Kinkao

Wow this place was awesome! Great food and lots of vegetarian options as well.
Everything was very fresh and the Tum Yum was one of my favorites.

One of the best Thai meals I’ve had. Fantastic duck starter and panang curry.

A solid choice for Thai in this part of town. Admittedly you feel a little bit like you’re stepping into a cliché of a Thai restaurant with all the solid wood décor and the amount of bowing that our traditionally dressed server sent our way before shyly ushering us towards one of their heavy tables inlaid with intricate decorative carvings. This is really no bad thing though — it gives the place a more cosy and welcoming atmosphere and we just had to smile at our pint-​sized waitress, she looked far too happy to be there.
Of course, there are other benefits to sticking to the theme, namely in the shape of Chang beer. Food-​wise the thai red curry with prawns was wonderfully spicy, whilst we also added a stir fry dish with chicken, mixed veg and cashew nuts. I think we chose well though it was a tough choice as the menu is a lengthy (and tasty-​sounding) one. Portion sizes are also decent and one rice was enough for two to share. Be warned that it all arrives eerily speedily too!
Good for either casual or nicer dinners as prices are quite reasonable. If you’re in a group it’s probably best to book ahead as it was quite busy on a weekday night when we stopped in — so they must be doing something right! A long way from Khaosan Road then but still nicely tasty :)

A pretty solid thai restaurant. At lunch they do a deal with a main course and starter for £8.50 or a main on its own for £6. I went for the chicken satay skewers and green curry with chicken. Both were pretty good. The atmosphere is laid back and the service friendly. I’ll be back to try some of the other dishes to see if it warrants that fifth star.

I don’t usually post reviews and this is the first restaurant review i have written, but I thought this restaurant deserved it.
Firstly, I walked in and was taken away by the authentic, solid wood furniture. The décor of the whole place was lovely. I was greeted very politely and seated promptly, although it was just before 6 so it wasn’t busy yet, but it started to fill up quickly!
I ordered my favourite Thai dish; roast duck penang with some jasmine rice. This was by far the best panang I have tried to date, it was creamy and incredibly flavoursome. The food arrived very quickly and was very well presented. And I can’t fault the staff, they were very friendly.
Overall I would thoroughly recommend this restaurant, it was a great experience.

Indian/​Bangladeshi restaurants are all over Brick lane, Thai restaurants are difficult to come by. My partner and I went out to find a place to eat for his birthday meal. We were torn between the chain Busaba Eathai and Kinkao, this independent establishment. We opted for the latter. We had no reservation but after a 10 minute wait were seated at around 9pm.
The interior is quite typical of a Thai restaurant in the UK, buddha statues and gold carvings abound.
We were starving and ordered as soon as we were seated. My partner chose the chicken massamam curry whilst I went for the tofu green thai curry. We both had a portion of coconut rice. The service was friendly, fast and efficient. The portions sizes were just right for the price (the entire bill came to around £20) and we ate everything, meaning we left Kinkao feeling very full… Next time I might share a curry.
We will be back to try out the £5.95 lunch deal!

One star. Too busy to take my ‘take-​away’ order. Must be good, but I will never know…

I have to say i was so impressed with this place. We had a great time sitting with the doors opened on such a lovely summer day and were immediately seated on a Saturday night. Hubby and I were both pretty full so we decided to get something light –.
I started with a sauvignon blanc and he had the jasmine tea. Hubby ordered the Tom Kkha with chicken which was really lovely and light with a combination of mushrooms and chicken in this yummy coconut soup.
I had the larb gai with rice which was made exactly how i wanted it. Of course i had to add some chili flakes, and they kindly reminded me how hot the chilis were, which I appreciate.
Service was very good all together and for the price you really cant beat it.

I love this place. I live close and go there on a regular basis. They have bunch of great stuff: Tom Kha, green, red and panang curry specials are all delicious.
I have been mostly choosing vegetarian options there because a couple of months ago when I tried chicken I didn’t feel like it was very high quality (don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t terrible or anything — just not up to the standard of the rest of their food). It might be better now, but their Tofu & Vegetables are already amazing even if you are not vegetarian.
All in all, I highly recommend going there. Prices are great, food is great, staff is great, decoration is great.

Best curry I’ve ever had. I tried the red curry. Loved the Pad Thai and the coconut pancake dessert as well. Very traditional atmosphere. Staff was lovely. The whole experience was great! Definitely will be back!

