![Zomato]( "Recensione")
Instagram: @eatgosee
Smoking Goat’s latest incarnation in Spitalfields retains the “keep it simple idiot” approach that I enjoyed about the West End original. It’s dark lighting, dark woods, heavy furniture and industrial look also found home in the neighbourhood that popularised this decor fashion over ten years ago.
Service is fast, focused and friendly. Very well informed about the menu. Unafraid to recommend swapping options and encouraging people to hold off from ordering too much - I appreciate this. It’s not always about upsell; it’s about customer experience.
HIGHLIGHTS:
The CHICKEN WINGS remain excellent. Giant heavy wings so moist crusted in a sweet crunchy batter that breaks like a honey comb but spiced and drenched in fish sauce. It’s an aromatic overload. and then the juicy wings are sensational. If you don’t like eating things with your hands then you will struggle but if - like me - you get right on in there then you’re in for a hell of a time. Hands down the best chicken wings out there- no contest.
Tamworth SMOKED GOAT SHOULDER is a signature dish here. It easily feeds three hungry people or up to six with a generous order of sides. You need to butcher this slow cooked smoked meat hunk at the table so if you don’t like doing this in restaurants then you’re also in the wrong place. It’s a delicious dish of south East Asian spices such as chilli ginger lime and fish sauce. However the first time I had this dish they also topped it with fresh aromatics before serving which did not appear this time around. I recommend they bring this back -not just from a presentational and olfactory perspective - but also to leverage the flavour of both cooked and fresh aromatics. All supported by a gentle hum of smokiness.
Would I come back? In a heartbeat. The food is delicious; focused on simple humble cuts excelling to the best they can be. It’s a testimony to imagination and execution in the kitchen.
![Zomato]( "Recensione")
I'd been looking forward to our booking at Smoking Goat for a while, but was ultimately disappointed by items I had my heart set on eating not being on the menu tonight. The chicken delivery logistics problem that has closed several branches of KFC seems to have hit Smoking Goat too. Their legendary wings were not on the menu tonight. Also beef brisket drunken noodles (Pad Kee Mao) were sold out by the time we ordered at 19:45.
It's a pleasant functional space with high ceilings, distressed surfaces and a good acoustics. Music is not too loud. Lighting is dim but enough to read the menu by. Service was very attentive and accomodating.
We arrived early and we were brought to a standing table for drinks while we waited for our table. Seeing as the fish sauce chicken wings were not on the menu we ordered it's replacement of breaded fried chicken. This was a well executed dish containing a thigh and a drumstick. Served with a nice jaew type dipping sauce. Good but not as exciting sounding as the caramel and fish sauce wings. We were brought a complimentary plateful of pork larb. This was unusually unctuous with caramel. Not as light and fresh as most larbs but very nice. More of Southern Thai/Malaysian/Indonesian flavour than the Isaan/Lao style I was expecting. It was too spicy for my dining companion.
After being brought to our table we ordered the lardo fried rice and the smoked aubergine and egg salad. The aubergine was fantastically smokey and fresh with kaffir lime leaves, mint and runny eggs. Clean and bright tasting dish, reminiscent of vacations in Isaan. Fried rice was dark, oily, and caramelised like the larb and too hot for my companion. At this point he ordered two of the pork skewers which were tender and not spicy.
Our last dish was the Tom Yam of crab and mussels. Nice balance of acid and spice but really messy to eat and way too salty. Broth was edible as a condiment for the shellfish floating in it, but couldn't be drunk on its own due to salt content.
Note: I have since been back and raised my rating based on comments about my second visit.
Food to price ratio was impeccable.
We came for lunch and got the cockles, trout, cabbage, a spicy fish, and massaman curry. The cockles and the fish were both on the spicy side, but they do warn you about the heat. I absolutely LOVED the massaman curry. It is large, so definitely a sharing plate. I would also highly recommend the cockles too. I kept sipping the sauce it came with even after we ate all the cockles.
An error has occurred! Please try again in a few minutes