Made In Thai, Wolverhampton

This welcoming city restaurant serves up must-try food in plush surroundings,

.

There is not an abundance of Thai restaurants in Wolverhampton, which in many ways is a real shame.

Thai cuisine is often bursting with different flavours, with fusions of garlic, ginger and coconut. It is also normally far less stodgy than Chinese food.

Best of all there are always plenty of vegetarian dishes to choose from on the menu.

Made in Thai, next door to Italian eatery Don Salvo, is a surprising package along Darlington Street in the city centre.

With its red frontage and ample foliage in the front window, the restaurant is a pretty addition on the busy main street.

Walking through the front doors of Made In Thai is like entering a whole new world.

The restaurant is filled with plants, whether hanging from the ceiling or in pots on the floor, adding to the oriental atmosphere.

It is almost like walking through a mini rainforest.

The restaurant is also deceptively big on the inside, probably large enough for up to 100 diners to squeeze into on a busy weekend.

The inside is pretty on the eye, with patterned carpets and wooden panels up on the cream walls.

The tables and chairs are also made from wood, and there are wooden carvings of Thai women on the walls.

A friendly waiter shows us to a small table by the bar at the back of the restaurant. There are several other tables filled with young couples sharing an intimate meal and a set of businessmen mulling over the latest deal with a bowl of noodles each.

The menu features dishes you would expect to see in a Thai restaurant. There are pork, chicken, beef and fish dishes, as well as ample to choose for the non-meat eaters.

To start I went for the crispy vegetable spring rolls at £4.95. The rolls came out after about 10 minutes, accompanied by chopped cabbage and a sweet and spicy sauce.

The rolls were crispy and not a bit greasy. The chopped carrot and bean sprouts inside were soft and bursting with flavour. My dining partner went for the Thai golden bags with mince pork and prawn (£4.95). Again the small packages were not greasy at all and the prawn and pork combined beautifully.

For main course, I plumped for the stir fried bean curd with vegetable and cashew nuts (£6.95).

The dish was a lovely golden brown colour when it was brought out by the waitress.

The tofu, common in restaurants serving oriental cuisine, was soft and soaked in the sweet garlic sauce. Soft carrots were also chopped into the dish.

My partner went for the sweet and sour pork (£7.95). The meat was tender and sauce not too sweet.

To accompany our mains, we had a coconut rice at £3.

Unfortunately it was a bit too sweet due to the amount of coconut piled into it. Perhaps a boiled rice would have been a better choice.

We also shared a yellow noodle with curry powder and mixed vegetables (£6.95). The thin noodles were soft and the curry powder gave it a kick.

The dish was very flavoursome and plenty to share between two people.

A dozen or so Thai crackers were perfect to dip into the leftover sauce on our plates when we had finished.

If you like Thai food then Made In Thai is a real must.

ADDRESS

Made In Thai: 24 Darlington Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 4HW

Telephone: (01902) 312512

Opening Hours: Open daily between 12pm and 2.30pm and 5pm and 11pm, except Sundays when the restaurant is closed at lunchtime.