"Som Saa didn't blow me away, the way their old pop up in London Fields did. Perhaps not sitting outdoors, within view of the outdoor grills tempered the experience. Their pop up was strictly Isaan (NE Thailand) but the new bricks and mortar restaurant features cooking from other regions as well. I do appreciate that Som Saa tastes authentic in that the flavor combinations are complex. Also they do not have any of the standard issue items like pad thai and green curry on the menu. There were six of us at dinner so we could book a booth instead of queuing. The standout dishes were stir fried crispy pork which was spicy and caramelized and very crispy as well as the fermented pork salad. I also liked the char grilled chicken with tamarind which was soft and smokey with a very thin crisp skin. Aubergine salad was beautifully smoky and herbal as well. The table raved about the Burmese pork belly curry which was meltingly tender and slightly caramelized. The simple stir fried vegetables were terrific too, being charred at very high temperature in a hot wok. You just can't reproduce that at home in a domestic kitchen. I liked the grilled pork neck with a clean green tasting dressing. Some of the table complained that it was too hot. Same complaint regarding level of heat in the banana blossom salad from some of our table. The smoked trout was a tiny portion although I did really like the deep fried skin served separately. The prawn pork and peanut salad was okay but not outstanding. Same for the chicken stir fried with chrysanthemum. We shared a couple of desserts. The Thai Rubies should have been redder, but tasted of memories of SE Asia being a blend of sweet, salt, coconut, chewiness, and crunchiness. I would have preferred shaved ice instead of crushed ice in this dish however. The grilled banana with palm sugar was lovely. Deep caramel flavor in the ice cream contrasted with sumac spice on the grilled banana. We spent £35 a head including service. We did drink quite a lot of wine and our total wine expenditure for the 6 of us was £54.40. Both red and white house wines are £22 a bottle. Incidentally, Som Saa is actually in Spitalfields, not Shoreditch."
