Blue Elephant

Don't go here if you want good Thai food. I am not qualified to say if its authentic or not, but its not as tasty as any number of other Thai places in London (especially for the price). Having said that, its not bad - its just not that great.

However, you are not paying for the food. The ambience is obviously what you're paying the hefty premiums for and strangely enough it works. Its REALLY over the top and redefines kitsch, but it does manage to make you feel that you're not in London.

Upshot - go there if you want something different and can afford it, but don't go there to eat excellent grub.
Comment on this reader review

Dhruv
Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 5
Wednesday, January 23, 2008

The Blue Elephant is not the foodies choice. But that doesn’t stop it being one of my favourites. The prices are very reasonable for a restaurant in Fulham, the wine list is pretty extensive (including two nice house choices) but most of all it really looks the part. I recommend it for late meals, esp after a trip to the restaurant bar.

Think there’s a lot of people on this website who expect a little too much for £50 a head – it’s not Nobu or Gordon Ramsey standard by any means, but this certainly isn’t conveyed by its prices.
Comment on this reader review

Ollie - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 7 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8
Tuesday, January 15, 2008

As part of a party of four and arranging a weekend away in London for us all I was looking forwad to trying the Blue Elephant as it had been recommended by a friend but what an utter waste of time and money.

The food was tasteless and service poor.

Surprisingly we will not be booking ever again and will never go to another restaurant recommended by my friend !!!!
Comment on this reader review

Joanne Jones
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 2 | Value for money 0
Tuesday, January 08, 2008

I have been in Blue elephant twice, and both times I have enjoyed it a lot. The place is beautiful and the service is superb. The food can sometimes be disappointing and the tables are set too close to each other, and if restaurant is busy (which most of the time it is) it gets too crowded. Nevertheless is great dinner experience. I am planning to go there soon, and have plenty of those fab cocktails.
Comment on this reader review

Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 7
Sunday, January 06, 2008

Eating here is not just a gastronomic treat...it takes you away from busy London and into a Thai paradise (sort of...)...and it works!
Comment on this reader review

jerico - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 5
Saturday, December 29, 2007

Read the reviews before booking and make your own mind up. As for me? I wil NEVER EVER EVER GO THERE AGAIN!!!
Comment on this reader review

Renan
Overall rating
Food 0 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 0 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 17, 2007

This is my first review on a restaurant. That said, I am not a newbie when it comes to eating at various "big" restaurants in London. First of all, I have a very basic principle when it comes to food. Tastes and flavours trumps over anything in a restaurant. I just look at any other interesting bits in a restaurant as an added bonus.

When I go to eat, it's always with my girlfriend and my other guy friend. We have been eating around London for many years and have a good feel of what's good and what's not.

Yesterday for the first time we dined at Blue Elephant. My skepticism for not going before was down to the reluctance of going to another "Thai square-ish" restaurant where the taste and flavours are not as authentic as promised. However, after yesterday's dining ordeal at Blue Elephant, every other Thai restaurants would seem rather heavenly.

It was an utter disaster. The service was just alright up until the point where the maitre'd approached us for our orders. From then, everything was in utter shambles. First up the menu was very misleading. It never mentioned anything about what would be served in the platter and how big the portion was. When I placed the order for pearls of the blue elephant, I figured it would be a "selection of classic favourites" (as the menu put it) that can be shared by 3 people. However, as the maitre'd later explained this starter is only for one person to eat and asked us whether we wanted "1 piece, 2 piece?" signifying 1 or 2 portions. It was utterly ridiculous because a portion of that starter costs £12 and 2 portions (which we ordered) would be £24. I thought that since it was in the "suggested"section of the menu, this starter would be somewhat interesting to savour and therefore decided to just give it a try. It actually turned out to be something you could get in any Thai restaurant on a Sunday buffet. It wasn't at all special! The fish cake was mediocre, the satay was dry, powdery and unpalatable. The som tum salad was too thick and the dim sum siu mai was just normal. Believe you me, there are way better fish cakes, satays, etc out there for a fraction of the price. The sauces which accompanied the starters was really artificial. It tasted like something which came out of a tube you would buy from a chinese supermarket. Horrible!

I just assumed that since we were paying that sort of price, we would have sauces which was made fresh from a kitchen. Had I known what I would be eating, I would have certainly avoided it and I’m pretty sure the maitre’d would never recommend this dish to his close friends and relatives, no matter how “suggested” the menu says.

We initially wanted to go for the royal platter for the main course but once again, the maitre'd uttered the infamous sentence "1 piece, 2 piece?" It was downright insulting and he made you feel like you should be aware about it even though it wasn't written in the menu. At first I just firmly said “No, just 1 portion” but he kept pushing me by saying "you sure, it's not much" in a manner to say like you shouldn't be eating here if you can't afford it. (2 portions of the royal platter would set you back £44, and they are not big portions) So I changed my decision to 2 other main courses which were one of the worst Thai dishes I have ever tasted. The lamb and the duck were just too fibrous and dry and the sauce did not complement with the meat dishes and really didn’t help at all with the taste. It felt like the meat they used were cooked meat from the early afternoon or even the day before and they just microwaved it before serving it with the sauce.

