Tucked away just behind Topshop/urban outfitters in the ever so busy shopping district, Oxford Street. Next door to “the social bar/club” well known for their fun hip-hop karaoke nights, is their neighbour Ora. Ora’s a contemporary stylish Thai restaurant in the heart of London.
Curiosity led me to this place, after seeing “R’s” instagram feed of food porn, several photos struck me. The Tub-Tim-Grob dessert especially fascinated me. As promised “R” took me to Ora.
I arrived there first one afternoon, greeted by the receptionist; I was guided to a quiet corner in the restaurant. There weren’t many diners at the time, those who were there was finishing up their meals.
When “R” finally arrived, he ordered us both iced Thai tea, I was well thrilled to see this on the menu, not a lot of places have ice Thai tea. It was served in a cute miniature clay cup. This rich tasty like sweet caramel drink is unforgettable.
(I forgot to take photo’s of drinks forgive me)
I already made my mind up with the choice of mains; I fancied one of the special dishes from the la Carte menu. The Gai yang, grilled chicken served with northern Thai dressing.
“R” ordered a whole load of starters, as a native Thai I trusted him to pick the dishes. The food came in a leisurely pace, where we enjoyed our ice tea and conversations. We ordered so much we had to move to a bigger table to accommodate our food.
Tow Hoo Satay
The tofu was mega firm, and didn’t fell apart on it’s own there wasn’t much flavour expect for the chargrilled taste. When dipped in the flavoursome homemade peanut satay sauce, the pairing balances each other out.
Som tum
The popular green papaya salad comes with 2 extra options with Pu (that’s salty crabs) or Pla Ra (fermented fish sauce) “R” said the crab was quite bitter so opted to have the salad as it was. This dish combined the flavours of sweet, savoury, sour and subtle heat from the chillies. It was one of my favourites from the meal. I loved the crispy texture, crunchiness of the vegetables and the sauce.
From “R’s” photo I thought this was one large dumpling. In real life 5 pieces are neatly stacked on one pile, drizzled with the balsamic soy sauce. The skin is similar to the chinese wonton’s filled with juicy ground pork.
Gai yang
This is a popular street food and restaurant speciality. The portions was very generous, the chicken was a little on the dry side. I struggled to finish the dish there was too much meat.
“R’s” main Kor moo yang was defiantly the better main, marinated pork neck with Thai dressing. The pork was infused with flavour well seasoned; it looked and tasted lip-smacking good.
To finish off we had the traditional Thai desserts. Tub-Tim-Grob, is an ice cold sweet dessert, the red looking stuff are water chestnuts, filled with shredded jackfruit and coconut jelly.
Kow Niew Ma-Muang, is sweetened sticky rice with coconut cream with slices of mango. Both provided a refreshing treat to the contrast of the starters mains and starters. The desserts was light without being overly too sweet.
“R” also ordered a lovely drink that consisted of yummy calpico, I can’t seem to find this on the menu and have no idea what it is called.
Overall the meal was great, my favourites was the green papaya salad, the pork dumplings, pork neck and the drinks. Ora a intimate dining place, and they have large variety of Thai dishes on offer. Next time I would love to try the curries and other dishes.
6 Little Portland Street London W1W 7JE
