Giggling Squid’s Tapas Style Menu
I love the Giggling Squid food (and the pretty décor) so meeting a friend for lunch recently in Kingston, we tried some of the new dishes on the menu. They are perfect for a light lunch – with the food beautifully presented and always so tasty.
I’m told that Giggling Squid recently spent six months sourcing rare and unusual ingredients to ‘create new dishes with flavours and textures that delight and surprise for their biggest menu change to date.’ The ‘carefully curated menu reflects the abundance of exciting and exotic Thai ingredients found in regional Thai markets, Bangkok’s innovative backstreet eateries and the bountiful discoveries along the coast.’ Well, what we tasted was certainly pretty damned good. We started with Crunchy Duck & Lychee Bites (crispy discs of toasted rice topped with duck, star fruit and lychee £5.95) These were scrumptious, with well balanced, great textures and a subtle heat. They paired beautifully with the Apello Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand (£7.25 for 175ml or £25.95 a bottle).
We also tried the Lemon & Lime Tuna Petals (slices of raw tuna with lemongrass, lime and shallots, cured in a light ‘nam pla’ dressing £6.95). Effectively this was a ceviche – and a really good one! The Big Flavour Mushroom Larb (£5.95) was a speciality from Esan Province and comprised exotic mushrooms in fresh mint, chilli, ground toasted rice and shallots. This was a really refreshing salad, beautifully balanced and absolutely delicious.
Next were Betel Leaf & ginger Lime Salmon Morsels – one of the highlights of our lunch! (£6.95 for betel leaves filled with salmon pieces in lemongrass, diced lime, ginger, roasted shredded coconut drizzled in a salty-sweet dressing.) You wrap the leaf around the filling and eat in one, scrumptious, bite!
Pleasantly full, but by no means ‘pogged’, we shared a platter of three small desserts (£8.50). A chocolate melting middle one which was, to be honest, fairly uninspiring, but perfectly acceptable; salted caramel soufflé which was nice, but the star of the show by far was Pineapple & Coconut Finger – truly tasty and the perfect finish to a great lunch.
I love the fact that the lunchtime menu at Giggling Squid has various options of set tapas-style lunches, with a selection of different combinations. They’re very reasonably priced from £9.95 for the vegetarian one (vegetable green curry, stir fry veg, Thai spring rolls, jasmine rice) to £12.95 for the ‘Wealthy Squid’ (Lamb Massaman curry, shredded duck spring rolls, Samui Zingy Prawn, jasmine rice). If you don’t have time to linger over your lunch they are great. But I’d rather linger longer; enjoy the surroundings and the fresh, tasty food.
Mrs Foodie
Twickenham & Richmond Tribune