I have to say that Addie’s Thai has got to be the most obscure restaurant to find, ever. Despite its obvious address on Earl’s Court Road, the actual restaurant itself is obscure, and you know, not obscure like Hawksmoor on Commercial Road where their signage is black text on a black wall (I shit you not), but obscure like there is no signage at all.
Anyway, after walking past this shop front:
about five times (ok so it didn’t help that when we were looking for Addie’s Thai, there was a huge group loitering outside further demolishing any visuals), we managed to finally identify it, go inside and skip the heaving queue of hungry patrons-to-be and settle into our table.
So that above there was code for: Make Sure You Book.
Addie’s Thai is a super popular venue for Thai food, and has been recommended to me by numerous sources. I mean, it’s kind of cute that on its menu, Addie’s Thai even professes to be “probably the best Thai in London”. I’m glad they said “probably”, because while it’s very good, I can’t say it’s the best.
Whether subconsciously or not (mostly not), I compared everything to Siam Central, my very most favourite Thai in London. What I do give Addie’s Thai props for though is that they have Thai iced tea on the menu, which is just OMGYUM.
Panu and I started with a mixed Addie’s Platter of spring rolls, prawn & chicken toast, prawn wontons and chicken satay. I usually avoid platter type dishes but it was the easiest way we could sample a bunch of starters and was all pretty good, the stand out being the prawn wontons.
We shared three mains: the kaeng kari gai, a yellow curry with chicken, potatoes and onions. I liked this curry because it reminded me of Malaysian style curries, full of big chunky pieces of potato *nom*
The yam neau, a Thai style spicy grilled beef salad, was also good but (and I can’t believe I’m blogging this out loud) there was just too. much. meat. Otherwise the clean, limey, chilli taste was splendid and complemented the heavy curry perfectly.
And lastly, testament to any Thai restaurant, the pad thai. This dish for me was where Addie’s Thai paled in comparison to Siam Central. Though prettier, it lacked the oomph of taste offered by Siam Central’s pad thai and was somehow sweeter, a little too sweet. I don’t attest to know what a good traditional pad thai ought to taste like but I do know what I enjoy!
Moving onto desserts and ok, excuse my French but Addie’s Thai shits all over everything. The green pandan pancake with Thai custard filling was orgasmically good! And I haven’t said something was orgasmic in a long time. The pancake was soft, the Thai custard… what, do they like put drugs in that thing? I could have eaten at least two more. Or twenty.
And the steamed sticky rice stuffed with banana was scrumptious, the sticky rice an ideal consistency (not too dry, not too sticky, not too hard) and the banana adding a fragrance you’ve got to try to believe.
All in all, I wouldn’t say Addie’s Thai is necessarily better than Siam Central. Or vice versa. I honestly think they’re on par, two of the best Thai restaurants in London, except that um, Siam Central is like a two minute walk from my place so you know where you’ll find me at.
Addie’s Thai
121 Earl’s Court Road
Earl’s Court, SW5 9RL
0207 259 2620
website
