The Smoking Goat, Thai food in Soho

Fish sauce chicken wings

The Friday before last Becks, Ed and I headed over to the The Smoking Goat in Soho, a Thai BBQ restaurant I'd discovered via Instagram. I was hoping for the authentic Thai flavours I crave and haven't had since Chat Thai which was four years ago now!

I wasn't sure what sort of setup to expect from The Smoking Goat. It turned out to be a lively and crowded small bar, with people packed in tightly, either at small tables or on stools at the bar. It's the type of place that could have been chaos, but the on the ball waiters had everything under control.

The three of us were able to give the compact menu a good working over, ordering everything except the crab. First up were the fish sauce chicken wings (£6) which were crispy from being deep fried and the fish sauce glaze had a finish that was punchy enough without being overpoweringly fishy.

The most popular starter at the table were the scallops (£6 each). The scallops came served in their shells and had a lovely nam jim sauce that I couldn't help slurping out of the shells. We were grateful that a fourth scallop arrived by mistake at our table and the waiter allowed us to keep it on the house.

We ordered both of the BBQ plates on the menu, the smoked lamb ribs and slow roast duck legs (£15 each). The mains come served with som dtum and sticky rice. Som dtum is my favourite Thai dish and this was a pretty good version. I couldn't see the traditional pounded red scud chillies in the salad, but it definitely had some kick.

The BBQ meats weren't the stars I was hoping for. Our duck was dry and lamb ribs are a bit of a faff to share. However, I did appreciate the Thai flavours, liking the tamarind on the duck and the accompanying nam prik chilli sauce.

I was pleasantly surprised when the bill only came in at £32 per head as we had a fair amount of booze and 'small plate sharing' as a habit of racking up the bill.

I enjoyed our night at The Smoking Goat. When I need a hit of authentic Thai flavours to remind myself of my time in Bangkok I'll know where to go.

The Smoking Goat
7 Denmark Street
London
WC2H 8LZ