Newsagents, train stations, maternity wards—when we think about it, we’re truly pushed to come up with an environment that wouldn’t be exponentially improved by a pool table. Speedboat Bar, a lively Thai restaurant in Chinatown from the folks behind Plaza Khao Gaeng, continues to prove this irrefutable theory. The fact that it makes wolfable curries and has one of the best desserts in London does it no harm either. Throw in a self-pour three-litre Singha beer tower and you’ve got a restaurant that wants everyone to have a good time while eating crowd-pleasing Thai food.

The good times at Speedboat are split over two floors. Downstairs, which is corridor-ish and has tables crammed together, feels more in-and-out. It’s soundtracked by the chatter of tightly knit groups of friends and the scraping of spoons in excellent sauces and broths. The £9 set lunch menu also makes it ideal for daytime bustle. The upstairs of the restaurant-cum-bar—all browns, yellows, and red carpet—has the colour palette of a Shane Meadows film and is open until 1am on weekends. Although there’s a stumble-into feel about the room and the pool table can get rowdy after hours, the majority of friends around the metal canteen-style tables have booked well in advance. 

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Speedboat Bar’s decor, made up of Thai paraphernalia collected from head chef Luke Farrell’s time in Bangkok, is similarly careful in its outwardly motley but exacting placement. Doraemon (a bright blue Japanese cat cartoon character that’s revered in Thailand) is dotted around, the walls are adorned with pictures of boat racers, and Coca-Cola cutlery holders sit on polished tables around the bar. If the whole thing sounds a little like cosplay that’s because it is. Farrell spent a great deal of time in Thailand and, before opening Plaza Khao Gaeng, was supplying Thai restaurants across London with tropical herbs and ingredients from his farm in Dorset. The success of his first tribute restaurant on Tottenham Court Road means that this one—which is even louder and more filmic—is under greater scrutiny, but the food is still very good. As far as an experiential restaurant goes, this is up there.

Drinking snacks-wise, chicken skins, covered in chilli powder and MSG, are incredibly moreish. Other bits are a little less bar-and-cue friendly, but even more essential. The unapologetically fiery drunkard’s noodles are a must-order for anyone who enjoys the long, drawn out, heat of a steam room. When it comes to curries, the lurid red, meltingly gorgeous plate of beef tongue and tendon is the pick of the bunch. The one dessert, the deep-fried 7-11 pineapple pie with taro ice cream, is singular in every respect. That said, not everything will blow you away and we’re not sure the cocktails are value for money, but where there’s oomph missing, Speedboat Bar’s feeling of fun makes up for it. And as far as food in the vicinity of a pool table goes, there are very few better.

Food Rundown

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Chicken Skins With Zaep Seasoning

If there was any justice in the world, these chicken skins covered in MSG and chilli powder would be available at every pub and bar in London.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Pickled Mustard Greens And Chinese Sausage

Sour, spicy, and wholly savoury. This is one of our favourite plates on the menu. The sausage has a light hum to it and combined with a pile of pickled herbs and vegetables, it makes for an invigorating mouthful.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Drunkard’s Noodles

This bitingly spicy and soy-stained pile of chewy noodles, fried with seafood and beef, is a lesson in wok hei. The edges of the noodles are just a little singed and there are whopper chunks of beef, squid, and king prawns interspersed.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Tom Yam Mama Noodles

This soup is named after the instant packet these noodles come out of, but the toppings are much more time consuming. There are crispy skin slices of roasted pork belly, juicy meatballs, chunky king prawns, and thumb-sized pieces of squid, all in a lime and chilli-oil heavy curry broth.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

Beef And Tendon Curry

Perhaps not a crowd-pleaser on paper, there’s no doubt that this part-brown, part lava-coloured curry is the one that you should have on your table. It’s got the flavour of an intensified red curry and the meat is slowly and ever so gently braised, to the point of barely being able to hold itself together on the plate.

photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch

7/11 Pineapple Pie

A golden, sugar-laden pastry pocket, filled with sweet pineapple chunks in syrup—hot, but not third degree burn hot—with a scoop of lilac taro ice cream on top. It’s sweet, it’s crunchy, it’s syrupy, it’s hot, it’s cold, it’s a McDonald’s apple pie that’s come back from its gap year in a very good way.

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