A Taste of Thailand in London: Greyhound Café Comes to Fitzrovia

In the late 90s, Inkawat turned the brand into a lifestyle phenomenon, launching the first Greyhound Cafè in the chic Thai neighbourhood of Sukhumvit. After spreading over 17 locations across Asia, Greyhound now brings the best of Bangkok to London’s Fitzrovia.

“London and Bangkok share a mutually cosmopolitan outlook, so I am very excited to be introducing Greyhound Café to Londoners,” says Inkawat.
“Although we are Thai at heart, the restaurant is anything but a traditional Thai restaurant. Our inspirations come from far and wide – some recipes were handed down from our grandmothers, some were dishes from our travel memories and others were inspired by our midnight fridge raids. Just like in Bangkok, we mix traditional and international, street and couture, all fused together in a beautiful, chaotic way.”
At the Fitzrovia space, Thai-meets-West food, drink and design are meshed with a cosmopolitan outlook.

Set over two floors, Greyhound Café London features a canopied patio at its entrance welcoming guests. Designed by B3 Architects, the ground floor bar and dining room are decked out with Bangkok style shophouse shutters, ‘Cho Huay’ (Thai grocery store) inspired bric-a-brac shelves, and a hanging oversized Sai fish trap centrepiece tangled with a school of woven Tilapia, a Thai symbol for good fortune.

Downstairs, the basement dining room brings the Bangkok street scene indoors with corrugated metal-sheeted walls, mock folding tables, brightly coloured chairs and Thai ‘Temple Fare’ pendant lights.

On our visit, our party of two ordered two Thai-style ‘single plates’ to start, splitting the ‘Salmon in Hot Pursuit’, a platter of thinly sliced sashimi-grade salmon in chilli-spiked green sauce, and the signature ‘Complicated Noodle’, a DIY taco-like wrap of iceberg lettuce and rice noodle sheets with soy-braised pork herb salsa.

For mains, we dove in to Pork Knuckle Tod Krob, German-style pork knuckle simmered with Thai herbs, deep fried until golden and served with sticky rice and the ‘Angry Pasta’, wok-fried noodles with mixed seafood, holy basil and a good dose of Thai chillies and vegetarian Pad Thai prepared with shitake mushroom stems.

We finished with Sago An-Chan – tapioca pearls brightly coloured with butterfly pea flower, served with Greyhound’s signature fresh coconut sorbet.

The dishes and ambiance were divine, and the friendly staff walked us through the magazine-style, mammoth menu. While the choice is overwhelming, don’t be put off – you’re sure to end up with something delicious.

Greyhound Café is open Monday – Sunday 12pm – 10:30PM at 37 Berners Street Fitzrovia, London, W1T 3NB, UK.