AngloThai started in modest fashion - a series of pop ups and supper clubs, and a growing murmur of appreciation, as word spread across London about a couple cooking some revelatory, exciting, innovative Thai food. John and Desiree Chantarasak have since turned this operation into a fully-fledged, permanent bricks-and-mortar restaurant, but the DNA remains the same - powerful Thai flavours, the best British ingredients, and natural and low-intervention wines to match.
John's chef profile has been rising for a while now, starting with aforementioned pop ups and also including a stint on Great British Menu. The pair also ran a very successful meal kit business during Covid lockdown.
Due to open in summer 2023, details on AngloThai's permanent restaurant are thin on the ground at the moment, but safe to say we can expect more of the same full-throttle Thai cooking that we were treated to at John and Desiree's pop ups. AngloThai's last menu included dishes like garlic and coriander-grilled poussin with fish sauce caramel glaze and sweet chilli vinegar ‘nahm jim’; whiskey and soy-marinated Ibérico 'mu ping' pork skewers with roasted chilli and tamarind ‘jaew’; and Sai Ua - red curry pork sausage with smoked aubergine relish, pork scratchings and vegetables.
For more menu inspiration, look to Chantarasak's cookbook - Kin Thai - which was released in 2022. Dishes include roast duck and lychee red curry; langoustine and rhubarb hot and sour soup; beef tongue with grilled chilli relish; and oysters with sea buckthorn 'nahm jim'. In the meantime, AngloThai is continuing with pop ups, working with the likes of London bar Tayer + Elementary and Edinburgh's The Little Chartroom, and running a few AngloThai Baan supper clubs.