Food review: Aroi Thai, Shrewsbury

At Aroi Thai, authentic food is served with a twist. It’s tapas style, giving diners the chance to try lots of little bites, as Andy Richardson finds out. . .

Wednesday evening. Nothing doing. The streets were quiet and the restaurants even quieter.

Who wants to eat at 6.30pm when the weekend is just around the corner and spring has finally sprung? There are beer gardens to enjoy and XXL-sized Friday and Saturday nights to look forward to. Most chefs, you’d imagine, might call it a day and head home with a takeaway and an idea of what they want to watch on Netflix.

But some, like the brigade at Aroi Thai, get as much rest as a pollster before a General Election. A great concept, smart menus and a vast dining area keep them busy not just on high days in holidays, but at every point in between.

And so while other waiters were busy peering through the blinds, wondering whether anyone might walk in, the team at Aroi Thai were ferrying menus to businessmen and couples, to college students and mates who were catching up.

Aroi Thai launched almost two years ago and made an instant impression on Shrewsbury’s dining scene. For a while the town has more than its fair share of Thai restaurants, the quality at some can be variable. The company emerged from a restaurant at Nantwich, in Cheshire, which opened in 2008 and proved so successful that Aroi Thai decided to expand.

They found a decent site in Shrewsbury, imported teak wood furniture and wall carvings from Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand, and got to work.

Hell, Aroi Thai is so damn authentic that there are even paintings by elephants on the walls. Yes, elephants. I kid you not. And in case you’re unsure, the website backs up the boast: “On display within the restaurant are paintings by elephants from the world famous Maesa Elephant Camp, Chiang Mai. This, like the beautiful furnishings have to been seen to be believed, how such large and powerful animals can create such delicate works of art.”

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Ha, it puts Dali’s canon into perspective.

Elephant art aside, the real lure of Aroi Thai is the food. In addition to a traditional main course menu – it’s all massaman and jungle curries, green and red curries, tom yam and pad Thai – Aroi Thai offers a tapas selection. And that’s where the action is really at. The modestly-sized portions give diners the opportunity to add variety and try something new, without taking too big a culinary risk.

So, for instance, a table might enjoy juicy pork ribs with a rich honey sauce alongside Thai fish cakes with sweet chilli sauce and carrot and cucumber pickle with a small green curry and a pot of jasmine rice. What’s not to like? It’s a smart way to do business. The restaurant sells more, customers get better choice.

Service was reasonable, if not a little inexperienced. The two front of house staff were perfectly polite and well mannered but lacked confidence and tended to dither.

“Is everything alright?”

“Yes, fine, thank you.”

“OK. Are you sure?”

“Erm . . . ”

They needed to be a little more assertive, a little more polished. Neither waitress was really sure of herself.

The food, however, was spot on. I ate from the tapas menu – when in Rome, and all that – or should that be Bangkok?

Prawn crackers with a sweet chilli dip were served as I perused the menu; they had crunch in all the right places with just a good amount of heat in the dip.

My dinner was served together, so that I could graze like Yul Brynner in The King and I. Four moist and perfectly scorched chicken satay sticks arrived alongside a plate of crunchy, battered squid and a small portion of Thai red curry. Coconut rice helped me to soak up the sauce.

The satay was delightful. The chicken had been blasted with heat, so that it was delightfully caramelised but deliciously tender within. The satay was peanut-ey with a generous amount of chilli, giving it kick. The squid was a treat. A batter so brittle and bronzed that I thought I might have to call the crunch police coated tender, gently cooked pieces of squid. More sweet chilli dip added delightful seasoning and the contrast between tender chicken and crunchy squid made for pleasurable eating.

The red curry came last. And while the balance of flavours was great – warm, not hot – the balance of ingredients was a little awry, with too much carrot and bean sprouts and not enough chicken. It might be a smart way to save a few pence on the dish’s gross profit, but a more generous portion of protein ought to have been served to meet this customer’s expectations.

As delicious and authentic as the desserts looked – the mango with sticky rice sounding particularly good – I skipped desserts, having become replete from my three mini-courses plus rice.

There was no need for the fat lady to sing, the fat diner was doing just that. My bill, with a large sparkling water, was £23, which seemed perfectly reasonable.

I’m surprised more restaurants don’t go down the tapas route, particularly as we head into deep spring and early summer. Grazing is a thing. People like to snack and share. Brexit may have severed the ties with some of our European friends, but their approach to convivial eating remains on-message when the nights get longer and warmer. Who doesn’t like a bottle of something decent, great company and plenty of food to pick at over delicious conversation?

There are three really good Thai restaurants in Shropshire, which, are conveniently spread around the county: Aroi Thai, in Shrewsbury; The King and Thai, at Broseley; and Chang Thai, in Ludlow. And in its first almost-two-years, Aroi Thai has been consistently good. Sure, there are tweaks here and there that could improve things – more confident service, more chicken in the curry – but it remains a cut above the competition.