REVIEW: Ekachai, The Arcade, Liverpool Street

Ekachai serve a range dishes originating from South East Asia and has three branches in London, and one in Birmingham. Service is warm and friendly, very relaxed and unobtrusive. We ordered a bottle of sauvignon blanc from Chile which for £19, went down an absolute treat – and mainly in my glass. Starter of duck spring rolls were filled with sticky, shredded duck and vegetables.The pastry wrapping was perhaps a little thick but they did have a good crunch. Hoisin sauce is always the perfect accompaniment with duck and it didn’t let down. Thick, plummy and rich.

Soft shell crab seems to be the thing everyone in London wants to eat right now – including me. Here at Ekachai you get two of the dainty crabs covered in a slightly salty crunchy batter. The crabs themselves were actually delicious, but the batter tasted quite bland and not delicate enough. That sambal chili sauce on the other hand should be bottled and for sale.

Seafood curry laksa was filled with prawns, clams, calamari and noodles. All swimming in a delicious spicy coconut sauce. It wasn’t perhaps as good as Phat Phuc on the King’s Road, but it certainly came close. Spicy, sweet, sour, salty, it had all the traits of a classic laksa broth. The seafood tasted very fresh and well cooked but the calamari was overdone and chewy. Still , all this food in a bowl for only £9.50 – i can hardly complain.

The star dish of our who meal was the Malaysian chicken capitan curry. A little bit on the oily side but none the less, delicious. Tender morsels of chicken were soaking up all the mouthwatering juices of this rich and hearty curry. Chili, lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste, coconut and kafir lime were just a few of the ingredients which made up this curry. There was a lot of it and every mouth was a delight. The only let down was the coconut rice which frankly, wasn’t very coconuty. I’d happily live on this dish alone if i could.

My meal at Ekachai was a surprising one. I wasn’t expecting tasty spring rolls, warming laksa or a delicious curry and at these prices I’ll definitely be back. For a chain its biggest competitors are probably Wagamama and Busaba Eat Thai but Ekachai raises the bar, and a lot cheap than. For big portions and change in your pocket then Ekachai couldn’t be better.

7/10