Sangthai Reviews | Excelle

Take a drive up the A19 until you reach the village of Escrick and you'll find the sweetest up & coming Thai restaurant of the North. The moment you drive up the pebbled path you are embraced by the elegant surroundings of St. Helens church set amongst, newly landscaped tropical gardens and woodland. The restaurant itself occupies St. Helens cottage, offering a quaint merging of Thai meets Yorkshire, and it's been pulled off with class.

We were met with a traditional warm Thai welcome and led through a fresh, clean interior with subtle Thai decor, bamboo furniture and soft lighting. There's an air of romance here enjoyed by couples and groups alike.

Once seated you're presented with an exciting and inviting menu - informative and colourful it instantly gets you flipping backwards and forwards as you try to make your mind up. In the end we gave up and asked advice on what treats to sample. We are recommended set menu 'C' and went with it.

The fishcakes were lovely and although I'm not usually a big fan of spare ribs I was pleasantly surprised and would definitely have them again! When it came to the soup however, we realised we'd bitten off more than we could chew….We had previously been asked if we liked our food spicy and forgetting that Thai food naturally has a little kick to it, we said yes. Hmmmm.

The Hot and Sour Soup was exactly this with extra kick. It was very fiery, infused with chillies, lime leaves and lemongrass and looked fantastic, but was hot, real hot! Our advice, here, is that unless you like your taste buds numbing, then do as the menu suggests and ask for a slightly milder version! There's no shame in it and at it means you'll actually get to taste the food!

After taking a few moments to cool down with a glass of 'Monsson Valley' (Thai white wine grown on the 'floating vineyards') we continued on to the second course. This was excellent and we were relieved to find not too fiery. The beef with chilli and basil was a lovely combination and the Thai Green Curry was one of the best we've ever had. The vegetables were fantastic, colourful, crunchy and complemented the other dishes well. You could tell everything had been cooked fresh.

After all this we were disappointed to find that we couldn't manage dessert especially as we'd had the 'Rambutan in syrup' in mind. We shall be saving that one however for next time, and there will be a next time.

Despite the very spicy start, the meal was lovely, well presented with a wide selection of choice in all areas. The service was friendly, helpful and polite. The prices are very reasonable averaging at about £30 per head for 3 courses, wine and coffee.

The Christmas menu looks great and will definitely make a change from all that turkey! The Sangthai Christmas menu starts from 7th December. The restaurant is open every night except Monday. You can make bookings on 01904 728462.