Busaba Eathai

jimstreet

Firm Favourite 24th June 2009

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This is my favourite restaurant in London. I have been to the one on Wardour Street and it just isnt quite the same. Every dish is delicious and I have never had a bad meal here.

spoon1

Cheapest place for Thai in London 2nd September 2008

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I organised a night with friends and chose Busaba as an inexpensive destination with good reviews and a lively feel. I thought I had come up with somewhere unique after which everyone would congratulate me on the originality of my choice. But no - we got there and everyone sat down and ordered their "favourites"! Everyone, bar me, of course, is a regular at Busaba. They even have their favourite Busaba's. One of my friends eats here every Friday lunchtime, and it's easy to see why. There is a huge choice of food, something to please everyone, and nothing blows the budget. It's great to share all the dishes and the calamari definitely is their signature dish. Believe all the other reviews that say that the queues are extensive (however when I last visited at prime time Saturday, we got a table straight away) but it is worth the wait.

chrisp

Eathai very well 28th August 2008

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I always thought it was strange you didn't see more Busabas around town; given that every time a new one opens the queue to get in stretches around the block there was clearly enough pent-up demand. Now the inevitable has happened and Busaba is Going Nationwide, but more on that later.

I've already said I'm a big fan of Busaba Wardour Street, which if you can get there at some odd time like 3:30pm or 11am, it's possible to get in and get a table without too much trouble. 7:30 on a Friday night you can forget it, obviously, but which idiot wanders into Soho at 7:30 on a Friday night and expects to get a table somewhere decent without a reservation?

But this post isn't about Busaba Wardour Street - last Saturday I visited the Bird Street branch, tucked around the back of Selfridges. The queue, predictably, was offputting, but it's a much bigger space than the Soho joint and so we found ourselves seated within about ten minutes - not bad.

Between the 5 of us we had a selection of small dishes from the sensibly pitched menu - chicken wings and tamarind sauce (really lovely actually), Prawn pomelo (an old favourite, served on edible green leaves for the novelty factor), crispy Thai calamari and a bowl of gorgeous Mussaman duck curry - still my favourite item after all these years. Service was brisk and friendly, and even the odd seating arrangements didn't seem to rankle as much this time, perhaps because there were enough of us to fit on two sides of a table and we could all hear the conversation - past experiences haven't been so social.

It all went down very well of course, and along with a little jug of hot sake the bill came to around £18. There's very little to moan about at Busaba - it's competent, fresh cooking delivered with flair and - the Holy Grail of chains - the standards don't seem to vary between branches. I am aware that this post may simply be preaching to the converted - if you live in London you've probably been many times already. If you don't live here, however, you won't have to wait too long - around 30 branches are set for rollout across the UK in the next five years. Go soon, before the sheen wears off and it just becomes another Wagamamas.

Rossmcross

Good food, average service, small portions! 10th August 2008

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Pretty good food, and ok value for that part of town...but why such pathetically small portions of rice?! If a Thai green curry comes with masses of delicious sauce...you need at least three times the amount of rice, and at over a quid for a small pot, it adds up!

Service is somewhat rude and rushed, and they can't wait to get you out of there.

mizzallure

Share food, not tables! 23rd March 2008

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If it weren't for my amazing dinner companion, my experience at Marylebone's Busaba Eathai would be rated as above-average, rather than as fabulously fantastic.

Maybe my expectations are high, but you can't blame me for wanting more...(I am referring to the restaurant now.)

I guess I should have never gone to a place where they wanted me to have a dining experience with a table full of strangers. Granted, we did score seats at the windows which allowed for a little privacy, and enabled us to wave at passer-byers.

The food was pretty good as well. Again, nothing to provoke mouth watering responses, but it was, well, pretty good. It also arrived with expediency. On that night, it rivaled McDonalds in its swiftness for providing food. The menu was thorough, yet not large enough to baffle and confuse.

Yes, Busaba was okay. Now, my dining companion on the other hand...but it's not nice to eat and tell.