Sukothai in Penzance is a small and cosy Thai restuarant near the top of Queens Street. It seemed quite popular perhaps benefitting from being one of few places open during the week (Tues to Sunday). The week we visited in September many other places did not open until nearer the weekend

We had spotted the place having walked back up the hill from the promenade and had made a mental note that it was quite close to where we were staying just off Market Jew Street and that it wasn’t down that hill!

Reviews online had seemed fairly positive, they were open, and as we passed they had tables free so we took a punt and wandered in off the street to dine.

The large laminated menu with pictures of the food is always something that charms me, even when most of the dishes sometimes look exactly the same. I put some pictures of the menu towards the end of this post if you are at all interested.

Anyway I digressed, after some perusal we settled on a couple of starters to share, a main each, and sides of rice.

Lets have a look at what we ate

CHICKEN SATAY

I suspect that the first ever Thai food I ate was Chicken Satay and that is probably why I continue to order it many years later. It is a very easy introduction to Asian food for a young kid, basically it is grilled chicken with peanut butter or at least that was how it was first sold to me 🤣

The starter portion here at Sukothai was quite generous for one person but easily enough for two. I liked that you get an equal amount of skewers with two each. The chicken was perhaps a little over done and chewy, the peanut dipping sauce was thick and gloopy in the best possible way. It was fine enough

PRAWNS IN BATTER

The second starter that we shared was a plate of Prawns in Batter, essentially deep fried prawns with a sweet chilli dipping sauce. I wasn’t sure about this dish. The batter was very soggy on the inside and slipped of a bit too easily for my liking.

The prawns were big and juicy and the accompanying dipping sauce was fine but I would not order this again as it just wasn’t that interesting even though I do like anything deep fried!

PAT PO TAEK

For my main I took a chance on the Pat Po Taek one of their stir fry dishes. I really fancied Shrimp for a change as I always seem to get Chicken or Beef so it felt like a bit of a leap of faith I was in uncharted waters.

The menu described this as ‘Prawn cooked with Thai curry paste, carrots, onions, peppers, and thai herbs‘ for £13.50.

My first impressions were ‘look at the crinkle cut carrots!’ followed by ‘there is a lot of vegetables on this plate!’ I am used to stir fries with more meat or fish, at least when I make one at home lol

It looks a lot and perhaps a bit clunky on the plate but I did enjoy the flavours of the somewhat thick sauce. I wasn’t sure what was in there but I definatly thought I had hints of lemongrass. lime and galangal. It was slight sour, perhaps more aromatic and I got hints of citrus too. It was different

I was also happy to find quite a decent portion of shrimp inside the dish, perhaps a lot more than I has expected when first presented with that mound of stir fried veg🤣🧐

I would probably order this again next time I go out for a Thai meal, if only for comparison just to see another places take on the dish

CHICKEN MASSAMAN CURRY

The Massaman Curry or Gaeng Massaman is a big favourite in our household so it was an easy choice. The menu described this as an ‘Aromatic, rich curry made with massaman curry paste, red peppers and carrots, onion and peanut‘ as we chose to have it with chicken it came at a fairly reasonable price of £10

It was decent curry, the sauce as expected tasted mainly of peanut with a hint of spice. More often than not we get this with potato as well so were slightly surprised at it’s absence or maybe it was in there and we just didn’t notice it?

This was all harmless enough and was fairly pleasant to eat mixed in with the accompanying dish of white rice it made for a filling meal

Sukothai was a very popular spot and many of the people we saw dining there seemed to be regulars so that must be a good thing. It did feel a little old fashioned and perhaps slightly basic. I hesitate to say that as it is not a bad thing, all to often these days on the high street some places have gone a bit fusion so you are never quite sure of the authenticity of the dishes

Sukothai are located at 47 Queens Street in Penzance TR18 4BQ. The place seemed to be quite tucked away and that was maybe why it was full of locals and regulars as I can’t see many visitors chancing upon the place

I have read since that the set meals are very popular here and that makes sense as the prices for those seemed quite reasonable. I felt going al-a-carte made it a bit more costly than I had expected but you know it was still fair enough for the money so I am not complaining. I just might take advantage of a set meal if I visited again

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