Talay Thai Restaurant

Principles considered in setting up the restaurant.

    The main principle which we considered in setting up the restaurant, was that it should be a Thai restaurant... in another country, in other words, as much as possible it would be as if you were to be in a similar restaurant in Thailand.

    To this end we have kept the dishes as near to the originals, particularly selecting dishes from each region of Thailand.

    The only departure from this has been with the deserts, since there is not a strong tradition of deserts in Asian cuisine generally. What we have done is take Thai ingredients and produce some European style deserts, they are all home-made and have no artificial additives.

Thai cuisine

    Thai cuisine is loosely based on regions, central or Bangkok, northern or Chiang Mai, eastern or Issan and southern or Tai. The central cuisine is probably the most common in England, it has influences from Indian and Chinese cuisines from the merchants who have settled in the area and become part of the community.

    The northern cuisine has some similarities to Korean cuisine, along with ‘sticky’ rice, which is a separate variety of rice and eaten almost exclusively in the north.

    The eastern region is the poorest but has developed some interesting ways of using the poor material available.

    The southern peninsula has two long coasts and a population more Muslim, compared to the rest of Thailand, which is Buddhist. This means that there is a well developed seafood cuisine and ‘Massamin’(Muslim) dishes.

    Separate from the above are two ‘Royal’ cuisines, one is the favourite dishes from around the world of various Thai kings, mostly culled from their travels, and a Royal banquet cuisine, which is more ornate, more decorated with carved fruits and vegetables, and often uses whole animals and domestic fowl instead of the usual bite sized presentation.

    Thai food is generally eaten with plain rice or noodles, and each dish is generally kept separate, rather than mixed as is common with Indian or Chinese food in England.

    The flavours tend to go less well together from Thai dishes because of the possible extremes, especially in heat from ingredients such as chilli. Also Thai people do not generally use chopsticks, except when eating noodles.

    Thai cuisine has a considerable number of vegetable dishes and we have marked these appropriately for vegetarians.

Features

    We have put together a 'fine' wine list, and each one has been chosen to compliment the dishes on the menu.

    We make our own fresh noodles and GM free tofu.

    There are three dining areas, with two being always available for private parties, at no extra cost, special arrangements are required to reserve the main restaurant.

    The majority of our ingredients are sourced locally, and are used fresh.

    Most of the dishes on the menu are cooked after your order is placed, in order to ensure the best from the ingredients.