I love coming to Royston as there are so many great places to eat. I am a big fan of British Raj particularly, especially after my visit last year. Sean and I were delighted to hear that Safwaan (the owner of British Raj) has just opened a Thai restaurant down the road. I have always said that we do not review enough Thai restaurants on the blog, so I was keen to pop by and see whether he could produce another gem for the town.
Thai food is great because it ticks all the boxes. It’s healthy, spicy, and delicious. Better yet, it doesn’t bloat you like certain other cuisines, so you don’t feel like an amorphous blob after eating. I must make an effort to visit more Thai restaurants from now on!
The Guard House is located on the historic Kneesworth Street. It’s easily missed due to its listed status, making it hard to put signs out the front, but once you enter you are immediately rewarded with a beautifully historic building with so much charm and character.
The train station is a 5 minute walk and there is free parking after 18:30 on the street, so it’s easy for people to get here by car or train.
They have done a great job with the space and are even opening more seating upstairs, giving it a significantly bigger capacity than it looks when first entering. The restaurant is beautifully decorated with authentic Thai decorations and statues, along with a nice wooden bar and a seating area for collections
We started off with a few beers and some Thai prawn crackers. The prawn crackers were lovely and served in a nice basket. We were also presented with a choice between Singha, Chang, and Heineken in bottled beer. It was great to see two authentic Thai beers available and we were also informed that a draught tap of Singha beer is due to be installed in the future.
We were treated with a mixed platter that included Thai fish cake (left), spring rolls (centre top), chicken satay sticks (centre bottom), and prawn toast (right).
Everything was executed really well on the platter, especially the prawn toast and the Thai fish cakes that stood out as my two favourites. The fish cakes were really meaty and the prawn toast had a wonderfully crunchy texture and bold flavour.
The spring rolls were big and meaty, just how I like them! This is a far cry from the ones I had at another Thai restaurant a while back that reminded me of how bad spring rolls can be.
The chicken satay was a little tough and the peanut sauce that accompanied it was a little runny for my liking but this was by no means unenjoyable.
Being the national dish of Thailand, the Pad Thai was an absolute must and it did not disappoint. Sean was a particular fan of this dish and was singing its praises all evening. The peanuts that accompanied it gave the dish a real crunch and portions were generous. It was garnished with a leafy side salad that added colour to an otherwise beige looking meal. Top marks for presentation.
Next, we were presented with the “weeping tiger”. This is a Sirloin steak that is aged for 21 days and brought out on a sizzling hot plate. This was accompanied by a selection of mixed vegetables and chilli sauce. I really liked the fact that the steak is also sourced from a local butcher in Meldreth. We were also given the choice of how the steak was cooked. This is something you do not always get in a Thai restaurant. Pictured above is rare. Lovely!
We shared a red Thai curry presented in a romantic heart shaped bowl. This was accompanied with some Thai sticky rice. You get a choice of how spicy you want it, which basically decides how many chillies are put in the dish. This was a fairly standard take on the red Thai curry but it will not offend anyone either. The vegetables were all excellent and delightfully crunchy giving it a great texture but I felt that the sauce was not thick enough, making it quite brothy. The rice was done very well but the chicken was a little tough. Portions were generous and the presentation was very good.
Everything was devoured by Sean and I and nothing was left by the end. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal here and felt like everything met the standard of a good Thai restaurant. The Guard House is a fine addition to Royston with particular stand outs being the prawn toast, fish cakes and the weeping tiger. Sean was talking about the Pad Thai the entire drive home so it clearly made quite an impression on him.
Who else has been to the Guard House? Let us know in the Cambridge Foodies community.
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