Siam Secret is one of those wonderfully mysterious Asian restaurants – the ones with no website – but an abundance of diners who hail from the same country as the cuisine. In this case, it’s Thai, but despite The European virtually guaranteeing to me on the walk there that it’s usually jam-packed with Thai diners, when we arrived the restaurant was virtually empty save for a table of two posh middle-aged white males getting heavily refreshed on wine and not much food at all in the restaurant’s quaint little courtyard, tucked well-away off the street. Hence the name ‘secret’, I guess.

The two men seemed happy in their own company and made a meal out of explaining to us that it was going to rain any minute and that we should dine inside (translate that to “leave us alone out here while we get to work on our fifth bottle of Chardonnay”) so we headed inside, as it did indeed look like the heavens were going to open. Once inside, and subjected to the deafening silence of a large, empty restaurant, we decided to take our chances with the drunks and weather and headed back out to a table in the courtyard.

It was a bit of a flying lunch so we didn’t deep-dive into Siam Secret’s menu, but we loved what we had. Calamari with chilli was probably the best squid I have eaten for a long while – huge, tender chunks, battered and slathered in a sticky and spicy dressing – disguising this starter as a meal in itself. Edamame were delicately seasoned and plentiful. Afterwards, The European took a chicken red curry with egg rice, with a heat so smoky and rich that even yours-truly – a lightweight – could happily eat it. The chicken was soft; not at all overdone and the egg rice, while not scintillating, was on point and very complimentary. I had noodles with minced beef – a rare foray into meat for me these days, but it was worth it; surprisingly light and refreshing for what was basically a ton of mince and noodles. Everything we ate did seem to be lovingly prepared and very obviously ‘proper’ Thai as opposed to a diluted British version of my favour Asian cuisine.

The scrumptious food was washed down with Singha beer, obviously, all delivered by a single server-cum-hostess who was running the show on this quiet Sunday afternoon. By the end of the meal we really felt for her as she was attracting the unwanted attention of the drunks, until they mercifully staggered off as we were settling up.

Siam Secret is not the cheapest quaint little Asian you will find in the city. If you’re thinking its style is like Mien Tay or Sông Quê on Kingsland Road then you’re a million miles away, not just in terms of distance and cuisine, but in ruggedness too. Siam Secret’s dining room, restrained menu offering and service are all greatly refined, but still comforting, traditional and easy-going. Well-recommended for a classy Asian lunch or dinner. Less so for middle-aged Eton alumni using the place as an upmarket version of Wetherspoons.

Siam Secret is literally across the road from Earl’s Court Station. Two starters, two mains and four beers came to around £fifty five.

Also featured here on thefoodthing.net

Jolly good thai place! I had the duck and the soft shell crab and I loved it! It's a bit sweet so you have to know to what you're going to. I recommend it to anyone