At the table How to make a stellar Thai? Slow cook for six years

Punctuality is a trait I deplore in others. How dare you turn up on time when the rest of us are running late? Tardiness is a virtue.

- DAVID ELLIS

Even so, John and Desiree Chantarasak have been pushing it. The couple, him the chef and her the wine head honcho, were meant to open this place in 2021. Even that felt a long time coming: as a travelling roadshow, AngloThai has appeared just about everywhere since 2018. Could it really now commit to one place and settle down for good? I had visions of arriving to a door marked gone fishin’, or spotting it on Hinge.

But here it is, famous before its first service. Anglothai is somewhere that British and Thai heritage coalesce, just as they do in John himself. Mostly this means Thai cuisine conjured with British ingredients. Thai techniques dominate. The approach is not so different from that deployed by Mexican wunderkind (niño prodigio?) Santiago Lastra at Kol. Coincidentally — or perhaps not — the Chantarasaks and Lastra share a backer, restaurant group MJMK.