15.11.2016 | Restaurants

A new chili in town

Bright, fresh and flavourful dishes at New Thai.

The area surrounding the central market in Tallinn has been slow to develop when compared to the rest of the city, but the opening of New Thai is proof that it’s not so far behind. After perusing the quirky market, stop in for a meal packed full of flavour and colour.

Upon entering you are immediately greeted with a friendly smile. At lunch, an ever-changing buffet is on offer, with a few different mains and a soup. For dinner, the restaurant has a more intimate atmosphere, with an extensive à la carte menu to choose from.

To start, we tried the fried spring rolls and satay skewers. The crispy spring rolls were served with a chili sauce and would have been plenty, but we just had to try the skewers as well. We were not disappointed. Though the juicy chicken skewers lacked a sticky, creamy peanut sauce, the same chili sauce served with the rolls was a nice accompaniment.

It was difficult to choose between the mains, as there were just so many things we wanted to try. Pad thai, a classic served with prawns lacked flavour, but the other dishes more than made up for that. The larp gai or spicy minced chicken with onion and mint was speckled with bright red chili pieces and fresh mint. There was no lack of chili here! But the star dish of the evening was the chu chi pla, or fried fish with paprika and mushrooms in “chu-chi” sauce. The rich, creamy and hot coconut chili sauce enveloped the flaky fish fillet, making this dish perfect for a cool autumn evening.