Chaophraya, Leeds, LS1.

I love thai food. After brie food, it has to be my favorite of the foods. I am pretty well versed in the thai restaurants in the Leeds area, and eat it so often that i haven't really felt the need to blog about it before. But today, after my third visit to Chaophraya, i realized that this place was something quite special. Simon and I popped in this evening for a pre-cinema dinner, and i was again, more impressed than i had been the last time i'd been there. Every single dish i've ever had here has been spectacular (perhaps apart from last night's spur-of-the-moment dessert choice of deep-fried ice cream, which, frankly, just made me feel sick).



There is something quite grandiose about Chaophraya. It is thai-styled in all of its glory; wooden carvings and large statues decorate the restaurant amply, and it is large and luxurious. Yet at the same time, it doesn't feel uptight or in any way stuffy. You could go wearing anything you wanted and not feel out of place. I was casual in jeans and boots and the hoochie on the table next to me was wearing a black back-less dress and, judging by the flash of the nipple that i was lucky enough to catch, she was clearly very comfortable too!

I had been stuck in bed writing an essay and ALL i could think about all day was fish. Big fish, small fish, shell fish. I would have even gone for sushi. I hurried my essay along with the promise of going out for said fish. I wasn't disappointed. I ordered whole deep-fried seabass (deep-fried was the theme of the evening) in thai red sauce and some sticky rice. Every mouth-full was followed with my 'good God that is delicious' face and some kind of "ummm" or "wow". I think Simon had the picture by this point, but i just couldn't keep quiet about it. It was perfectly crispy without being dried out, and had that spot on delicate-meaty seabass thing going on. The red sauce was the best i've had. It was marked out as "hot" on the menu, but i wouldn't have said so. It was that really pleasant fresh thai-style type of hot. It brought my mouth to life instead of having that numbing effect that it can sometimes have. By the end of it, i was stuffed. Lord knows why i went for the ice cream afterwards. I guess i'm just a sucker for anything deep fried. You could deep fry a dictionary and i'd probably eat it.

I'd like to say that the service was fantastic, because by the book, it was. There is just something that i find a little uncomfortable about that subservient type of thai service. The staff are all super polite, but the stiff etiquette makes things a little tense. Normally when i've had something fantastic in a restaurant, i like to wax lyrical to the waiting staff, making sure they tell the chef how great it has been. But at Chaophraya this would politely just be met with a bow and a stiff smile. You can't build any kind of rapport with the staff here, but i'm sure this won't bother everybody. It's probably just the waitress in me that wants to get a bit involved.

The over all experience was lovely. It was a little quiet when we arrived, but it soon filled out. It was mostly couples, but i can imagine on a friday or saturday, there would be plenty of big groups in. It's a restaurant for everybody. The menu is vast, and according to the website, they've won some kind of award for it's vegetarian options. And from what i could tell from last night's crowd, it's a bit of a place to be seen. There were plenty of trendies in there, some bordering on vulgar. The aforementioned nipple flasher and her steroid-pumped, perma-tan boy friend were drinking Dom Perignon (with a hard g), and posing. Sad, yes. But don't let that put you off.

The one complaint that i could make it that the cutlery is a little cumbersome. But that's insignificant really, isn't it. 9/10.

Chaophraya,
20 Swinegate,
Leeds,
West Yorkshire,
LS1 4AG.

http://www.chaophraya.co.uk/