Ever since I first stepped foot on the Bailgate area of Lincoln, the Thailand No 1 restaurant has appealed to me. This award winning restaurant, close to the Cathedral and Castle, is contemporary in décor and since I moved into the city a few weeks ago, I was dying to seize the moment to eat here. That opportunity came when I had a friend over to stay and we had decided to go out to eat. My friend was pretty flexible with dining options, and there are plenty of different choices on the Bailgate, but I do find Thai food difficult to turn down.
We entered the restaurant at around 700pm on a Saturday night, and my first impressions were the sheer size of the place, and its popularity. From the street, I had only
seen the first third of the restaurant, but there is a second room behind, and a conservatory area beyond that, all of which were fairly choc-a-block with diners. I always believe this is testament to a great evening's dining. Although we had not booked we were shown to a table in the back dining room area, as long as we could vacate it by 845pm. We felt this was achievable and therefore we took our places.
My dining companion was not the greatest Thai fanatic, although always up to try something new, and we eventually opted for a 'banquet for two', to make the most of the tastes and flavours available. We opted for a £21 pp menu, which included a starter of soup, a platter of classical Thai starters with various dips, three mains, and noodles and rice. I do enjoy a massaman curry, i.e. the one with peanuts and potatoes and we swapped out a main dish on the banquet with this choice. Our other two main course dishes included King Prawns with Sweet and Sour Sauce, and Gai Pad Ka-Praw or Chicken stir fried with Thai fresh basil leaves. We also opted for a bottle of Chilean white wine, at a reasonable price of around £13 a bottle, and some sparking water.
We thought we had done well to have been allocated a table which could seat four at such a prime dining time, and our success was to be short-lived, as the senior waitress came in and asked us to move to the two-seater table behind us, which we did without fuss, albeit a minor amount of disappointment.
The soup itself - Tom Kha Gai is a hot & sour soup cooked with coconut milk, chicken and mushrooms, and was extremely tasty, although we were warned beforehand that small chillies were still in the soup itself. I adore Thai food, with its prominent flavours of lemongrass and ginger, although my friend was rather less certain about the ginger, but she soon managed to finish her soup course also.
The starter course was an artistic delight and included prawn toasts chicken satay, fish cakes dumplings, and plenty of sauces, all of which were very delicious. My friend and I had a lot of catching up to do, and were full of chatter, (and lots of tears!) however we felt the service was unobtrusive.
We were quite surprised at the mains, primarily as we were only expecting two, and the additional Gai Pad Ka Praw was very welcoming. The service was by no means rushed, even given the fact we had committed to returning the table by 0845pm. We did not in fact leave the restaurant until around 930pm, having consumed as much as we could of our Thai feast. I didn't settle the account, but overall the meal would have been around £60, which remains excellent value for a restaurant of this quality and given the number of different dishes we were able to taste.
There are several different set menus available, including a couple suitable for vegetarians, and all dishes are marked to show how hot they are. For those that prefer to order a la carte, the menu contains a comprehensive list of curries, red or green, as well as massaman, and a comprehensive list of meat and fish dishes.
Overall, if you are visiting Lincoln and looking for somewhere to visit, you will quite possibly find yourself in the Bailgate area of the city. If that is the case, then Thailand No 1 restaurant is an excellent place to stop, and offers great prices too.
Thailand No 1 Authentic Thailand cuisine 80-81 Bailgate Lincoln
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