There’s a new Thai restaurant in Reading and I recently got the pleasure of taking my daughter Grace there for some special one on one time and to try some of the dishes as we are both massive fans of Thai food, although I should add I can’t take any real heat.
The restaurant is located where the old Jacksons store used to be, great big windows curved around the front of the building letting in lots of light. The space isn’t huge, but it’s been well thought out and I really liked the décor.
We were warmly greeted by a member of staff and shown to a table for two next to the window, I liked this, you can see all the activity going on outside so if you’re a people watcher like me you’ll love it too. Sometimes in restaurants you can feel like everyone can hear your conversation but it actually felt quite private even though we were in a busy room.
We were given a food menu and drinks menu along with a small carafe of water and two glasses. I have to admit I’d already been looking at the online menu beforehand to see what my options were. A great feature of the online menu is the option to turn on or off a calorie option, a nice touch for anyone needing to track calories.
There was a good selection of drinks on the menu including some cocktails I’d love to have tried but it was a Wednesday evening, so I tried one of the local beers and Grace had a coke.
Grace and I couldn’t decide on the starters and ended up selecting three from the menu to share, we opted for a new dish ‘Tod Mun Goong’ Prawn doughnuts £9.00 which were served with a sticky plum sauce. We received three doughnuts on the plate, the doughnuts were coated in panko breadcrumbs, the blend of coriander, garlic and prawn was a big hit with me. Grace thought the garlic was a little overpowing. ‘Por Pia Sod’ Fresh summer rolls with prawns served with a spicy dipping sauce £8.25 again three rolls came on the plate, you can choose to have this dish without the prawns, and it is slightly cheaper. A summer roll always feels so fresh on the palette and I enjoyed the sensation in my mouth and the meaty prawns, one critic would be the rolls stuck together so when picking up the rice paper ripped, this didn’t impact the taste however, it made me rush to eat the roll before I lost the filling and ‘Khaopod Tod’ sweetcorn fritters bites £7.00 served with a sweet chilli sauce, perfectly sized to pop in the mouth. This was a favourite with Grace and although it has a one Chilli grade for heat, I didn’t find it hot at all.
For our main course I choose my favourite Thai dish, Pad Thai, it always brings back happy memories of a holiday spent in Thailand almost 30 years ago. I chose to add chicken, £14.00, to mine but there was also an option for King Prawn, £15.00, or Tofu and vegetables, £13.00. It was a really generous portion and after having the other dishes I could easily share this dish. There was plenty of meat, often this is something which is skimped on but not here and a generous portion of peanuts.
I thought I’d accompany my main with a small green papaya salad, but because it was a salad we didn’t pay any attention to the chilli rating and I got the shock of my life when I popped some in my mouth. It was three chilli’s and set my mouth on fire. The staff were great and offered me a glass of milk and to replace the dish with another with less heat. I decided to leave it and see if Grace wanted it – she could handle heat a lot better than me.
Grace opted for a new recipe ‘Gaeng Tay Po’ red curry with a two-Chilli rating. This is one of Rosa’s signature curries, balancing rich red curry paste with crunchy greens, tamarind, basil and chillis. There was a good selection of protein from Chicken for £14.50 which Grace had, Prawns, Pork belly, Slow cooked beef cheek or Tofu and vegetables. She accompanied this with a portion of coconut rice £4.50 and a traditional Asian flatbread – Roti £3.75.
Again, there was a generous portion of meat in the curry, it was not too spicy unless you ate the chillis, the sauce was sweet and creamy, and Grace thought that it paired really well with the coconut rice.
I would have really liked to have tried one of the desserts, however, after such a feast I was fit to burst.
In summary, the restaurant is in a convenient location in Reading town, there is plenty on the menu to tempt your taste buds and suit all budgets. I will be going back to Rosa’s and possibly even try one of the lunchtime offerings with a selection of one of 12 dishes for just £12.
Review by Claire Nash
