Sunday 23 October 2011

Thai Food @ Kaosarn in Brixton Village


My mistrust of certain cuisines being cooked well in London restaurants has left me either missing out completely or just eating my favourite foods on a very in frequent basis.
The Mexican revolution that happened what, last year. Yes, I was the only one who never went to certain joints to try their tacos and wraps.
Mexican food does not travel well. It should. Like any other complicated cuisine it just takes time and a bit of love to reproduce those wonderful dishes.
But for some reason all we get here is a slap dash bad reproduction churned out to the masses as gourmet food. Tacos are not gourmet food. You go to Mexico and tacos are less than 10p each and sold on street corners as a quick snack.
Thai food, also has that same feeling with me. I love Thai food, in Thailand, just not over awed with it here in London. Although I have found a few places that I think do a pretty bloody good job of recreating another great food on these shores.
Kaosarn is another exponent of this. I’d been meaning to eat there on my last few visits to the new and trendy Brixton Village, but we always got sidetracked into a certain Colombian restaurant, Santafareño.
Now this place does a very good job of producing good Colombian food, like you would get back there. Although that is not difficult as the food is not the best in Latin America. But it is hearty and tasty.



Kaosarn is a small eatery with lots of tables outside for the lucky punters who got there before us and were able to sit in the sun. We were in the comfy and cosy interior.
The menu is short and sweet and is perfect for the size of the place and kitchen. Finally a place that has taken into consideration the space they have to cook in, and shrunk the menu to fit. I wish other places would learn and do the same.
As this was just going to be a light lunch we only opted for a few dishes to get an idea of what they could do.



As we were waiting to order this lovely family and friends were sitting outside eating away with their children, when one of the mothers asked where the toilets were. The waitress told her there was one in the main hall for everyone to use.
This brought on an amazing outburst of this upper class idiotic woman who could not believe that this small simple place had no toilet.
I mean you only have to look around you and see that this is a pretty basic place, and where in the world would they put a toilet.
This woman for the next 5 minutes or so was off on a rant with her friends about how this is just not done. How can it not have a toilet. At one point I wanted to go out there and slap her to shut her up.
I blame Jay Rayner for this, and his reporting of Brixton Village. He was actually eating at Honest Burgers later and I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but there were a lot of other customers around and I didn’t want to disturb their meals.



Anyhows off from my rant and back to the food. First up were some piping hot fried chicken wings. Damn these were so good. They were crispy and spicy. Man I was a happy bunny. Things were off to a good start. The tamarind dipping sauce was a nice contrast to the spicy skin.



We also ordered a Pad Thai with prawns and the khao pad kra-prow with pork. Both were cooked very well, and the pad Thai was one of the better ones I have had in London. A nice mix of flavours and textures. Big fat juicy prawns as well. No messing here.
The home style stir fry of pork, chillis, Thai basil served with rice and topped by a fried egg was simple, but hit all the right notes with me. Well anything with a fried egg gets my vote.

This is the type of Thai food you get at simple places tucked down alleyways in Bangkok or Chiang Mai that you stumble upon and never ever forget.
When trying to say if the food here is better than say at Thai Kitchen 101, is difficult, as the menus are very different, but what we tried was cooked very well and had a good balance of flavour, texture and spice. Another winner in Brixton.
It’s just a shame that Brixton Village is being gentrified and visited by complete twats. You can’t have everything I suppose.

Kaosarn on Urbanspoon

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Agreed its a great spot but It's not only upper class/gentrifying crowds who can behave like twats- maybe cut the reverse snobbery.

Anonymous said...

I really don't think you can blame me for the stupidity of certain people. And I will never apologise for bringing custom to a bunch of small businesses that deserve it. Talk to Kaosarn, Honest Burgers, Mama Lans and the rest and I guarantee none of them will be complaining

Best wishes

Jay Rayner
jay.rayner@observer.co.uk

The Grubworm said...

I thought the food here was simple but very tasty. Although, I have to say, it Jay Rayner who got me down here from North London... ;D

The pork and fired combo was a winner for me as well. And the other dishes we tried, including the curries were simple but very tasty.

Shame about the idiots though, there is no pleasing some people. I just wish they would show a little more flexibility.

Mzungu said...

Anom - Ouch ......

Jay - I wouldn't deny these businesses the custom that they deserve. I just wish some people who eat at BV would just be a little bit more realistic with the place.

Grubworm - Am looking forward to my next visit.

The Culinary Lens said...

I lived in just around the corner from this in Brixton way back in the 1980's. I was a very different place.I don't think there was any restaurants Gentrification as always is a double edged sword..
You had me exploring Brixton Village info. Thank you for transporting me across the Atlantic for a while.

Mzungu said...

Culinary Lens - It's a great place to go and eat now. But for selfish reasons I preferred it when the crowds were not there. Now I have to queue to eat. Good for the restaurants, bad for me.

Anonymous said...

Mzungu, follow up to my first comment on the reverse snobbery - that wasn't meant to cause offence! Just wanted to make a point that slating middle class people as an entire group is not much better than slating those from a working class background - better to judge people on their individual merits in my opinion. Agreed that the individuals you speak of do sound rather annoying though! All the best.

Mzungu said...

Mr Anom - I was never slating an entire group, just the silly woman outside, but no offence taken.