Chaam Thai Eatery

What an amazingly authentic place! Chaam has quickly become my favourite restaurant in London. As someone who has lived in Thailand for a year I can honestly say this is the most authentic Thai food I have eaten outside of Thailand.
I was so excited on our last trip to Chaam Thai which is rare for me to do for any restaurant. The tastes are exquisite, the staff are charming and helpful (they even made me my favourite Thai dish which was a little obscure and not on the menu!) And the prices very reasonable. Do not miss out on the best Thai food in London!

Where to go with a large group of yogis after yoga class? Thanks to Unilocal I made a reservation for our post work out dinner.
I really liked the modern décor which is a bit of a contrast from their bright green sign outside. We weren’t sure of our final headcount but they were more than flexible to change around the tables.
I always go for the same thai dishes so I decided to try the tom yum dry noodles with veggies and tofu. It looked like pad thai but with a bit of chili powder. It was delicious but I warn you it does have a real spice kick! I had a taste of my friends pad thai (yum!), massaman curry (superb!) and red curry (love it!). The portions were HUGE compared to most of the Thai restaurants.
The service was really good. The waitresses were so nice I wanted to almost give them a hug on my way out. I was surprised how empty the restaurant was for a Thursday night. There is a lot of competition in the area but I’ll definitely be back to try the other dishes… or even pick up take away on my way back to Putney (but I may be a little too lazy for that).

Like Tom E. I was very impressed with Chaam’s menu which is far from the same old red curry, green curry… and I wish I had seen his recommendations for the Chiang Mai dishes. We got delivery and ordered drunken noodles (a big weakness of mine) and duck plus satay to start.
The Thai take on satay was quite a different flavour, more delicate than the Malaysian version I’m used to. Drunken noodles certainly weren’t the best I’ve ever had, not bad but I wouldn’t order them here again. The duck was delicious. Overall though, not quite enough food, especially because the dishes aren’t that cheap — it’s nearly £10 for a main course so if you were hungry you’d probably end up spending a fair amount.
Delivery took slightly longer than the 45 minutes promised but wasn’t too bad. Hilariously, our meal turned up in a Porsche Cayenne… only in Fulham.

Reasons it deserves a 4-​star:
— Warm and friendly service
— FREE PUBLIC WIFI (never happens in London)
— Clean, modern, sleek
— Large portion
— Rich flavour & good noodle (in pad thai)
Tip:
Spicy dishes are actually very spicy, consider having the hot sauce/​spice on the side.

I was cold, I was tired, it was late, I was hangry.
I walked into Chaam.
Chaam delivered on all fronts!
Chaam’s specialty is Northern Thai cuisine, meaning that it uses quite a bit of garlic, shallot, chili, and other savoury flavours by themselves, rather than the sweeter peanut and coconut milk combinations found in the food of such Central Thai cities as Bangkok. This also means that when the menu says a dish is ‘spicy,’ the dish is effing really spicy. But I’ll get to that later.
The menu is split up into a few large sections: starters (summer rolls, dumplings, regional rice dishes), curries, entrees separated by protein (beef, chicken, prawn, and veg/​tofu), noodles, and rice (with drinks and desserts to follow). There was a fairly large selection available here, but I knew I wanted some sort of noodle situation. Not necessarily realising the spice factor mentioned above, I ordered the drunken noodles (which had a little chili next to it on the menu, designating that it had a kick) with veg and tofu. The company I was with seemed to be in the same noodley mood, and ordered the pad thai with prawns (extra spicy), and pad thai with beef (with chili on the side).
The food arrived quickly, and was generously portioned — the bowl in which the noodles came resembled a small-​sized sink, and the food was heaped to the top. Even by sight, I could tell that my drunken noodles were pan-​fried to perfection, and had a fragrant garnish of coriander and crispy fried garlic and shallots on top. The noodles themselves were the large-​sized, flat rice noodles, which are springy and allow for a nice, tender bite when served properly. These were. Combined with the crisply stir-​fried vegetables and large chunks of fried tofu (which, admittedly, were probably in the fryer too long and had a bit too much oil soaked into the tofu’s pores), the proportion of noodles in the dish was perfect. Additionally, the wild garlic, ginger, dark soy sauce used to flavour the dish were all spot on, but the chili made the dish so spicy that I couldn’t finish my bowl (and I eat a LOT of spice). The member of my party who asked for added spice had a similar experience, and said she ultimately regretted her request for the dish to be extra spicy. (Two days later, I, too, regret my choice… or at least my stomach does.) In the end, we now know to a) ask for the HOT! dishes to be a tiny bit less intense, and b) follow the example of our other friend, who wisely asked for chili on the side and added it at his own discretion.
The ambiance/​décor of the restaurant is sleek and modern, which is a big contrast to the homey, comfort food served here. However, the attentive and helpful servers more than make up for the slightly clinical look of the restaurant, and make the whole experience very comforting and welcoming.
If I’m ever again in Fulham, I will be back to Chaam — with the foresight to ask for less chili, and a fistful of Tums in case I forget.

