Great service, but there won't be an exodus from Thailand to eat the food

Searching for a place to eat at half-past nine on a Friday night, we stumbled across Thai Basil, the new rival to the swanky Bangkok Café, its near neighbour. The menu advertises “subtle fragrant aromas…crunchy textures…sour, sweet, salty, bitter and hot”. Thai food certainly should be all of these, so we thought we’d see if the place lived up to its promises.

Thai Basil is definitely no-frills - clean, but not fancy. You can view the kitchen through a big window (shame the chef makes no show of this). We had a friendly, attentive waitress, always there to offer another Chang beer when our glasses were empty, but without fuss.
So, to the promises. The starter of mixed Thai Basil (yep - we didn't have a clue what to expect either) was basically a mixed platter of the usual oriental restaurant stuff: sesame toast, spring rolls and chicken on a stick. Not particularly Thai, as far as I could tell. An order of Massa Mun Kae (lamb with Thai curry and coconut milk) was OK, but not very subtle: a coconut stew with new potatoes. Not particularly hot, or sweet, or bitter, or any of those things promised, but fine. The Pat Thai Goong (the famous dish of Pad Thai, served with king prawns) was disappointingly bland, only a faint taste of the promised peanuts, and over-powered by the bean sprouts.

So, a pretty disappointing meal, not living up to any of those promises on the menu. OK for a casual dinner after a few beers, certainly not the place for a special outing. But great service, and at the end of the meal we were accepted as lifelong members, with the promise of 10% off all food at future visits, a promise of members-only nights with surprise entertainment, and the promise that we will meet and socialise with other customers.

We’ll be back soon. Promise.