Fermented sausage
One of the first new-breed Thai restaurants in London, I was put off visiting Som Saa for a long while due to a sad episode of racism tangled up with the restaurant six years ago (here’s a relevant
Twitter thread). But we were at Spitalfields and needed lunch, and I’m optimistic enough to hope that – even if people struggled at the time with basic stuff like apologies – lessons may have quietly been learned.
In any event, the place is still here and their signature deep-fried sea bass is still on the menu. We ordered that, along with a mushroom laab, a pork neck curry and some cashews and fermented pork sausage to start. The cashews are tasty bar snacks, roasted to deep brown with a sweet-spicy-lime-y dusting. The fermented sausage has a great flavour, nicely sour and umami.
Pork neck curry
The sea bass is a wonderful beast, curled upon the plate and staring up at us like an angry horror film monster. One side is soft, delicate white flesh and the other is fried to a golden crisp. Both sides are delicious with the big pile of mint-heavy herbs, shallots, lime and chilies piled alongside. It’s a proper signature dish. The mushroom laab was also splendid, powerful earthy-fiery flavours shot through a good heap of chews oyster and other mushrooms. No complaints about the pork neck curry either, which had a brave amount of heat (especially if you stumbled on some of the big bits of chilli) and a mouth-watering sour note.
Som Saa is a good new-breed Thai option. I guess for me it falls somewhere between the earnestness of Kiln and the punchy joy of Plaza Khao Gaeng. You’ll probably pay around £30 each before drinks, which is good value for the quality. We picked a couple of the house cocktails: both good, with clear Thai flavours and highly drinkable.
Sea bass
