Kiln isn’t just one of the best Thai-influenced restaurants in London. It’s one of the best restaurants in London full-stop. The bar is where you want to be at this spot on Brewer Street, where the clay pots are sizzling on open flames in front of your eyes, and a bead of sweat is forming on your forehead as you take another bite of ox heart laab. Nothing here is a watered down. It’s not a wishy-washy take on Thai food, it’s fully charged, chilli-heavy stuff. Salty, sour, and very much spicy. The bar is the best place in the restaurant, right in the heart of the action, whether with a friend sharing a duck curry and some of claypot pork and crab glass noodles, or pitching up on your own. Downstairs there are bigger tables but upstairs is the one. If you can’t handle the heat, then get out of Kiln.