A friend had been raving about this small Thai restaurant in Market Row, shortly after which I read a review on Eat In Brixton and noticed it had been shortlisted in their top four restaurants in Brixton. Time to check it out then.  Luckily I had the foresight to book as four of us went along on a Friday night and it’s pretty tiny.  We were sat inside but there is also extra seating out the front of the restaurant, although still within the cover of market row.

The first thing that hit me was a bout of claustrophobia. Floor space is tiny (with just around five tables and the kitchen), and the random Thai pantry stock and trinkets floating about for sale made it even tinier. Whilst it gave me the ambience of an actual Thai market stall, it made me want to call in some troops for a massive de-clutter project.

We ordered the pork and prawn dumplings (£4.50) as a safe starter. Not particularly Thai in origin but this is actually the closest I've had to delicious siu mai I've had in Southeast Asia. The dumpling was plump with filling and the wrapper was thin enough for one to savour the juicy pork and prawn flavour.

I thought the Thai BBQ prawns (£4.95) would come de-shelled and skewered, served with some dipping sauce or something but they arrived in their shells, blackened off the grill with some vegetables atop. The sauce resembled some sweet chilli marinade. Quite alright.

I wanted to order lots of viands for mains to eat with rice but T and I ended up ordering two variants of pad thai. At £7.50 each, the portions were very generous.

My pad thai tom yum with mixed seafood was easily the best pad thai I've had in yonks (possibly in London). The prominent fragrance of lemongrass and galangal made my mouth water so much that I almost forgot to get rid of the egg. The tom yum flavour was very distinct in the tamarind sauce. I thought it was outstanding - so much so that I had pad thai craze for about two weeks. It was all I craved and wanted to eat!!!

The coconut pad thai with mixed seafood wasn't so bad either. The coconut milk added a slight creaminess to the noodles but it was still distinctively pad thai. It's a new flavour profile in my palate and I can't wait to try recreating it at home.

Bellies full to the brim, I thought about ordering some more noodles to take home for next day's lunch but I stopped myself else I'd end up having it for midnight snack. So I distracted myself with the writings on the wall... lots of sticky notes with affirmation of how they've been transported back to Bangkok, Krabi, etc because of the authenticity of the food.

I went to Yum-D thinking it was going to be just an average Thai dinner (or actually, the type you get from local takeaways) but I left feeling 100% satisfied, with a view to wanting more. Sure, the smell of stir-fried chillies, lemongrass and holy basil may have stuck in our hair, coats, and canvas totes (they should really work on their ventilation/exhaust)... but for the best Thai I've had in London, I'd gladly visit again and again.