Kum Luang

There are two Thai restaurants in Central Greenwich but this is the one to go for. It's not the very best Thai food I've ever had by a long chalk, but it's consistently decent, solid stuff, nicely presented in classic surroundings by friendly staff.

It's quite a large restaurant for Greenwich, with all the usual trappings - carved wooden screens, dancers headdresses, fans, silk wall hangings, etc - no funky modernism here, thank you very much. The bar has a fake wooden roofy-thing over it, and the diminutive waitresses wear traditional costume. Some seats are a little close together and personally I prefer the back of the first room for comfort. If the place is empty, and you want the back corner seat (easily the best for people-watching later) then don't brook arguments that it's full.

There are the classic nice little touches like flowers with your starter and prawn crackers while you choose your meal, and the dishes are generally milder than many I have had in other places, but none the worse for that - who wants to have their mouth numb by the third mouthful? The wine is actually very good for a Thai restaurant, too. So often it's a bit of an afterthought, but here you can get a reasonable bottle of bog-standard Chardonnay, for example, which won't taste like malt vinegar.

All in all, it really isn't bad as a meal choice, and we often end up there when we're looking for something uncomplicated, unchallenging and reasonably quick. Probably one of my most visited in Greenwich.