Kiln was a medium size place serving spicy Thai dishes cooked over coals. As you enter there was a long counter, the first part of it faces the bar and the second part looks at the cooking area. Downstairs were additional tables and the bathrooms. If you go with 2 or fewer people, sit at the bar as downstairs was rather spartan. However, conversation for 4 is tough at a counter. Diners line up to await the opening and it is popular. The coals were heated to red hot and then placed in various-sized metal containers and the cooking pot/pan was placed on top. It was a fun show but also fairly warm, which was nice for a cool London day. Music was in the background and the place was pretty bright at lunch. Staff were friendly and helpful but the stools were close together and it’s not the most comfortable place to sit. The food came out quickly and your counter space is limited so you can expect a quick lunch if you want. It seemed like more of a beer place than wine or cocktails but they have full bar available. The food was spicy, the server can advise you on which dishes will suit your palate. They used as many products from Britain as they can source. We ordered more than we could eat but wanted to try a good sampling of their dishes. While I loved the full flavor of the dishes this place will not be for everyone.
Set-Up
Food
Jin Toob was made with beef hanger steak. It may have been my favorite of the lunch. The meat was cooked and then grilled so I worried that it would be dry – it was not. It was tender and delicious. A bit hard to cut with just forks and spoons as utensils but wonderfully flavorful.
Slow-grilled chicken and soy had a lovely brown to the skin and was reasonably moist on the white meat. It was good but paled in comparison to the beef.
Laap Mee of Grey Mullet came in small pieces topped with crispy shreds. There were various greens mixed into this curry dish. It was spicy but the milder of the two curries we had. It was tasty
Stir fried Cornish greens and soy were a mix of green leaves. They were one of my husband’s favorite dishes and they were quite good. Lightly tossed in a wok with seasoning and spices, the main problem was that many of the leaves were quite large and it was hard to stuff it in your mouth in one bite or find a way to cut.
Pad Ped of Cull Yaw was the spicer of the 2 curries we had, so the chef gave us a bowl of brown rice to moderate it. You can see the red chilies on the plate and there were plenty worked into the dish but it was fairly edible but I do like spicy food. It was much easier to eat with the rice but there was no spoon for the rice so it was a challenge. Nevertheless, it was the better of the two curries in my opinion. Cull Yaw comes from older sheep that have stopped producing so they are culled from the herd.
Clay Pot baked glass noodles with Tamworth Belly and Brown Crab was the major disappointment. This is one of their most popular dishes but it fell flat for me. The glass noodles were on top of the crab and bacon and there was a green sauce to toss onto it. I tried it alone and it was okay and then added the sauce which mostly seemed to flavor it with lime. The belly on the bottom was limp and not really flavorful whereas the brown crab was very difficult to pick out but had a very strong flavor.
