Tried out Green Papaya on Kingsland Road on a night out with the girls.  I still remember eating an extraordinary banana blossom salad at their Mare Street branch years ago that was not on the menu tonight.  We mostly wanted to try the more unusual items that are not ubiquitous on Kingsland Road.

Of the starters, the crispy squid with purple basil sauce was stunning.  Crispy squid is available on most menus on the strip, but the pesto like sauce, with basil, coriander, lime and fresh chilli was a beautiful and unusual zesty foil to deep fried squid.  That amazing sauce is also available for fried prawns.  Another unusual starter was bahn tom, or sweet potato and prawn fritters.  A large portion served with nuoc cham, salad leaves and herbs.  The fritters were large, so they were hard to wrap up in the leaves, but really nice.  Another great starter came from the Chef's Specials menu available on a separate card.  This was grilled lambs neck with chilli and cumin.  Extremely tender and flavorful.  Our last starter was a standard green papaya salad, which was pleasant, but not out of the ordinary.

Our order on mains was a little less successful.  Seafood was quite limited compared to other restaurants on Kingsland Road.  The standout dish was thit koh tau, or slow cooked belly of pork.  Very succulent.  We also had stir fried prawns in tamarind and tofu with aubergine.  Both were nice but not standouts.  We let the waiter pick a chicken dish, which was BBQ chicken thigh with satay sauce.  For my taste, this was stodgy and I wouldn't order it again.

I would be happy to return just for the vibrant purple basil sauce.  Next time I will try some of the mains from the Chef's Specials menu. 

Green Papaya is not BYO.