Thai Vista on Roman Road

Just a quick nod to my favourite local restaurant today- it's Thai Vista on Roman Road in Bethnal Green (just round the corner). Now, in my opinion the three most important factors of a good local are: lovely, fresh food, friendly service and good value for money. As Thai Vista has all three in bucket loads, we come here at least once a fortnight. And as I am off to Thailand in three days time, what better place to get in the mood, and go for a relaxed, premature Valentine's day dinner...

We always just order lots of dishes and ask for them to come out whenever they are ready, rather than let them stand around in the kitchen. As with most Thai restaurants, even in Thailand, there are some dishes that are superior to others. The dishes I recommend here are: Tom Yung Kung (Tom Yum soup with prawns basically), Weeping Tiger, Som Tam salad, Duck Red Curry, Thai fish cake and Dragon Chilli Basil and Spicy Nemo...

The Weeping Tiger (up there) is a sizzling steak that comes with a really interesting and highly addictive sauce. We were trying to guess what was in it today- tamarind? nuts? crack cocaine? We finally found out it's ground rice!  I guess there's plenty yet to learn about Thai cuisine.