Esarn Kheaw

Esarn Kheaw is the first North East style Thai restaurant in London opened in 1992 serving the best of Esarn cuisine and some of your favourite Thai dishes

Esarn Kheaw - The first North East style Thai restaurant

Soon after, Mr and Mrs Puntar married and Mrs Puntar followed her husband to England to pursue his career as a professional chef.

Meanwhile, Mrs Puntar was the chef at home.

In 1992, after many years of perseverance and patience, Mr and Mrs Puntar finally opened their very own restaurant which is known to you as “Esarn Kheaw”.

In 1993, Mr Puntar resigned from “Intercontinental Hotel” to continue his responsibility within his family business.

Mrs Puntar has taken the role of head chef at “Esarn Kheaw”.

http://www.esarnkheaw.com

Esarn Kheaw - The first North East style Thai restaurant

Soon after, Mr and Mrs Puntar married and Mrs Puntar followed her husband to England to pursue his career as a professional chef.

Meanwhile, Mrs Puntar was the chef at home.

In 1992, after many years of perseverance and patience, Mr and Mrs Puntar finally opened their very own restaurant which is known to you as “Esarn Kheaw”.

In 1993, Mr Puntar resigned from “Intercontinental Hotel” to continue his responsibility within his family business.

Mrs Puntar has taken the role of head chef at “Esarn Kheaw”.

Esarn Kheaw restaurant review 2011 July London | Thai Cuisine ...

The menu is lengthy and features dishes from the north of Thailand as well as more familiar fare.

Tables are packed close together, and despite a distinctly quiet evening we were allocated a tiny table for two that was clearly going to struggle to accommodate more than a couple of dishes, when there were numerous larger tables available; perhaps they were expecting a late rush.

A restaurant would be unlikely to put a dish on the menu that read “Unspecified curry, maybe with meat or fish, but quite hot” so why do they commit such sins with wine lists?

Tom yum goong (£7.95) was the dish of the night, a well-made rendition of the classic soup, with mushrooms and prawns that were properly cooked, and above all with a nicely balanced stock with a rich blend of spices (13/20).

My main concern was the inconsistency, with some nice food but with two of the dishes of a really poor standard.

Esarn Kheaw | London Evening Standard

ES Food Newsletter This review was first published in April 2000 Esarn (or Issan) is the name for the North East of Thailand, this part of the 'land of smiles' lies closest to Laos, and one of its greatest delicacies is the fresh papaya salad.

Esarn Kheaw is a small, rather quaint old fashioned-looking, Thai restaurant on the Uxbridge Road near Shepherd's Bush and it serves the food of the North East.

Among the starters you'll find old favourites like the todmun pla (Thai fishcakes) deep-fried and amazingly chewy, keaw krob, featherlight deep fried dumplings, an exceptionally good 'spiced papaya salad North East style' - sharp, hot, sweet and crunchy.

The starters list is headed up by Esarn Kheaw sausages, admirably meaty and served in traditional style with a sliver of ginger.

Num prik (which translates as chilli water) is one of the stalwarts of Thai food, essentially this comes as a small bowl of savoury dip (in the North Eastern style) with an accompanying plate of raw or steamed vegetables - it's as if that old stager the crudit?

Restaurant review: Esarn Kheaw, Uxbridge Road, London W12 ...

So it is with Esarn Kheaw, an eccentric but adorable maiden aunt of a Thai joint in Shepherd's Bush.

I shouldn't have been so grumpy in response to an oversalted rendition of a soup, tom yum talay, that has been magnificent on countless occasions before, and I'm sorry.

But what I will say is that this blue blood clearly hadn't just put away a bowl of the recipient of that prize's tom kha kai, because this is a soup - chicken and mushrooms with coconut milk, lemon juice, lime leaves, lemongrass, chilli and fish sauce - to spread a beatific grin across the face of a corpse.

As for the crispy fried pomfret (pla lad prik) covered with Thai basil leaves and chilli sauce, this is piscine paradise and, like the soups, a strong contender for a Desert Island Dish.

Noodles are impeccable, sweet ox liver is beautifully matched to vinegary chilli sauce, and chicken salad north-east style a tongue-tingling classic that encapsulates the chef's ability to produce dishes that are hot enough to make the eyes water without remotely masking the essential flavour of their ingredients.

Esarn Kheaw | Restaurants in Shepherd's Bush, London

North-eastern Thai food that's been pleasing an appreciative crowd of Shepherd's Bush locals, including plenty of expat Thais, for more than two decades.

For more than two decades, Esarn Kheaw has been serving up north-eastern (Esarn) Thai cooking to an appreciative crowd of locals, including plenty of expats.

The rather dark dining room, complete with a mural of rice farmers and pictures of the Thai royal family, may be starting to show its age, but the cooking is as good as ever.

Chargrilled beef served in tender strips with onion, coriander and plenty of lime offers a gentle introduction to the food of the region, while the finely minced catfish, anchovy and green chilli dip (num prik pla sod) with raw vegetables is redolent of fermented fish and displays uncompromising chilli heat: a dish best left to seasoned Thai food fans.

Regular crowd pleasers such as pad thai or Thai green curry are also offered, and the drinks list contains the usual range of Thai beers, teas and a handful of wines.

Esarn Kheaw Thai Restaurant, London | Thai Restaurants - 3 ...

It's a strange phenomenon that you never encounter any Thai folks dining in Thai restaurants in London, maybe like the Italians they prefer to cook their meals at home or Mama knows best.

At least when we turned up at this restaurant in Shepherd’s Bush we encountered some Thai diners.

Like the ambience of the place the owner seemed downright miserable, but he did manage a few smiles when needed.

Finally we also managed to lick the platter of the Pad Thai noodles clean as it was that good.

Forget about the pretentions from the other Thai joints in the West End and the toned down cooking of the ubiquitous ones attached to pubs all over, this is the real thing, warts and all.