Where’s the FIRE? Must Thai harder…
Wild Rice
28 Brewer Street, London
Janetira was one of those rarest of things, a decent Thai restaurant in the middle of London. This was before Kiln, and the first Smoking Goat, and long after Busaba’s decline into the inevitably mediocre. Sure, it was little more than a sliver, carved behind a Brewer Street shopfront, but the decor was reassuringly sparse. No fake orchids, tinkling water features or swathes of cheap silk. Hurray. The larb gai alone was reason enough to visit, joyously vibrant and fresh, heavy on the roasted rice and red chilli.
Wild Rice (previously Janetira) doesn’t feel so much reinvented. As reimagined. And as fans of classic horror films know only too well, this can never end well
There were moo ping, grilled pork skewers, with char and chew, and the soul of the street; a pungent som tam, as clean as it was nose-clearing, with the joyous crunch of tiny pickled crabs; and a fermented mackerel gut curry, which was rich, elegant, salty, complex. And incandescently hot. Even by the beaded-brow standards of the South. The sort of gloriously sadomasochistic dish that brought involuntary gasps of incredulous awe, where tears of pain met torrents of pleasure. I loved the place.
But a few weeks back, it changed name. And while the newly monikered Wild Rice may seem a touch more slick, both in ‘concept’ (‘a marriage between the best of the East and the West,’ grins the website) and interior design (lots of tastefully muted dark wood, with the occasional flash of primary colour), it doesn’t feel so much reinvented. As reimagined. And as fans of classic horror films know only too well, this can never end well.
Anyway, it’s empty when we arrive on a Thursday lunchtime. I only found out later that it was just out of the soft launch period. Possibly a bit too soon for me to be visiting. All restaurants need time to bed in and get things working before the finickity critics (or, more importantly, punters) turn up to moan. But service could not be more charming and when the loveliest of waiters saw my upper lip quiver at the thought of being shackled to the ‘Express Bowl Lunch’, he allowed me full run of the dinner menu.
‘Goi Pla’ ceviche may seem like a clash of Laotian/Isan and Peruvian cultures, but seeing as Goi Pla already involves raw, spiced marinated fish, a sort of piscine larb, the ‘ceviche’ description is extraneous. Although it does make it a little more recognisable, I suppose. The one time I tried this dish was on the banks of the Mekong, just outside Vientiane. It came with ant eggs and the back half of a large water beetle, that tasted just like pear drops. Along with the slight risk of liver flukes too. No such unwelcome guests here. The fish is fresh, the spicing decent and it zips across the mouth.
Hat Yai chicken wings are classic Thai booze food, salty, chewy and best appreciated after a night on the sauce. Nam prik nhoom, though, is plain dull, miles removed from the smoky, sultry allure of the Northern Thai original. It’s always good to see a nam prik on any Thai menu, as these relishes are near ubiquitous. It comes with the usual cooked vegetables, but cries out for more fetid bite. And a fistful of pork scratchings too.
Ten years ago, Wild Rice would have seemed a cut above the usual Thai norm. Please… we’re bored of the bland, fed up with the polite
There’s a forgettable beef salad, where flavours murmur rather than sing, barely better than the bore at your local high-street takeaway. Although the meat is a cut above the usual. Tom yum is generous, with good-quality seafood, although lacks any sort of soupy thrill. While pork pad ped, despite a profusion of fresh peppercorns, is wan and oversweet. There’s scant evidence of that all-important red chilli paste base.
Ten years ago, Wild Rice would have seemed a cut above the usual Thai norm. Ingredients are good, service sweet, the menu venturing outside the usual deep fried/sweet green curry cul-de-sac. And as I said, these are early days. But please… we’re bored of the bland, fed up with the polite. We know how good Janetira was. So roughen those edges, char those chillies, and bring back the fury and the filth.
About £25 per head