, for Thai, probably a tad expensive, but they do use good quality ingredients. Btw – their website provides no information at all.

Rating - 1

Brownie Points - 13

Info

17 Beak Street
London
W1F 9RW
Phone +44 (0) 20 7403 8403
Website