Displaying items by tag: thai foodie

Apparently there's a Golden Ticket hidden in one of the Mother's Day cards handed out to all Mums this Sunday at Giggling Squid branches across the country. (The Golden Ticket will be a £50 voucher to be used on a future visit). Tables still available for late lunch and supper in our Bury St Edmunds branch.

The food is always very good at The Giggling Squid and it's a particular favourite of Mr SuffolkFoodie who loves a massaman curry. An invitation to try the new summer cocktails and menu last week took no hesitation to accept, so we headed off for supper. Our local branch of the Thai restaurant is Bury St Edmunds, which always seems quite lively and buzzy in the evenings, in fact we both sat by the window and reminded ourselves of how charming the town is on an early summer evening. Cocktails are made with Fever Tree mixers, so high quality and great tasting for a start. I tried a 'Thai Coconut' made with gin and coconut flavoured rum, mixed with ginger ale and fresh lime. Sunshine in a glass! Mr SF enjoyed the strawberry, mint and lime 'Strawberry Cooler,' no alcohol in this one and gets a big tick in the drinks for drivers box. Only gripe is the plastic straws. Food lived up to expectation especially my refreshing starter of Lime and Chilli beef, which was thinly sliced rare, roast beef with a zingy and powerful chilli lime dressing. I'm going to try making this one at home. Thai chicken wings seemed a bit of a safe bet for Mr SF, but actually they were far superior than many and very well seasoned with lots of garlic and fresh coriander. Keang Pa was my choice for main course. The prawn tropical jungle curry was refeshing and again, very spicy with a clear and light broth, rather than the usual coconut milk associated with Thai curries. It was very fragrant with a strong punch of aniseed from the Thai basil and rather tasty pickled peppercorns, which took me by surprise. Beef appealed to Mr SF and an enormous bowl of Beef Rib with Coconut Sauce and a generous quantity of oyster mushrooms arrived for his main course, just a little too creamy for me though.  A side of noodles and coconut rice were shared. We also shared a dessert of Caramelised Mango Cake, which although light lacked any real mango flavour and in hindsight we should have remembered that the ice creams and sorbets are always better here. The wine I ordered by the glass was new to the list. Le Secret, Saint Pierre Cotes de Provence Rose, which whilst having a lovely peachy and slightly spicy, strawberry fruit flavour maintained a decent amount of acidity going very well with my curry. Pranee Laurillard, the co-founder of the Giggling Squid is shortlisted for Restaurateur of the Year Award at the 2018 Cateys, one of the most prestigious awards in UK hospitality. Suffolk Foodie wishes her the best of luck!

• Lime and Chilli Beef
• Thai chicken wings
• Keang Pa, Beef Rib and Coconut Sauce, Noodles and Coconut Rice
• Caramelised mango cake
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Here's a very tasty Christmas party menu for you instead of the usual soggy sprouts and insipid catering quality turkey. The Giggling Squid in Bury St Edmunds invited me to try their Christmas menu last week so I went on the opening 'locals night' of the massive annual Christmas Market and Fayre. Feeling all festive and with the town buzzing, the restaurant was full to the brim. I took Mr SuffolkFoodie who loves Thai food and we both ate off the Christmas Evening menu, which priced at £29.95 a head including a glass of Prosecco is great value. By the way, where is all this Prosecco coming from, apparently us Brits drink a third of all produced. I hope it's not going to run out.

• Bags of gold ...crispy spiced chicken parcels
• Prawn satay ... I could just eat the peanut sauce by itself
• Beef rib Massaman ... the highlight of the meal
• Exotic mushrooms ... garlicky and chilli hot
• Prosecco and muddled berry cheesecake
• Molten honeycomb semi-freddo
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As I was so well behaved at the opening night of Giggling Squid I was invited back to review dinner. I took Scarlett who has been to Thailand, travelling extensively and returning with tales of delicious food. Bury St Edmunds folk are always very good at supporting new restaurants and four weeks on from opening it was packed on a Thursday night. It got a big thumbs up from both of us both for food, service and atmosphere. We sat at the back of the restaurant by the bookshelves which are full of second hand books so between courses we got stuck in to a little reading...

• How to build a mud oven
• you will find interesting books!
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We started our meal with Seafood Streetfood, which looked rather posh for street food; with a plump scallop and a few prawns cooked in chilli flake, lime, ground roasted rice and nam pla. I could imagine buying the grilled marinated pork skewers, Moo Ping, on the streets of Thailand - the dipping sauce was light with a gentle chilli kick. We ordered a Jasmine and an Egg Fried rice to eat with our main courses of Tamarind Duck, which arrived sizzling on a griddle plate. Lovely piquant flavours and none of that thick cloying that is usually associated with sweet and sour sauces. Squid Gra Pao was more fiery chilli with tender squid, and lots of it too. I always try the dessert; there is always a little room to squeeze something in. I had the Caramelised Mango cake and Scarlett had the Mint and Lychee Sorbet. We thought that the sorbet was the best of the two puddings, very luxurious with fresh mint flecks. So now off home to build a mud oven.

• Caramelised Mango Cake £4.95
• Moo Ping £6.50
• Seafood Streetfood £7.50
• Mint and Lychee Sorbet £4.95
• Squid Gra Pao £14.50
• Tamarind Duck £14.50
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This week we had a sneak preview inside Bury's newest restaurant The Giggling Squid. Prosecco was flowing at the opening party and canapes included this delicious salt and pepper squid. We loved the decor. Lots of orchids on a back drop of hand picked drift wood with atmospheric lighting. Upcycled mirrors and a huge bookcase of over 2000 books from the local Oxfam for those that fancy a browse. We are going back to sample the menu which includes seafood, street food and simple rustic Thai food all made in house. We are not sure if all the food is going to be elaborately garnished but loved watching the fruit and veggie carving at the opening party.

• Books galore!
• Orchids and driftwood
• Carving a carnation
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Dissappointing Thai food at The Beehive, Horringer, sadly spoiled by the heavy handed use of palm sugar in all of the dishes sampled. The subtle flavours of sour, salt, spice with a hint of sweetness usually associated with Thai food were totally overwhelmed. Pad Thai was so sweet that my daughter said that it reminded her of a bowl of Sugar Puffs.   The Ocean Fire pictured was a mixture of fish with coconut cream and some green curry herbs and spices and the coconut rice could have been served as a dessert.

Last minute after parents evening and as a reward to myself for my skill at getting my son to choose the right A levels, we go to Bury for a takeaway and end up eating at the Noodle Bar again. Always busy in here, but this is really fast food - within minutes we had prawn toasts and deep fried squid - piping hot, freshly cooked and delicious with plenty of chili and garlic.