Thai food isn’t all the same. The country has four main food regions: central, north, east and south. Most Thai restaurants in the UK concentrate on Central Thai which is what you’d get in Bangkok. More and more are now selling the fierier Thai food from the east — Isaan (or Esarn). Chaam specialises in Lanna food — the Thai food from the North. A few other London places have one or two Lanna dishes, and a few are actually called Lanna, but in my experience Chaam is the only real deal in our capital.
So straight off, Chaam gets stars for its menu. They don’t shy away from their duty of serving up the best dishes from the Chiang Mai region — Kao Soi, Nahm Ngeaw, Chiang Mai Sausage, Nam Prik Ong. They have a nice map and intro in the menu that explains the region too. Of course, the menu also contains many of the Thai classics too (pad thai, tom yum, jungle curry) but often they’ve given them a Lanna flavour.
Décor is ’boutique’ and very nicely done to make the restaurant feel a little romantic and cool. I certainly spotted a few dates going on and I think this would be a great evening meal for two foodies. Service and value are both decent too.
We had all four of the aforementioned Chiang Mai dishes along with Thai tea and sticky rice. The Kao Soi was probably London’s best but was too sweet to be 5 star for me, the Nam Prik was also a bit too sweet. Hold back on the sugar chef! The Nahm Ngaew was delicious and probably the only one in London but I think it would taste better with thin noodles (khanom jeen style). The sausage was, as ever, awesome.
Good work Chaam. I hope we can be back soon!

On Friday, my salsa friend Hilary and I tried out Fiesta Havana in Fulham. As the classes start relatively early at 8.15, we were unable to have dinner beforehand and wandered round the Fulham Broadway area in search of food.
Chaam attracted our attention with its promise of northern Thai cuisine, which promised to be different to the usual fare.
Well, Chaam certainly has charming service and thi continued throughout our meal.
Pad Thai is one of my benchmark dishes for a Thai restaurant and the chicken version here is pretty good — salty, sweet and a little sour with the crunch of peanut complementing smooth moist noodles.
Our other dishes were beautifully presented but not perhaps what I had envisioned in my mind when I ordered them. The ‘crispy skinned cod’ turned out to be small battered cod strips in a sweet, almost fruity tasting sauce. The sea bass steamed in banana leaf didn’t have much flavour in itself, possibly because it wa slightly overcooked. However, it was brought to life with a wonderfully zingy sauce, which has the Thai triumvirate of hot, sweet and sour.
The main disappointment were the chicken wings which were tiny. Thai restaurants tend in general to be mean with portion size but these had scant meat to eat
We tried the lemongrass & ginger ale and pandan leaf drinks, both made fresh on-​site. You could definitely taste the advertised primary ingredient in each drink but we preferred the lemongrass.
I love their strong bold flavours in the food and some of the more unusual dishes as well as the charming service. Portion size is an issue, especially for 2 hungry salsa dancers to feed.
If we keep dancing at Fulham, I can definitely see us returning here

This Thai restaurant looks trendy. Came here when they had the lunch deal. The food was good, but I wouldn’t say I’ll go back again if not for the lunch deal that they offer at the time. Nothing to shout about really.

The best pad thai I’ve had in London.
The best mango sticky rice I’ve had in London.
And I have both of those things A LOT.
On top of that, they also had an amazing pork in red curry with ginger and tamarind that I never have, because I’ve never seen it anywhere but here. It’s amazing.
Plus they do buy-​one-​get-​one-​entrée-​half-​off from 6 – 8 pm.