Some emails are natural attention-grabbers. A few words that stand out from the corporate sea of zoom meetings, EOP deadlines, and the occasional summer sale update that slipped through the spam-filter. On this particular day, an invitation for Friday 17th July was what interrupted my workflow. I clicked in and made a mental note to cancel all existing plans. It's not every day that Khao Bird and The Culpeper come together.
You've likely heard of Khao Bird. It initially gained traction for setting up shop in the former flat of Bridget Jones. From there, it was the authentic Northern Thai barbecuing that successfully converted viral hype into a lasting success story. Then there's The Culpeper, a top contender for "the best rooftop in London". Central enough to be swarmed with curb-side crowds enjoying post-work pints, East enough to be a trendy destination during the weekend. The pairing made sense. The Culpeper's grill had already been out in full-force, sizzling up charcoaled veg and ethically reared UK meat for those lucky enough to grab a table in its woodland garden. For this particular weekend, and this weekend only, it was filled with authentically bold, sweet and sour flavours à la Chef Luke Larsson. When two London food stalwarts join forces, you can expect good things. In this case, it meant an afternoon of coconut pisco margs, punchy grilled meat and fish, a direct source of vitamin D, and views across the London skyline. In other words, a match made in heaven.
We managed to secure a table at Khao Bird during its thriving residency above The Globe Tavern in Borough Market. I distinctly remember an intensely hot minced beef dish that we chased with a boozy slushie to relieve our tastebuds from their fire-ravaged state. Head Chef Luke Larsson and the team have taken various research and work trips across Northern Thailand and Burma over the years to bring the flavours of Chiang Mai to London. An endeavour that has clearly paid off, we might add. In fact, the dishes actually pay tribute to the post-shift meals Luke himself enjoyed whilst working in the kitchens across North Thailand. We stayed for a few hours sharing Changs and curries and reminiscing on our own travels through Northern Thailand. To me, it seemed though Khao Bird had really nailed the essence of Chiang Mai and Thai cooking. Evidently, I was not the only one who thought so. Following its success, restaurateur Mike Palmer and Chef Larsson didn't hang around for long before securing Khao Bird's first permanent location amongst the vibrant lights of Soho. The two-floor restaurant and bar has since become one of the finest Thai restaurants that London has to offer, and while we're yet to visit, we were keen to see how the flavours of Chiang Mai would taste overlooking East London.
The first delight came in the form of the aforementioned Coconut Pisco Margarita, served on the rocks. From there, the table began to fill with dish after dish of bold barbecues and creamy curries, the smoky aromas alone enough to get the appetite going. First to arrive was the smoked Chiang Mai Sausage and plump clams on a bed of sourdough toast. Then came the Deptford Little Farm Vegetable Plate, a generous assembly of fresh vegetables served with onglet steak, a punchy fish mint relish and fermented rice noodles. The Grilled Bream and Beef Laab followed suit, one swimming in an orange curry rich with coconut, wild ginger leaf and green peppercorns, the other dressed with rich tallow, sharp pickled forest pepper and Campari, finished with a crisp tofu cracker.
At these sorts of events, there tends to be a bit left over. Nobody wants to be remembered as the brute who scoffed down the last morsel. However, with food this good, greed was always going to surpass etiquette. Every plate was left spotless, every crumb divided equally, with nothing to spare.
Sufficiently fed and watered, we cautiously made our way down the winding staircase to the pub’s ground floor, already filling with late-twenties and early-thirties crowds celebrating the end of another long week of exercising their number-crunching brains. While our days may not have been quite as taxing, we had equal reason to celebrate: that was one phenomenal afternoon.
