Ora Thai Cuisine, London – Review

After a tiring fashion shopping spree on Oxford Street you`ll no doubt be looking for somewhere to top the day off, so you may like to consider Ora on Little Portland Street, just 3 minutes walk from the TopShop building.

It`s pitched as Thai fine dining, however after our recent visit we felt it was more of a mid-high end restaurant with a few cherries on top to be fair. There`s nothing wrong with that of course, BUT it`s important it meets your expectations. The decor was chic, the service was `always there` and the food was fantastically tasty. Where Ora could potentially improve is in the finer detail (the right uniforms, improved branding, luxury soap in the toilets, less glaring pink neon etc) and once tackled, this could be a very special place.

In a little more detail, our experience led us to trial a few cocktails to start with. These were excellent and extremely tasty – make sure you try out some of the Thai specialities here.

In terms of the food, we opted for the hot and sour seafood soup and crab cakes, both of which were delicious. The mains menu is impressive (but perhaps a little overpriced), lots of different curries that we hadn`t experienced before at other restaurants, maybe this is Ora`s defining feature – a more traditional approach to its cuisine. We had a red duck curry with lyches and cherry tomatoes and a massaman curry, which were both superb.

So, to sum up… if you`re on or around Oxford Street, have the taste for a Thai cuisine or perhaps spoiling yourself with a cheeky cocktail, then this place is ideal. Alternatively, if you are looking for a Thai take away, then you may also consider Ora as this is a service they offer. The slight let down was the prices in relation to the total quality of experience – we`ve paid these prices for fine dining and had some of the best food palatable…