Dreaming of Thailand with Chaophraya's new menu

Thailand is high on my list of places to visit before I kick the bucket. I dream of care-free days spent exploring islands as I soak in it's rich culture. Until the day I tick Thailand off my wanderlist, I'll settle for eating truly scrumptious Thai food. Last Thursday I visited Chaophraya in Liverpool and I've been dreaming of a trip to Thailand ever since.

Nipping back to my friend's house after work, we quickly swapped our work attire for something a little more dressy (and roomy so we could fill our tums with tasty thai food obviously!) and jumped in the car to drive to Liverpool. En route we naturally blasted out the Disney top hits and arrived at Chaophraya in perfect time.

As we arrived we were shown to our table. Much to our delight, we were seated at a huge round table away from the hustle and bustle of the main restaurant floor. Feeling giddy, we flicked through the drinks menu. A few minutes passed and some other girls were seated at our table. Completely unprepared, I felt a little panicky about sharing a table with other people. Thankfully, the nerves slowly eased and after a little while, I actually kind of liked sharing a table. After all, it meant I got to be nosey and see what food/drinks they opted for. Let me tell you, the bird cage cocktail looked divine!

Chaophraya's marketing manager kindly popped over to see us and told us all about the story behind Chaophraya. The restaurant has recently updated their menu, giving it a complete new look (and taste!) for the first time in over three years. That's a seriously long time seeing as most restaurants update their menus seasonally but I promise you it's been worth the wait. The chefs were whisked off to their home country (yes, they are all proudly from Thailand!) where they spent time learning and perfecting the new menu. It's clear that a lot of thought and care goes into creating an authentic, high quality experience at Chaophraya. The restaurant, menu and ethos is rich in culture which I think is both important and sweet.

I'm usually a girl who swears by the rule of never sharing food, ever. But with so much amazing choice on the menu, I had to break the rules. Being the rebellious rule-breakers that we are we decided to share starters. We agreed upon a classic Chicken Satay with the less conventional Thai Chicken Tacos.

The starters were incredible!! So much thought had gone into the presentation of the food, which was really adorable. I always think if they care enough to present the food nicely then it leaves you with high hopes for the taste and quality of the food! Although red thai curry tacos may sound a little odd. I mean, mixing Thai food with Mexican?! But it was a winning recipe. We both agreed that whilst we love chicken satay as a classic dish, the tacos were our favourite out of the two. Plus, having them both together was even tastier as I found the satay balanced out the spicy kick of the tacos.

In natural fashion, when it came to choosing my main course I was as indecisive as ever. I was completely torn between having the Chamber Aged Sirloin Steak, which is served with a Himalayan rock salt block for you to sear your own steak, and Chicken Pad Thai. Simply because cooking your own steak is pretty damn novel and exciting in my eyes and it's been a while since I've enjoyed a good piece of steak. On the flipside, I was at a Thai restaurant so shouldn't I go for a classic thai dish and personally, I'm a huge lover of an authentic pad thai. Alas, I couldn't choose so I asked the waitress to pick for me, her eyes lit up as she excitedly gave a definitive answer. And with that, I wound up having the steak.

The main course did not disappoint. The steak was delicious as it just melted away in my mouth. The Himalayan rock salt added another layer of flavour to the dish and the stir-fried veg was incredible. I could have eaten those adorable little mushrooms all day long.

With our main courses demolished, it was clearly time for dessert. Noticing they had Chocolate Bomb on the menu, all other desserts were completely out of the question. I wanted the magic of watching my dessert melt away to reveal even more yummy dessert inside! The dessert was delicious and a little bit boozy. When I was younger and working night shifts, I used crawl into bed at 8am to watch a movie and drink a glass (or two) of neat whiskey before nodding off to sleep. Thankfully those days are behind me. Nowadays, if I'm going to consume whiskey, I'd much rather it be in ice cream form.

I had an amazing time at Chaophraya. The food was amazing and the company was even sweeter. We spent our evening swapping stories and giggling all night long. The only thing to note was that service was a little bit slow at times. But then again, I'm always hungry so I'm a hard girl to please when it comes to service time. I maaaay have scoffed an Oreo biscuit from out of my handbag whilst waiting for food to be served. Hey, what can I say, I'm a girl who always carries emergency snacks to stop hanger from striking. But the incredibly delicious food and the wonderful service certainly made up for that. I just couldn't fault them. I was blown away by how much thought has noticeably gone into this menu and the experience provided at Chaophraya.

Since my visit to Chaophraya, I've been dreaming of Thailand and all the wonderful Thai food daily. I can't wait to revisit the restaurant and to one day visit Thailand too.


*Please note that a complimentary 3-course meal was kindly provided by Chaophraya. However, all words, thoughts and photographs in this post remain that of my own. If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a message :)