In the beginning, there was Chaophraya, a Thai restaurant in Leeds. It begat several restaurants across the country, including one in Manchester that we used to go to, before it closed. In due course, it also begat Chaobaby – and all you can eat buffet at the Trafford Centre mall, which used to be pretty decent for a buffet, before it closed. It also begat Thaikhun, another mini chain of Thai street food restaurants which, in turn begat Thaikhun at the Trafford Centre, as another all you can shovel down buffet. We went for lunch.
Unfortunately, it was very disappointing and not a patch on the previous buffet. On the plus side, the buffet was well maintained for tidiness and staff were friendly and very diligent in removing used plates from your table, etc. But it was the food that let it down. There was the makings for a salad starter – lettuce, tomato, cucumber – but no sign of anything Thai, like a som tum papaya salad. There were a handful of starters – spring rolls , chicken laab, chicken wings and the like. But they lacked any of the vibrancy that usually characterises Thai food. Insufficient heat from chilli and a serious lack of zingy freshness from the likes of galangal, lime leaves, coriander, and lemongrass. That lack of traditional flavour carried through to the main courses – a couple of curries, a couple of stir fries and a couple of noodle dishes. Just disappointingly bland. And this part of the buffet was not being well managed by the kitchen, with dishes having sat around for too long, so only luke warm, with the noodle dishes going quite gloopy. I suppose the inclusion of chips and fish fingers on the buffet was intended to feed children who would probably have preferred to go round the corner to Gourmet Burger Kitchen. I wish I’d done that.
