Benja
our review
Boy it’s dark in here. I can’t read my cocktail menu unless I hold it against my nose. Apparently there’s been a bit of an electrical problem and some of the lights are out. Well that’s okay as it’s a downstairs bar and bars can be dark. Upstairs in the restaurant, though, I’m soon using the mobile phone to light the menu, which luckily is nice and short. Don’t you hate Thai places where the menu runs to War and Peace proportions? This menu features old faves, but some interesting and unique dishes too.
Benja, spread over three floors in an old Soho house, is certainly stylishly laid out; the man who put the black floor tiles down was apparently unstoppable as he has gone up the walls as well, only stopping when he finally hit his head on the ceiling. In a rear niche a Thai god smiles benignly out at the diners, while the charming Thai staff flit about with the food. It’s a nice welcoming place, even in tonight’s stygian gloom.
Tom Sum, a soup of sea bass, tamarind and ginger, balanced the warmth of the ginger and the sourness of the tamarind very well. I rather missed the chilli kick you associate with Thai soups, but it made a pleasant change from the norm and boasted a good hunk of fish too. Crispy rice vermicelli, pork, prawns and tofu tossed in deep-fried noodles, seemed to have no pork, prawn or tofu at all though. It was just a large hunk of sticky, overly sweet, deep fried vermicelli that reminded me of funfairs, but was no fun at all. Even the shards of chilli were completely lacking in flavour.
This made me as gloomy as the lighting and a freshly arrived table of noisy rugger buggers behind didn’t help. Fortunately my main was a real star; delicately sliced and cooked rare sirloin steak with fried holy basil, large slices of fresh red chilli and a garlic sauce was excellent. The steak had a smoky back flavour from the grill and the holy basil had the unique taste you only get from this herb. The chilli, despite being large, was a lot hotter than I expected, but just how I like it. A very good dish and rather sophisticated too.
The Green curry was more traditional and we happily splashed about in it, pulling out nice butterflied king prawns and Thai aubergine, which is pleasantly bitter and firmer than the Italian version. A mixed dish of stir-fried vegetables was well executed and simple. All dishes came with jasmine rice, but for some reason the bowl was not left on the table and we had to keep waiting for a waitress to come back and give us some more. The wine, a decent Aussie red, was also kept off table too. I can’t think why they do that, as it was rather frustrating.
With only room for a dab of ice cream we left pretty happy with the overall experience, including the cocktails downstairs. It’s a bit pricier than some Thai places in the area, but the chef did once cook for royalty apparently. A bit of tightening of the cooking here and there and maybe some downward adjustment on the prices and I’d happily go back.
N.H. - March 2007
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
Overall - I had high expectations from Benja's which were confirmed initially by the impressive decor on the first floor where we were seated. However from the starters onwards the food increasingly disappointed and ended with desert consisting of fresh fruit dropped ice. We left convinced not to visit again. The trip confirmed Nakhon Thai Waterfront as the best Thai place in London in my view.
Background - I decided to take a friend of mine with his girlfriend who my wife and I were meeting for the first time. We were seated on the ground floor. Another friend had had a birthday party here but I didn't have the chance to check his experience. The overall ratings on this website attracted me but the contradicting reviews were confusing.
Food - We went for the satay (chicken and prawn) and a pastry-type starters. The prawn satay in particular were cooked and skewered and had no specific taste.
For mains, we had the green prawn curry and yellow lamb curry. The green curry turned out to be white and was watered down to the extent that pouring it in the rice had no effect than to wet the rice. The yellow curry was stronger, the lamb was well cooked but the curry itself tasted like an Indian curry.
For desert we had apple fritters and something with a Thai name that I can't quite remember. The apple fritters appeared fried but the apple was still confusingly crunchy. The Thai dish that my friend had turned out to be fresh cut fruits in ice!
Service - Service was relatively quick. The complementary rice was a nice touch but cannot hope to make up for the quality of the food.
Atmosphere - The atmosphere was stylishly dark and quiet - impressive enough to h. The table stands however are chunky and for a table of four can make it difficult to place your feet comfortably.
Value for money - Though my friend (embarassingly) paid the bill I can tell it easily came to three digits. Far too much for the food we were served.
