I don’t think that Thai food is done well in London.
Too far from Thailand and without a significant population of Thai people to judge it’s authenticity.
My main complaints are; the curries are too liquid, the dishes are often Chinese rather than Thai, the meat - paraticularly prawns - are not fresh, and generally the tastes just aren’t as well constructed or exciting as they should be. The flavour of good Thai food really should blow you away.
Lemongrass caught my eye as I walked past it last week. I read the ubiquitous reviews posted on the front window, they sounded impressive (as they always do) I then read the menu, which seemed to be very specifically Thai, with prices being at least a third less than the quite upmarket restaurant Yum Yum around the corner.
We went along on a Friday night at about 8.30, prime time for dining. It was busy but we were still able to get a very good table without a reservation. Although it’s not a big place the tables are well spaced.
Despite being busy the service was very quick and attentive. Drinks arrived less than ten minutes after we were seated and were replenished as soon as they were emptied.
The wait for food was also very short.
My favourite thai dish is the beef salad. It is this dish in particuar that English thai restauants really stuff up. It has a complex mix of herbs and liquid sweet and chile sauces. But the main thing is the quality of the beef - which should be a single fried quality steak, cooked very rare and then sliced into thin lovley, red pieces. I had an example of an awful beef salad at Yum Yum a few weeks before, where it was like the meat had been ordered from the Donner Kebab rack at the Turkish shop.
Here the waiter asked me if I would like the meat rare or well cooked, showing an understanding of the dish I found encouraging.
His question highlights the problem for Thai (or other exotic) restauraunts in England. Their main purpose is not to create great authentic Thai food. It’s to sell something that will make the customer happy. Of course the meat should be rare, but I bet 9 times out of 10 if they cook it like that, it gets sent back the kitchen with the advice that they should cook the meat properly.
The salad arrived and we also had a Tom Yum soup. The salad flavour was quite good and the meat was rare. It was really tough and chewy though. Obviously it was let down by the quality of the product.
The soup flavour was a bit light. Tom Yum varies a great deal, but I felt this one was missing a bit of kick. The prawns though tasted quite fresh.
For our main we shared a yellow curry. This was well constructed and very spicy. One thing London does do well seems to be curry - whether it’s Thai or Indian or whatever.
If I could give half stars I would give this place 3 and a half. The overall experience was great - the food was good and the prices were very reasonable. I’ll be coming back here.

The place is huge and you can have a party there, the staff is really nice and helpful as they don’t hesitate to come three times to ask just if the food is good and if they can do anything
Prices are really attractive and you can also order and take away.
The food is nice but not amazing, I ate better thai food, for me it looks more like a chinese food but the environment and the staff make the restaurant a nice place to eat when you don’t want to cook.
You can also order and take away or choose delivery.

On the website you can print a voucher and use it as a 50% Discount on dine-in meal from Monday to Sunday (6:00 to 7:30)