From Twickenham to Surbiton
Saturday, December 21st , 2024
The Rice Mill in Twickenham is a neighbourhood Thai restaurant. The chef here deviates at times from traditional recipes, but the dishes that we tried were generally very enjoyable. The service was very welcoming and the prices were modest, so I can see why it has become popular amongst the locals.
Koyal is a sister restaurant of Dastaan and where the former head chef of Dastaan now cooks. It serves similar dishes but is a larger restaurant and has a bigger kitchen; for example here they have a charcoal grill and high-quality binchotan charcoal. As well as some stalwart dishes like the excellent bhajias and the spinach curry, I had a lovely lamb chop (pictured) and stone bass tikka. I also had an off-menu experiment of a couple of dishes made with ultra-high quality French Landes chicken. These tasted superb, though sadly they are unlikely to ever appear on a regular menu due to the very high cost of these birds compared to the chickens generally used in Indian restaurants.
It just remains to wish you all a very happy Christmas.