For those of you out there who enjoy eating out, but always find yourself back in the same old restaurant, sitting at the same old table and ordering the same old food, then just like me, going out for something a bit different like Thai, might actually fill you with dread.
Well, I can honestly say, I am a creature of habit, I don’t often like to try different things, but when I decided to treat a friend of mine to a meal to celebrate her new job, I decided I wanted to try something new!
I chose ORA Restaurant, I’d heard very good things about it and there was a great offer at Voucher Choice.
The restaurant itself is situated 2 minutes from Oxford Circus tube station, so we had a quick drink in a local bar and then wandered down to 6 Little Portland Street where ORA is found. It’s very inconspicuous so if you didn’t know London, or work in the centre you might not have known it was there!
We arrived for our early dinner at 5.30pm and although we were the first people there, the atmosphere was already buzzing with a great soundtrack playing and the restaurant, although dark and intimate was lit with soft pink lights which highlighted the tables and booths making it feel like a very exclusive VIP restaurant/club.
We had a special Voucher from Voucher Choice which cost us £30 but entitles us to £60 off the bill so we went about ordering a decent bottle of wine, a Malbec from Argentina an expressive red with a lot of spice.
£30 for a meal worth £60
We’d already decided that we were going to order a dish each per course and then share everything so my friend ordered Kanom Beurg Sai Gai, savory pancakes stuffed with smoked chicken, bean sprouts and fresh herbs, served with a cucumber salsa, and I went for the Koong Tod, King prawns in tempura served with a hot sweet chilli dip. The food arrived within 15 minutes and to say it was tasty in every sense of the word is probably doing it an injustice.
The pancake was crispy and golden on the outside and the smoked chicken and herbs mixed together with the bean sprouts were the perfect accompliment. On the other plate we were served with four very large king prawns in a beautifully light and crispy batter. The home-made sweet chilli dip was unlike anything I think you could buy and was spicy but not enough as to lose any flavour. Normally after a starter you can feel yourself beginning to fill up, but with the lack of bread, (which you do not need or miss) we were ready for the next course!
For the main course my friend choose Kaeng Kiew Warn Gai , a green curry with corn fed chicken and Thai aubergine, and I selected the Pad Kra Pow Gai, chicken again, but with garlic, chillies and holy basil. We also ordered some coconut rice and some noodles to accompany.
We were served our food once again within 15 minutes. By this point there was a steady stream of diners walking through the door and being seated, so the atmosphere was now vibrant, energetic and bustling for a Tuesday evening. I had a look around the restaurant and people of all ages were laughing, chatting and basically enjoying their Tuesday evening, parties of all sizes, from a table in the middle of about 10 friends to couples, the venue was almost full.
Back to the food. Both dishes went very well together, with the heat of the green curry and the mildness of the rice, mixed with the basil, garlic and noodles set for a taste explosion on the plate and certainly in the mouth!
After that we looked at the dessert menu and choose ORA’s signature dish of Kow Niew Ma Muang a sweet sticky rice and coconut cream served with a Thai honey mango draped over the top, and Kanom Na-Nuam a fruit pavlova served with passion fruit, Kiwi and a mango coulis. The rice was so scrumptious I nearly had to wrestle with my friend for my half. She actually did at one point in a low whisper, declare to me it was better than a certain activity and then tried to extract the recipe from one of the waiters. However, they weren’t quite ready to give that information up!
Once we’d finished we asked for the bill, and it came immediately however we were then not rushed out and there was no expectation that we were leaving as soon as we paid which made us feel even more relaxed. The total bill came to £96 to which £60 came off from the voucher we had, so we spilt the £36 between us. In total, including the original cost of the voucher from Voucher Choice, which was £30 the meal cost us £33 each rather than £48 it should have cost us.
The great thing about our evening apart from the amazing food, was that we were not restricted to a set menu, we choose anything we liked from the ala carte menu and wine list. We were treated like any other paying customer and had a great table in the restaurant, attentive and knowledgeable staff. We were not sat by the entrance or the toilets as so many voucher customers can sometimes experience, and we left feeling happy, well fed and watered and planning our next meal out at ORA. I certainly did not expect to enjoy Thai food this much and ORA will certainly be one of my first choices for a lunch, dinner or even a drink at the bar in the future.
You can buy a £60 non-restrictive voucher for ORA restaurant and other London restaurants through Voucher Choice www.voucherchoice.com. The vouchers are delivered direct to your mobile phone and so there is no need for printing out onto paper. You simply show the restaurant your mobile SMS voucher, they give you a 5 digit code to reply back REDEEM and the code. The voucher is redeemed within seconds via the receipt of a second SMS that you present to the restaurant before sitting down. SIMPLE, DISCREET and SECURE!
Comments