Kiln
Kiln review in Soho: Ben Chapman's Thai counter on Brewer Street, walk-in, still serves the best bowl of clay-pot noodles in London. Lunch is the cheapest.
Kiln is a counter, a few tables, and an open charcoal kitchen on Brewer Street in Soho. The menu is short and written on a board; the kitchen cooks in clay pots and iron skillets over a bed of hardwood.
The room
If you can, sit at the counter - ten seats facing the kitchen. If you cannot, the little dining room at the back is pleasant and quieter, but you will miss half the theatre. Walk-ins are held for the counter.
What to order
The clay-pot glass noodles with brown crab. Always. Then the grilled aged lamb skewers, the sai ua, the jungle curry. Finish with the coconut ice cream with peanuts.
The drinks list
Short, sharp, modern. A handful of natural bottles, a standing glass-pour of something cold and high-acid.
What you will pay
Four dishes and two drinks each, service included: around £55 per head at dinner. Lunch is cheaper and, for our money, better.
The verdict
For a solo lunch, a walk-in counter meal with a book, or a fast weeknight dinner, Kiln is close to perfect.
Clara Whitfield
Editor and restaurant critic
Clara Whitfield is the editor and lead restaurant critic of Vivi. She has eaten through the London restaurant scene professionally for over a decade, contributing reviews and features to regional and national food publications.
She writes Vivi's weekly restaurant review and the Saturday essay. She prefers early dinners and a table facing the room.
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