The Hackney Butchers Association

This restaurant has been open for a few weeks and will stay open until the end of January.  The food is great!  It's modern Thai.  The curries are authentic, generous & delicious.  The lunch set menu is only £6.50 and includes a beer or glass of wine.  The Pomelo salad was really interesting.  Big chunks of orange, with beautifully cooked prawns in a spicy peanut & holy basil sauce.  It was £4 as a starter.  Easily big enough to share for 2. The atmosphere is relaxed and fun.  The place has been rapidly thrown together with rough wood & lots of style.  It's very cool. Wow.  I'm going to try and get back as often as I can before it's gone. Noodles - Modern Thai 48, Dean Street, London W1D 5BF It's being run by the people that do Rosas off Spitalfields Market: DETAILS HERE

It works with any white fish, I tend to use Sea Bream. I wouldn't use anything too expensive though as the sauce is strong. It's spicy, salty, fishy, sweet & sour, and as good as anything I've had served up in a Thai/Vietnamese restaurant. I got the recipe from Thai Table. It's the only recipe I've tried of theirs, so far. It was so good I've cooked it many times now. In fact I might have to have it for dinner tonight. Mmnnn. The Tamarind I use comes in a block and lasts for months in the fridge. I got it from a local asian store. You soften it in boiling water before use. I know that the big supermarkets now sell Tamarind paste etc, so hopefully shouldn't be too hard to get. It's totally essential to this recipe and worth buying anyway. I improvised a bit last time and used Jamaican bell-peppers, big mistake... I like my spice, but even I had to take my time eating it. My wife cried, we had to open all the windows & even the fr...

15 green chillies 3 tbsp shallot 1 tbsp garlic 50g chopped galangal 1/2 tsp chopped lemongrass 1 tsp ginger 1 tsp shrimp paste (or salt if you can't get it) 1/2 tsp chopped kaffir lime peel 1 tsp chopped coriander root 1 tsp tumeric root 5mins. Use a food processor, whizz it all up together. Done... Keeps for up to 4 months in a sealed jar in the fridge. I've made it using less ingredients when i couldn't get hold of stuff. It still tastes amazing. The one thing i'd never miss out is the kaffir lime. If you can't get fresh, try getting hold of the frozen leaves. You can keep a pack in the freezer for whenever you need them. They last for ages and are good for lifting stir-frys etc. The recipe comes from a booklet from a small cookery school in Thailand, "The Baan Thai Cookery School" . My wife's parents went there & loved it. Nice people & great food!

5 dried red chilies (soaked in boiling water for 10mins) 3 tbsp chopped shallots 1 tbsp chopped garlic 50g galangal 1/2 tsp shrimp paste (or salt if you can't get it) 1/2 tsp chopped kaffir lime peel 1 tsp coriander root/stem 1 tsp tumeric root You can grind it in a pestle & mortar but it makes a right mess, so i whizz it in a blender. Works fine... phew. This doesn't go deep red (add more tumeric root if you like), but it tastes great... It lasts for up to 4 months in a sealed glass jar in the fridge. For my red curries, I like it spicy. I lightly fry up at least 4 heaped teaspoons of paste in a little oil then add 1 can of coconut milk. If you don't like the heat, use half this amount.