I caught up with Rofel this evening at the very funky, extremely busy and popular Mango Tree. Even though we changed our booking time a number of times we were pleased that when we arrived at the restaurant, despite the obvious number of people sitting around waiting for tables, that we were immediately seated.

It was very clear that the waiters were under a lot of pressure to clear the tables as quickly as possible if the fact we were asked about 3 times in the first 10 minutes whether we were ready to order was any indication. Finally those around us got the hint and left us alone until we signalled the waiter for attention. The menu at Mango Tree is extensive (both drinks and food) and, aside from the fact we were busy chatting and catching up, just working out way through the menu took us quite some time (food came very quickly once we did order though.)

Rofel, despite being a skinny little thing (heh heh), had quite an appetite and decided we should have three starters to share before both selecting a main. She’s a pescatorian so we were a little more limited in our options (a good thing in light of the extensive selections I think!) – we ended up trying the mixed seafood skewers, grilled tofu skewers and prawn spring rolls. All were decent selections though I think with the skewers the peanut sauce won it for me and the prawn spring rolls were especially delicous.

For mains I had no idea what to go for but I decided to go for the duck curry purely because it was served in a pineapple boat! Trust me to go for the gimmicky thing. Rofel went with the king prawn pad thai. Both were equally delicious and presented beautifully.

Once they’d cleared our main dishes (thankfully they didn’t try to hurry us to finish our meals) the maitre’d, Tat, brought over the dessert menus. Literally 30 seconds later he came back very apologetic and asked if we’d mind going to the bar for some complimentary tea/coffee whilst we decided on a dessert and to have our dessert there. He said there’d been a mix up with tables and he really needed our table. We had already decided by then that we were way too full for any dessert and told him we were happy just to take the bill. He was quite insistent though and before we knew it we were standing at the very crowded bar. Unbelievably at 9.30 the restaurant was still heaving.

We really were full though and decided to try and sneak our way into paying the bill. The maitre’d caught us though and after giving us free Mango Tree branded chopsticks somehow managed to shuffle us back to the bar with a complimentary glass of wine in our hands without us even realising! Quite funny.

Mango Tree was a very pleasant experience. Service, apart from the sort of rushed start, was fantastic, friendly and from Tat quite over the top (personally I think he had a crush on Rofel!). Food was top notch and cocktails, including a nice array of non-alcoholic ones, were very tasty. The only drawback was the price -the £15.50 a curry without rice gives you an indication – quite highly-priced for Thai food. You can capitalise on deals though top table though which tive you 50% which brings the price back to something a bit more value for money.