This place was really a great find as good Thai food is hard to come across here.
First, you need to make a reservation for something like a Saturday night, which luckily we had. During our dinner, quite a few couples and groups showed up to eat, but were turned away because the restaurant was entirely booked for the night. There was also a large table (12 or 14) in the back celebrating a birthday, which probably contributed to the business.
This restaurant is quite authentically decorated. Lots of dark wood, beautifully hand carved, and very heavy! The chairs and tables are clearly real wood. I liked the ambiance because it was quite different than what I’m used to in a Thai restaurant in that it wasn’t trying to be modern, but more old school. Nice change of pace. The wait staff is dressed in uniforms inspired by Thai culture and they are super polite, helpful, and accommodating.
I will say the restaurant was really cold when we went, which was exacerbated by the fact that we were sitting right by the outside window. They tried to put a space heater right next to our table to keep us warm. Unfortunately, the space heater was broken, so it wasn’t a help, but I appreciated the effort.
We ordered Kaeng Kiew Wan (Green Curry) and Pad Kra-​Prao (Stir-​fried Basil).
Green Curry — your choice of meat or veggies/​tofu. We ordered veggies without tofu or mushrooms. The veggies that came were broccoli, cauliflower, carrot, long beans, eggplant, bell peppers, onions, and potatoes. They indicate spice level with chili peppers and this was level 2 (out of 3). We requested it milder, which I think affected the taste a bit. It wasn’t amazing, but I think if tried the traditional way, it would’ve been more flavorful. Still, the portion was good and the variety of vegetables was refreshing.
Basil Stir-​fry — this also came with a choice of meat or veggies/​tofu and we requested the same as above: veggies with no tofu or mushrooms. This was indicated to be 3 chili peppers (as spicy as they have on their menu) and at the time I ordered it, I indicated that I wanted it verrry spicy. It definitely came spicy, but I would’ve wanted a touch more. Also, prior to ordering it, I asked if it was sweet at all. Some basil dishes have so much added sugar, I wanted to double check. She said this wasn’t sweet at all and that there was no sugar added. I will say it still was a tiny bit too sweet (and I’m not sure how else it got sweet other than sugar/​corn syrup or some equivalent), but the flavors were otherwise great, so we happily ate it. This dish was definitely better than the green curry and had the same vegetables, except for eggplant and potato (which don’t belong in this dish, so I’m glad they didn’t come). At first we didn’t spot any broccoli, which is one of the veggies we specifically requested, so we brought that to the server’s attention. He immediately gave us a small side of broccoli to add in, but then we realized there was broccoli in there already (albeit only two pieces)! Point being, they were very accommodating. I was definitely get this dish again (requesting less sugar and more spice) and would absolutely try another one as well.
We ordered two sides of rice since it doesn’t come with the entrée. The rice was brought out in a leaf shaped bowl, which was charming. A somewhat decent portion, but could have been bigger still. We ended up ordering a third between the two of us and had about half of that left over.
Very happy to have found this place. Will definitely be back and I do recommend that others give it a try!

Sehr schönes & angenehmes Thai Restaurant in London. Essen war sehr lecker und die Preise sind in Ordnung. Das Restaurant ist eher etwas abgelegen und schwieriger zu finden, ist aber auf jeden Fall einen Besuch wert!

Local Thai flavor!!! We 4 ppl arrived around 2 and didn’t wait for such a long time that they arranged a place for us. I feel the restaurant is always busy in weekend lolll.
The food is soooo Thai and I tried the coconut rice with green curry with seafood as main course and the starter is the prawn cracker with sweet chili sauce, can’t really remember what is the dessert as it’s really been a couple of weeks since the last time.
Definitely, I’ll go for a second or more times

I ventured over here in the cold after having read the latest Unilocal weekly mail featuring Thai restaurants and being of a mind to try somewhere new. It is at the north end of Brick Lane. It looks like a big restaurant, but it was near empty when I went there on my mission.
I hesitantly walked in, unsure if I was coming in when they were closed. But I was soon recognized and I asked about what I could get to take away. I had a token look through the menu, but I had really made up my mind when I browsed the menu online earlier.
I got the green curry with chicken and some vegetable spring rolls. It took about five minutes to prepare and the lady packaged it up nicely to take away. The container of green curry had a layer of plastic wrap on top to help guard against spills on the way to the office. I also discovered later that the container had two sections: one for the curry and one for the rice. I love that because it gives me control over my curry/​rice distribution.
The lunch was tasty: both starter and curry. Nice sauce and a good level of heat. I would go back and get take away again. It was worth walking there in the cold.

I went on Saturday with some friends from Spain that had never tried thai food and they loved it! I am very fan of thai food as well so I can say that this is one of my favourite restaurants in London, not 5 stars because the tempura wasnt the best that Ive ever tried, but the pad thai prawns was absolutely delicious. I will be back for sure :)

Really dig this place. Reasonable prices (and % off when you take away), delicious food (you can tell the sauces are made from scratch), and polite staff. I’ve eaten here many times and plan to keep doing so as long as I’m in London.

The furniture in this place is extremely impressive, marking the ambiance to be quite formidable. However, I wish I can say the same about the food. We started with a duck appetizer, that’s essentially an inspiration from peking duck — it was okay. My boyfriend just wanted to relive his memory in beijing. We then ordered a Thai red curry and PAD KEE MAO, both with chicken. The Thai red curry was watery and not very flavourful. The pad kee mao was delicious, but not enough noodles (heavy on the thai basil flavour). The chicken was perhaps the biggest flaw of the whole experience. They were chicken breast squares with no flavour whatsoever. If i had to come back here, i’d go for the pad kee mao with beef, and ask them for extra noodle. But I likely will be scoping out other thai places before I come back here.
Prices are reasonable. about 7 – 9 GBP a dish. I’ve had better, but I’ve had much worse.

