And so to the hottest dining ticket in town, Bangkok Diners Club, upstairs in the Edinburgh Castle pub in Manchester’s Ancoats. It’s a new venture from husband and wife team Ben and Bo Humphreys from the late, lamented District in Oldham Street, and already has a growing reputation.

But first, a reservation. I’m on my way to the Royal Exchange for the press night of the Manchester International Festival play Liberation, which starts at 7.30pm. I’ll eat early.

The website asks for my details, and tables start at 5pm. I go for 5.15pm. I want a table for one, but the site seems determined to book for two, and I can’t work out how to change it. So I call them up. There is no message, just music, interminable music, that goes on and on until I end the call five minutes later. It’s the middle of the day, perhaps there’s no one there? I book for two, and leave my credit card details.

The journey into town is a bit fraught, and I realise at 5pm that I’m going to be at least half an hour late. They are in service now so there must be somebody there. I call, worried about them being busy and charging me for a no-show, but it’s the interminable music again, and no reply. I send an email apologising and mentioning that I want a table for one.

I finally get there at 5.50pm. I apologise, and express my concerns and difficulties in contacting them. The maître d’ assures me that it’s no problem at all. He received my email, and no, they do not have a phone. The number is the pub’s phone, and they don’t answer it. I think, WTF? How hard is it to get a phone these days?’ But I don’t say it out loud, he’s far too nice and I’m eating there. A waiter’s revenge is a terrible thing.

He shows me to a table by a window laid for one. It’s a pleasant room and there are several other tables of diners, even this early. Clearly the word is out and they made the booking system work. Maybe it’s just me.

A young man brings me the menu and wine list, and a carafe of water. He is charming. The menu is short, and I’ve done my homework. The wine list is also quite short and reasonably priced with bottles starting in the late £20s and good by-the-glass options at £5.50. I ask if I can taste two of the whites sold by the glass, and choose a lightish, slightly spicy Australian confusingly called Düfte Punkt at £11 for 175ml.

The dishes arrive. The Thai omelette (£6) is filled with a smoked mushroom nam prik pao, a Thai chilli jam, which is jammy, sweet and yet savoury, and rather overpowers the omelette. The salt-aged beef nam tok salad (£15) – beef waterfall salad in translation – is small rectangular pieces of beef in a finely sliced salad with a tangy sauce. The sauce complements rather than overpowers the beef, and the crunchy salad does the rest. I’ll have that again. It comes with a bone marrow aioli which is light and not overly garlicky, and goes well with the sauce. 

Other dishes I will have again include the now, almost famous, battered pickled onion rings with curry salt (£6), where the onions are soft but chewy and all the joy is in the batter. The pickle/salt combo is perfectly judged. It is what the person who conceived salt and vinegar crisps aspired to, but failed to reach. And tenderstem broccoli with fermented yellowbean (£6) is exactly how broccoli should be served, the stems al dente, the yellowbean adding a umami base. The (soon to be famous) chicken fat rice (£5) needed more chicken fat, but where it hit, it hit.

A conversation with the people at the next table and a look at their order tells me that next time I shall have the raw bass, the roast pork belly, and the papaya salad. And I will make room for the coconut sticky rice lolly to finish.

While writing this, I had a look at Tripadvisor and it looks as though the restaurant has had some teething troubles. But, three months in, they ought to be settled down, so I find the no-phone thing frankly ridiculous. I also had another look at the website. To change the number of eaters on a reservation you have to click on the booking number at the top of the page, and it gives you a different page where you have more options. That should be clearer.

Otherwise, I had an unusual and interesting meal in a pleasant room where the service was charming and prompt – for £52 including service. Bangkok Diners Club has been reviewed favourably in The Guardian and a similar review is imminent in Olive magazine. I’d get along there soon, before there’s a three-month waiting list.

By Chris Wallis

 

For more information about Bangkok Diners Club, click here.