After having spent a lovely late afternoon at the riverside in Richmond enjoying some German wheat beer at Stein's (look out for the review coming soon) a group of us decided to go across the bridge to Fat Boys Thai restaurant (http://www.fatboysthai.co.uk/Fat3/index.php)
The place came recommended from various friends but somehow it just never happened that yours truly ventured there.
As it turns out I have been missing out.
The staff welcomed us warmly and one of the most favourable impressions is the immediate impact of the amenities. Light and airy rooms with space and even a lovely garden in the back. This is quite rare, as Victorian building dimensions in this part of town often mean that you make acquaintances with the extremities of the patrons of your neighbouring tables more than you would prefer.
So definitely a good start. It got even better by an ample menu including the usual Thai classics but also a whole page of chef specials and some of them were unusual like Kae Ping "Lovely barbecue marinated New Zealand lamb on wooden skewer accompanied with a traditional Thai spicy sauce on the side". I also have to say that the average price is a welcome surprise in terms of being on the low side, you know credit crunch and all.
We were in a large group so proceeded in ordering quite a mix of food and two different choices of wine, German Gewurztraminer, which I find goes incredibly well with Thai food, and a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. The latter arrived a bit too cold and for me had not enough punch to match some of the food.
The food arrived in elegant modern china, (half skewed sort of ribbed bowls for the curries for example even visually enhancing the pleasure of the meal.
I will hence give some opinion on the dishes ordered by all of us:
"Kae Ping - Lovely barbecue marinated New Zealand lamb on wooden skewer accompanied with a traditional Thai spicy sauce on the side", this came in the form of strips and was a revelation, the lamb was tender marinated and perfectly cooked, the sauce spicy with zest and punch. I do not believe I had this combination before and I am for sure going to have it again. 9/10
"Pla Yang Sauce Panang -A fresh fillet of sea bass, wrapped in a banana leaf and grilled, topped with dry Panang sauce", for me this was the other absolute highlight of the dinner, stunning combination of fish and spice, the sea bass holding up very nicely against the spices. Sadly something went wrong in the ordering department and the dish arrived 20 minutes late. The waiter took the price off the menu which did not make up for the experience of the our poor dinner companion but still is a genuinely nice gesture. As said definitely worth the wait. 9/10
"Pla Nung - Steamed fresh sea bass with ginger and spring onions", this dish comes with wonderful colours of the vegetables which are steamed but still very crisp and accompany the fish and the ginger. A great summer dish even if slightly watery, depends what mood you are in but testes healthy, which can be a good thing of course. 8/10
"Soft shell crab", sorry I did not get the correct name here but the dish was otherwise fantastic, deep fried in batter, but not oily, with spices and just the right amount of heat. Another contender to the dish of the evening. 9/10
"Green Curry - Green curry in coconut milk with beef or chicken, sliced bamboo shoots and sweet basil", classic Green curry, I selected beef, this is the dish on which I judge Thai Restaurants. It came well presented in a nice bowl with lovely generous pieces of bamboo , it had a great colour and texture and definitely some heat to it. Overall I would say a really good curry, I would judge it slightly runny for my taste but this is often the case when curries are really prepared fresh and the taste was great, not too sweet as so often happens. 7/10
"Duck Curry -A special red curry with tomatoes pineapple and slices of roast duck", this was the better of the curries that we ordered with lovely colour and taste, it even had a couple of lychees in it. The duck flavoursome and not too greasy. Really really good. Once to come back for. 8/10
Some of the other dishes we ordered were average to good (wrapped prawns, another type of curry, etc). So we really had no bad dishes at all which given the crusade through the menu that we attempted says tons about the place.
The deserts are a selection of industrialised produced ice creams (quite nice) and the sweet coconut pancakes (slightly too sweet for my taste). It is definitely not the desert section that draws the crowds back.
Overall an incredible find in this part of town even more so since the cost for each of starter main course and wine came to roughly 30£. Best value for money considering ambiance and presentation. The Fat Boys have another fan!
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