The restaurant has a very warm feel and is cosy but the food is not all that.
Wouldn’t go back again.

It is mind blowing to see how much Kinkao has invested into their restaurant. We entered into their restaurant and was mesmerized by their wooden furnishing and only to realised they got it handcrafted and shipped from Thailand. Tables and chairs of beautifully carved pictures conveying Thai culture. It was one of the restaurant that most attracted our eye whilst walking down Brick Lane and hence how we found this gem.
But could the décor just be compensating it’s quality of food? Not at all. Instead I can say it is probably one of the best Thai restaurants in London. Quality and flavour is very present at this restaurant. We started with our starters and first to arrive were our satay seafood and thai fishcakes in lovely wooden stands. The skewers consisted of squid and prawn, all very fresh and plumb. They cooking time was perfect to retain it’s juices for that ncie bouncy texture. The satay sauce was also housemade, generous with the peanuts so it nice and chunky. Some can be quite sickly but they got the flavours just right on this one.
I would have preferred if the fishcake was more thicker so it had a better bite but for what we got it was very good, also plumb and bouncy and seasoned well. It also tasted freshly made and not fried beforehand like some I’ve have. My Tom Kha soup was also delicious, fragrant of coconut, creamy and with a lot of depth from the generous ingredients used to give it’s different notes of flavour. There was a good amount of heat to it, not burning but enough to get your tongue buzzing.
With such a successful round of starters we were really looking forward to the mains. First to arrive was our impressively large char-​grilled seabass served whole. I always love my fishes served whole and it is the authentic way to serve fish in the oriental cuisine. The seabass was prepared well, seasoned beforehand so the flavours really came through. The skin was perfectly crisp, seabass fresh so it was very flaky and moist. It came with more fish sauce but it really wasn’t needed as it was already well flavoured. The spice was mild but I liked it that way.
My favourite had to be the lamb shank. The fat must have permeated the meat as it was lovely and tender, sweet and juicy. The thai red curry sauce itself was also lovely, not synthetic but creamy with a hint of sweetness. It really well with the lamb shank adding a more buttery texture to the already soft and moist meat. It also came with some side vegetables of plain cooked carrots and broccoli which was I was dipping into the sauce. It made the dish less heavy which was very thoughtful.
We also ordered a veggie dish of sweet and sour fried vegetable. I was disappointed that the tofu wasn’t fresh though but the frozen quality where there was more skin than the soft silky tofu itself and instead chewy and dry. The rest of dish was great though, generously portioned and an abundance of fresh vegetables beautifully cut up and the sweet and sour made it all very appetising.
With that I had the garlic whislt my boyfriend ordered some Thai sticky rice. I wish they used the Thai fragrant rice variety but instead it was more long grain rice. But my garlic rice was still very pleasing, not too oily and subtle hints of garlic so it’s not overpowering the mains when accompanying them.
But my boyfriend was really disappointed with his sticky rice as it was over steamed in the bamboo container it came in so became very dry and chewy. It was near impossible to separate the rice so he left his unfinished.
But overall the meal was fantastic and a high appraisal on the level of cooking and the attention to detail. Food presentation was amazing, each presented like a piece of artwork with the use of vegetables to colour each dish and the portion generous. The menu was greatly decorated too in a nice cover, extensive but I do recommend having more unique dishes different to the other hundreds of Thai restaurant in London.
Service was friendly and although English was none of their first language it made the meal feel more authentic. My boyfriend funnily enough ordered milk and as confused as they were they still catered it and presented it in a very nice cappuccino cup.
With just little improvements needed in certain places l I can see this Thai becoming more popular as it is already getting very good reviews. It is in a weird location on Brick Lane market but its not like it has any competitors nearby.

I had the lunch deal which is currently approx £8.50 for a starter and a main — this comes from a slightly reduced menu in the usual manner.
I had the vegetarian Pad See-​ew and some deep-​fried fish cakes. Loved the Pad See-​Ew but the fish cakes were a little small. Jasmine tea on the side took me over £10, but extremely good value and friendly service means that I would definitely come again.

I had a lunch meeting in the area and I was told that this place serves up some seriously great Thai Food. I was not lied too.
Kinkao is one of those spot that maybe tries a little too hard with atmosphere (each table is individually carved with designs below a glass plate, which comes off a little bit cheesy) but it’s a nice kind of over-​effort. Like they want you to have a very good time with some very good food.
And the food is very very good.
They run great lunch specials. I can’t remember exactly the price (I believe it was about £9) but I got a small starter, main and drink included and it was fantastic. I always go with a Pad Thai with chicken staple at a new Thai spot and it was delicious. Not too sweet or spicy and great sticky noodles. Yum. For the starter I went with the spring rolls, which were fine, nothing to write home about. I should have went with the corn cake though that my associate got, because they were phenomenal.
We got there at 2, not knowing that they close at 2:30 and then reopen again at 5:30pm. They were nice enough to let us start until 3pm but then really threw us out. Fair enough, just know the time when you are going.
I would stop back in without question, if for no other reason than that great lunch special with great lunch food.