][1]The 5pm Dining blog likes to think of itself as a level-headed sort. Calm under pressure, cool under fire and capable of tucking away a second lunch should circumstances require.
Kind of like James Bond but carrying substantially more timber. Less attractive to women, admittedly. And, come to think of it, not so suave as Mr Bond but still… a man can dream.
Anyway, the point is, we flipped our lid with excitement when we stumbled across Ting Thai Caravan on Edinburgh’s Teviot Place recently. The blog doesn’t usually do reviews but, having eaten there at the weekend, we’re confident that it is one of the most exciting Thai restaurants that Edinburgh has seen for some time.
Admittedly, it doesn’t look much. Ting Thai Caravan is a stripped back place with exposed piping, black painted walls and an open kitchen. There is basic seating. It’s perhaps not the place to celebrate a wedding anniversary or impress the parents-in-law.
Student-friendly Thai
One wall is already covered with gig and club posters – all of which dovetails neatly with its student-friendly location next to Bristo Square.
While the decor is utilitarian, the food promises great things; not least because of the spicy CVs in the kitchen.
The Ting Thai team are the same chefs who ran the Ting Thai pop-up on Forrest Road a couple of festivals ago and, though I’m not 100% sure about this, I think that they may be the crew who were at Thai Pad on Leopold Place a couple of years back.
Authentic Thai
The menu is the most authentic line-up of Thai dishes that I’ve seen in Scotland.
Among the starters are dishes like a steamed fish souffle; cured pork sticky rice balls and the son-in-law – a deep fried egg with crispy fried shallot, dry chilli and TingAe chilli jam.
Less familiar dishes among the main courses included the slow cooked pork loin with a cucumber and shallot salsa, jasmine rice and smoky moo daeng sauce.
Sangsom rum
Drinks on offer include Sangsom rum and vodka infused with krachai – a relative of ginger.
The most expensive dish is the steak at £9.10. Most of the other main courses are around £8 or less while almost all the starters are under a fiver.
The food is served in cardboard takeaway boxes, which, along with the spartan decor, adds to the fashionable street food vibe.
I’m not going to do a blow by blow account of the sixteen or so dishes we ate but it was almost all zingy, vibrant and spankingly fresh.
At the time of writing, Ting Thai Caravan had yet to have a phone line put in and there were no plans to develop any Internet presence; a decision which strikes us as crazy.
Hopefully, we’ll have more contact details shortly.