(27th June 2012)…. I’ve been to Thirteen, down a quiet little street in Storrington about 4 times now (I’m the Foursquare mayor, of course) (although like MOST places I get sod all for being the mayor, not even a little hat) and thought it about time I commented on how superb the food is. Tonight I had Mee Grob Goong followed by Phad Kra Pow Neue… do I need to say any more? Well, it’s all very authentic Thai food but it’s served in a very… hmm… English style. By that I mean it’s a typical starter, main course, pudding sort of menu with very well presented food to highlight all the individual flavours rather than being a big pile of mush on your plate like some places.

My starter was “Crispy noodles coated in chilli tamarind dressing.  Served with seared king prawn, bean sprouts and spring onion” which didn’t seem like much when it came out but was really filling and spicy without being hot. The main course though – “Stir fried beef fillet with chilli, garlic, dark soy and holy basil, accompanied with fried egg and cucumber” was even better even though Holy Basil sounds like someone in a Monty Python movie. It was a really rich, deep dish with an amazing balance between light flavours of the vegetables and cucumber and the beef and sauces.

It’s not a cheap place – dinner tonight was around £70 for starters and main courses with three glasses of wine, but it’s really worth it for a proper taste of Thai food.

I always like asking friends “if you could only eat one cultures food for rest of your life what’d it be?”…   and tonight reassured me that my choice of Thai is the correct one!