Thai Orchid, Maidstone
Dislaimer: We were reimbursed for our evening, but as always, my opinions are my own.
Located on the bridge in Maidstone town centre, Thai Orchid is centrally placed for diners to visit. Not far from either train station, or a short walk from the Lockmeadow car parks, it’s easy to get to, although there is no direct on-site parking.
We dined on a very rainy Friday night. It was a bit of a shame as the restaurant overlooks the river and there are normally lovely views. It got dark quite early due to the poor weather but being nice and warm inside watching the rain hammer down on the water was actually quite pleasant.
We got to Thai Orchid a bit early and so had a cocktail in the bar underneath before heading up for our table.
On arriving at the restaurant which is on the first floor of the building, Thai Orchid had our reservation and we were offered our choice of table, including ones overlooking the river, right by the window. The restaurant is large with a fresh feel to it. It’s nicely decorated and the staff that greeted us were really welcoming and pleasant.
When we were seated at our table at Thai Orchid, we were presented with some prawn crackers to tuck into whilst we perused the menu. Yummy!
The menu is vast and there’s a good variety of dishes to suit all tastes and requirements.
We decided to have a starter and opted for the Orchid Platter. The mixed starter consists of chicken satay, prawn tempura, prawn on toast, tung thong chicken parcels, duck spring roll and vegetarian spring rolls. Accompanied by three dips. What a feast!
When the starter arrived, it was nicely presented and looked really appetising. We weren’t disappointed. In particular, the tung thong chicken parcels were superb. Very flavoursome and the whole platter was enjoyable.
When we were perusing through the Thai Orchid menu, we realised there was a lot of choice and we’d probably enjoy most of the options. My friend and I always order a main each and then share. Thai food is ideal for this.
We went for the beef Panang curry, which is beef cooked in a coconut milk Panang sauce. Gai Krapraw, which is stir-fried chicken with Thai holy basil leaves, onions, pepper, chilli oil, mushroom, & spring onions. To accompany our dishes we had Thai sticky rice and Pad Thai Pak, which is a vegetarian version of Pad Thai – stir-fried noodles with eggs, bean sprouts, ground peanuts and bean curd. If you want to know more about Thai food, take a look at my post about red vs yellow curry. It can help you decide which dish is for you.
When the food arrived it was a treat for the senses. It looked and smelled amazing and we didn’t know where to start. I thought the meat elements seemed good quality, which is often where restaurants fall down. The sauces on the dishes were well balanced and tied together the vegetables and meat/noodles.
The service was excellent and we really enjoyed our meal. At the end of the meal, we were brought out a little cake with candles on it as my friend and I were dining to celebrate both our 40th birthdays, which was a very sweet gesture.
The food at Thai Orchid seems very good value. Most of our dishes were between £7 and £9 and our starter was £13.95. The meal and a bottle of wine came to £60 which I feel is very reasonable. We really enjoyed our meal out and I would definitely go back there again. We booked through OpenTable. They have a lot of restaurants in Maidstone and across Kent. What I like most about the website is you can see reviews of what other diners thought, so you can avoid any restaurant which isn’t up to scratch.
Read more posts in the Food & Drink Category
Thai Orchid, Maidstone
My mouth is watering! Fancy a Thai now!
You should definitely go – it was so yummy. I was salivating when I was writing it up!