AngloThai is one of those popups that seems to sell out completely every single time they put on a residency, no matter how long for, and who seem to attract the kind of rave reviews that other eateries can only dream of.
And now, if you can believe it, someone’s had the utterly insane idea of giving them their own restaurant.
The key players in this crackpot scheme are husband and wife team John & Desiree Chantarasak, who together are AngloThai – he does the food, she does the wine. They make traditional Thai recipes using British produce, and they work very well together. And then there’s the restaurant group bravely backing them, MJMK, who’ve also thrown their chips behind such luminaries as KOL and Casa do Frango. So, they’re in good company, to put it mildly.
Ben Broomfield
The space they’ve secured is in the former Gate restaurant spot on Marylebone’s Seymour Place, and it’s set to finally open sometime this Autumn. There’ll be space for just 50 punters (plus a private dining room), and given the pedigree of the other venues in MJMK’s portfolio (Casa do Frango), it’ll probably look pretty damn nice, too – they’ve even bussed in Thai-American designer May Redding to style the space.
As for the menu? Well, that’s likely to be a long way off. But John Chantarasak’s cooking draws from his own AngloThai heritage, and his time working at venerable places like Nahm in Bangkok, and Som Saa here in London. Teasers include fresh seafood including Devon caviar and Carlingford oysters, while meat will come from Desiree’s family farm in Dorset.
Helping ease all of this down will be Desiree’s mostly European wine list, which will lean heavily towards the collection of natural and low-intervention bottles that she’s been building up for years.
In other words… she’s got a stellar cellar.
NOTE: AngloThai is set to open in Autumn 2024. We’ll be back then with the full scoop. You can see more on the AngloThai website.
AngloThai | 22-24 Seymour Place, W1H 7NL
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