Occasion: Celebration
Party Size: 3
Overall Rating: **** Excellent
Date Visited: January 2013
Price Per Person: £20-£25ppn 2 courses approx
Price Per Person: £20-£25ppn 2 courses approx
Chaophraya is an authentic Thai restaurant situated on Swinegate in Leeds city centre, less than a 5 min walk from the train station. If you are driving then there is a nearby Q-Parking facility where you will obtain a 10% discount if dining at Chaophraya.
This venue has recently been refurbished and extended to include a downstairs bar called Palm Sugar. On first appearances it is inviting from the outside and instantly looks very upmarket in fact borderline pretentious – the sort of place you would book in advance and not just rock up. The entrance is via their cocktail bar Palm Sugar situated on the ground floor.
We arrived early to enjoy a drink in the bar and were greeted immediately by a very friendly and professional duty manager. We opted to take a seat in a booth and ordered a bottle of Prosseco priced at a reasonable £23 per bottle. On Fridays the bar offers x2 glasses of Champagne between 4pm-8pm at a very affordable £11. The bar itself is very nice, upmarket and modern. Definitely the place you would visit for a drink if celebrating a special occasion or if you are wanting somewhere sophisticated, quiet and classy. The décor is contemporary with white seating, dark tables, mirrors and subtle touches of Thai ornaments.
The bar area is open plan and merges in to the restaurant with seating areas towards the back and further tables up the stairs. The dining area downstairs did not look anything special so we were pleased that our advance booking had resulted in us being seated upstairs.
Upstairs the space looked to be smaller than before it was refurbished but that is down to the way designers have sectioned off areas to create a more private dining experience. Again the décor was modern, with dark furnishings, white Buddha’s and Elephant sculptures gracing the corners of the restaurant.
Chaophraya has definitely improved the dining experience and I really like the refurbished result however I think they have opted to tone down it’s cultural charm and focus on the contemporary image. For me the former is much more important when going out for an authentic meal.
Chaorphraya have extensive menu options, an A la carte menu, 4 set menus ranging from £25-£40ppn and a lunchtime menu with offers such as 2 courses for £8.50 or a main and a drink for £8.50.
We opted to dine from the A la carte menu starting with an appetiser of Chicken Satay and Steamed Dumplings both priced at £7.95. For a starter this is expensive but Chaorphraya is renowned to be on the pricey side. We didn’t have to wait long for our first order and we were not disappointed, the presentation was beautiful and the portions were generous.
The Chicken Satay was served with a peanut sauce, toast, a relish and salad garnish. It was a dish big enough to share with 4 skewers of juicy chicken cooked perfectly and served with just the right amount of peanut sauce which was nicely flavoured and not too sweet. I was very impressed as sometimes this dish can be sickly but Charophraya got it spot on. 
The Steamed Dumplings were presented in a lidded pot. Each dumpling was made with prawn, chicken and crab meat, served with garlic and soy sauce dip and a lovely light thin crisp on the side. There were approximately 5-6 wontons, each one was cooked beautifully and full of flavour, the sauce was excellent, very tasty and plenty to go round.
After round 1 we were excited on what the next courses had to offer and after only a short wait our mains were delivered.
My friend chose the traditional Red Thai King Prawn Curry priced at £11.95 and a side of Rice Noodles at £2.95. Having experienced the Red Thai curry twice before here I was always disappointed on the flavour, that it was too sweet and not spicy enough, but Charophraya seem to have revisited this dish and packed it full of the flavour and punch that I remember when being in Thailand myself so I was relieved and impressed they were generous with the prawns each of which were cooked perfectly and tasted divine.
Another friend ordered the Beef in Black Pepper Sauce priced at £10.95 and served with Egg Noodles at £3.55, this came on a sizzler plate and the beef was tender the sauce had plenty of flavour and there was a good amount fresh peppers to the dish.
The egg noodles were well cooked, a good portion and overall this was a really good tasting meal that would be a safe choice for any palate.
I decided to go for some street food, expecting this to be less refined and spicier than some of the other mains on offer. So I ordered the Spicy Fried Rice with Beef and Basil at £9.95. This dish comes topped with a fried egg! It was the chef’s recommendation so I had high hopes. When it was placed in front of me I was slightly disappointed compared to the other mains we had ordered. The presentation was standard the portion looked ok, but it did appear to be missing something like a sauce. Putting the fried egg to the side there didn’t seem to be noticeable strips of beef but once I broke in to the rice you could see the beef was almost ground and this flavour was obviously absorbed in to the rice to give an amazing taste. It was spicy, tasty, cooked well and I was really impressed, even the random egg complimented it well and I would definitely order again, it just goes to show… don’t judge a book by its cover! And at under a tenner this was a good value dish.
Finally I want to comment on the service. The bar-staff were very efficient the Thai waitresses were very polite, dressed beautifully and were constantly checking that our glasses were topped up and everything was ok with the meal. I really hope Chaophraya continue to focus on the finer details of their culture and don’t fall to the trap of many chains and dilute their Thai charm in preference for the swanky image. We all want to experience authenticity throughout when enjoying Thai cuisine.
I cannot fault the quality of the service or the food. This meal delivered in every way for our celebration and left me wanting to return to sample more of their delights. It is a bit pricey but then you get what you pay for. Highly recommend for those wanting a treat, or dining out for a special occasion. If you are on a budget then the lunch time menu would be worth sampling at £8.50.
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