Alternatives - Nakhon Thai Waterfront is still by far the best Thai place that I have been to in London. The food, ambience and view are excellent and you can enjoy live music on Friday and Saturday evenings.
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avideater
Overall rating 
Food 3 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 4
Sunday, April 27, 2008
We were 17 lawyers / law school students who had booked the upstairs devva room for our annual social trip on saturday the 29 th of march.
We had an overall nice and cosy meal, service was attentive and good. Food was great, especially the little appetizer-dish that we all got without even requesting it.
The duck breast maindish that some of us had was a bit to spice though...
Try their Jack Black coctail, we are adapting it to our law school student pub in Norway!
Would definetly come back to this thai-place, didnt think it was expensive at all, at least not compared to norwegian prices.
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Alexander Neumann
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Booked a table for 8.30 on Saturday. We waited until nearly 9 for our table and in the process nearly froze in the downstairs bar, where we had to go and order our drinks as the 2 bar staff seemed to have no intention of coming and offering us one. The service upstairs was even worse. Id booked a special deal but the menus for this werent offered and the staff looked very confused when I asked for it. The manager then came and said he would have to check if we had booked the deal or not. In the end we chose from the a la carte anyway. The food was very average. The mains lacked any spicing and balance of falvours usually associated with good Thai food. It wasnt terrible but there are much better places in London. I guess Benja is trying to compete with Patara but that reminds me of Dan Quayle likening himself to JFK.
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Andy Jones
Overall rating 
Food 4 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 3
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Bit disappointed with this given some of the excellent reviews. I agree the decor is nice and the service was very efficient and friendly, though it was a little quiet on the ground floor. The main problem was that the food just wasn't that special given the relatively high prices. My curried chicken puffs were pleasant though were lukewarm and a bit floury, while the flavours of my main of stir fried lamb was completely drowned out by chilli. My wife said her green curry was fine but a bit flavourless and again was swamped with far too much chilli. Overall Benja is a perfectly decent place to go but there are far better Thais in London.
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Jeremy Liebster
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Saturday, February 02, 2008
Great find in the Carnaby district, I will definately be returning to this thai restaurant. Food has great flavours and is presented very well. Service was outstanding, very attentive without being overbearing. You were never rushed for your order, but as soon as you were ready the waitresses were over to take your order. Also nice to have your drinks topped up without having to chase the wait staff or do it yourself. Loved the ambience of the restaurant and the decor is modern and sleek. Prices a little on the high side for thai, but not unreasonable - for a shared entree, 2 main dishes, 2 desserts, bottle of wine and 2 cocktails we paid £100 including 12.5% service charge.
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CheekyAngel - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Saturday, January 19, 2008
My husband and I are always looking for new Thai restaurants, following a few disappointemnts over the years from top Thai restaurants.
We decided to try Benja because we were satisfied with the many good reviews this site gave.
And we were right to trust these reviews, we had a most fantastic meal there, last Thursday, 6th December.
The menu offers unusual dishes, such as frogslegs and typical Thai dishes but yet re-invented and/or improved.
I thought the price was quite good
For 120 Pounds for 2 we had the following:
2x Champagne cocktail
Bottled water
4x beers
3x starters
2x soups
2x main courses (rice is included)
1x Dessert/Coffee
I think that's pretty good.
The service was very friendly and professional
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Nathalie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating 
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Monday, December 10, 2007
Good food, friendly service, excellent cocktails. Would definitely go back.
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OMH
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 9
Sunday, November 18, 2007
The best Thai food i have ever tasted.... do yourself a favour... eat a Benja.
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a - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Ate at this restaurant last night. Was the best thai food i have had. The flavours were wonderful - I would highly recommend the Tom Yum soup which was amazing. The only downside was that the main dishes were served luke warm and had to be sent back for heating up. Once they were at the correct temperature they were delicious.
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zoe
Overall rating 
Food 8 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 6
Thursday, October 25, 2007
The food was amazing! Probably the best thai food in london! Huge portions great deco and fantastic cocktails! Book now! You will not be dissappointed!
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Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Thursday, October 04, 2007