The only good food we've tasted was the Bamboo fish albeit with some scales still stuck to it and the Jasmine cake (ok to be honest, the cake was a real delight), everything else was just terrible. We've all felt cheated in so many ways. Why were they so pretentious with the food and especially with the pricing. Why were they charging Michelin star prices when they clearly lacked in service and quality. It was rather surprising to see some good comments in this review hmmm. I understand I was partially paying for the way the restaurant felt and look but let's be honest, any posh restaurant charging those prices have better show some proof in the food.

The other thing we hated so much was the fact the matre'd pushed us to order more such as asking us in a condescending manner if we wanted soup, noodles, wine when we had already ordered 3 starters, 4 main courses, 3 jasmine rice and drinks, followed by 2 desserts later. Furthermore the other waitresses kept asking us if we wanted wine, water (a little ridiculous at nearly £5 per bottle but we did go for it anyway), soft drinks, when we politely said no on a few occassions. It was so downright rude and annoying. NO MEANS NO.

Once we left the restaurant, we just felt completely deceived by everything in it. I won't recommend this restaurant to any good soul. If you would like a good time and are willing to spend more than £45 per person, there are many better Thai restaurants in the city.
Comment on this reader review

Desmond
Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 1 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Monday, December 10, 2007

Blue Elephant is a legend , I have been there for a very long time ... and the quality of the food is divine ... even if today you have all these modern versions Blue Elephant remains to be an institution of Thai Cuisine , refined , living myself in Thailand I truly know what authentic means !

And Blue Elephant is truly a culinary Ambassador of Thailand !!! The staff is Thai and very friendly not forgetting the authentic Thai Orchids !

Keep up with the good work

S. G. K
View/Add comments (1)

Sarah Grand Kinghorn
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 9
Monday, December 03, 2007

I don’t suppose anyone really goes here just for the food. And eating in the midst of an indoor jungle beside a stream is something everyone should try at least once in their lives.

Blue Elephant is gloriously overdone, in all respects.

It reminded me of Thai restaurants in Sydney in the 1980s. You half expected to see a cop from the vice squad canoodling with a ladyboy in some be-fronded nook, with a Mai Tai on the table and a brown paper bag under it.

The food was passably good, and well presented, but came across as being more than a bit over-hyped.

Foie gras with tamarind was excellent although the portion could have been bigger. For some reason it comes with a dollop of sweet potato. I’m not quite sure they’d really worked out any way to marry the two- the potato loitered implausibly beside its more ostentatious companion, something akin to seeing Liberace breakfasting with rough trade on Sunday morning . . . just slightly off-putting.

The Som Tam again was significantly over-hyped, and surprisingly lacking in flavour. Adddies’ at Earl’s Court has this simple dish down pat, by my reckoning, and Blue Elephants’ was not a patch on theirs.

The Chiang Rai, a dish of spicy stir fried pork with chillies, garlic and green peppercorns was good though workmanlike as a main . . . my partner’s black tiger prawns were nearer the mark.

One major annoyance. The waiters at Blue Elephant do need to learn that ‘no’ means ‘no’ when it comes to insinuating their wine list onto customers. In this endeavour, they employ a curious mixture of whispered Chinglish, Thai and darting bedroom eyes that I assume works well on first-timers in Bangkok, but which quickly goes stale on seasoned diners.

I do not mind being harassed at dinner-theatre calibre restaurants to buy a bottle. But Blue Elephant allegedly aspires to more than this. So if I don’t want a bottle of wine, and make it clear I don’t, then a good waiter would know when to leave off, already.

I had to call the manager over and ask him to dissuade our waiter, as by the fourth time, it was becoming annoying and distracting us from our meal.

That sense of being overdone extends to the bill, but I assume you would realise that . . .

Word within the trade is that Blue Elephant is well past its prime. I’d have to agree.
Comment on this reader review

benscaro - View all reviews by this user
Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 1
Friday, November 30, 2007

When you first arrive at the Blue Elephant it's like being tranported to another world! The staff greet you at the door, you walk over a bridge with fish in a stream swimming underneath and are shown to your table.

The atmosphere is amazing, very buzzy so you don't feel you have to talk quietly.

Food portions are generous, try the crocodile it's lovely and spicy, really tasty! I've been here 2 or 3 times now and am never disappointed. Your night goes really quickly the place is wonderful, food very good and always well cooked. We had the beef and it came sliced and pink inside, wonderful!!

Go for an experience!
Comment on this reader review

Karen
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 8
Monday, November 26, 2007