Never one to miss a gap in the local market, Queen of Mayfair Samyukta Nair has converted the basement of her Japanese restaurant Koyn into a Thai dining room overseen by Paris-based chef Rose Chalalai Singh. Nair says she is aiming for approachability but the West End’s only high-end Thai restaurant is likely to be as gilded as her other Mayfair restaurants Jamavar, Socca and Mimi Mei Feir.
The mood: Bangkok by night
Designer Tom Strother of Fabled Studio has given the dark and moody Japanese decor a subtle Thai makeover, incorporating burnt orange leather upholstery, hand-painted tapestries and works by Chiang Mai artist Kitikong Tilokwattanotai to contrast with the black oak ceiling and black marble counter. Food and drink are the focus of the refreshed look: wine is stored in a flower-bedecked sommelier station while food is cooked over live fire in the open kitchen before being served in handmade woven baskets.
The food: Home-style cooking that travels around Thailand
Bangkok-born Chalalai Singh has made a name for herself in Paris at her 11th-arrondissement restaurant Ya Lamaï, named after the grandmother who taught her to cook. But it was at her private Rose Kitchen within the Marché des Enfants Rouges, the city’s oldest covered market, that the chef became a hit with the Parisian fashion community and impressed Nair with recipes drawn from the length and breadth of Thailand. Expect dishes such as a Chiang Mai platter of spicy homemade pork sausage, capsicum nam prik sauce, sticky rice and pork crackling, or a southern Thai crab curry with wild betel leaf.
Koyn Thai opened on June 16 and is available to book now. It is located at 38 Grosvenor St, London
-
New tech dedicated to home health, personal wellness and mapping your metricsWe round up the latest offerings in the smart health scene, from trackers for every conceivable metric from sugar to sleep, through to therapeutic furniture and ultra intelligent toothbrushes
-
Out of office: The Wallpaper* editors’ picks of the week'Tis the season for eating and drinking, and the Wallpaper* team embraced it wholeheartedly this week. Elsewhere: the best spot in Milan for clothing repairs and outdoor swimming in December
-
How Stephen Burks Man Made is bringing the story of a centuries-old African textile to an entirely new audienceAfter researching the time-honoured craft of Kuba cloth, designers Stephen Burks and Malika Leiper have teamed up with Italian company Alpi on a dynamic new product
-
At last: a London hotel that’s great for groups and extended staysThe July London Victoria, a new aparthotel concept just steps away from one of the city's busiest rail stations, is perfect for weekends and long-term visits alike
-
French bistro restaurant Maset channels the ease of the Mediterranean in LondonThis Marylebone restaurant is shaped by the coastal flavours, materials and rhythms of southern France
-
Sir Devonshire Square is a new kind of hotel for the City of LondonA Dutch hospitality group makes its London debut with a design-forward hotel offering a lighter, more playful take on the City’s usual formality
-
This sculptural London seafood restaurant was shaped by ‘the emotions of the sea’In Hanover Square, Mazarine pairs a bold, pearlescent interior with modern coastal cuisine led by ‘bistronomy’ pioneer chef Thierry Laborde
-
Montcalm Mayfair opens a new chapter for a once-overlooked London hotelA thoughtful reinvention brings craftsmanship, character and an unexpected sense of warmth to a London hotel that was never previously on the radar
-
Follow the white rabbit to London’s first Korean matcha houseTokkia, which translates to ‘Hey bunny’ in Korean, was designed by Stephenson-Edwards studio to feel like a modern burrow. Take a look inside
-
Poon’s returns in majestic form at Somerset HouseHome-style Chinese cooking refined through generations of the Poon family craft
-
One of London’s favourite coffee shops just opened in Harvey NicholsKuro Coffee’s latest outpost brings its Japanese-inspired design to the London department store
