Giggling Squid - Reigate

As a post-nights treat hubby and I decided to take a wander around the posher-than-where-we-live town of Reigate and go for a bite to eat. I am a spice monster. I love spicy food of all types, but Thai is definitely my favourite.

Enticed by the funny name I decided I fancied going to Giggling Squid, a small chain of 9 restaurants, for some "Thai Tapas". I'll be honest and say that I was a bit worried by the concept of Thai Tapas, but actually looking at the menu it's just smaller portions of all the same lovely things, which is a great idea for a piggy like me who loves trying everything.

They do some mixtures of different tapas dishes, so we went for two of those and some extra bits. Hubby had the descriptively named "vegetarian" which had a vegetarian green curry, vegetable stir fry, jasmine rice and spring rolls. The thai green curry was deliciously creamy, spicy and perfectly balanced with just the right amount of sweetness. The stir-fried vegetables were still crisp and highly perfumed with spices. I had the "starving squid" with thai red chicken curry, jasmine rice, vegetable spring rolls and dumplings.

The curry was creamy and well flavoured, but not as punchy as the green vegetable curry. The servings were very generous, although they were "tapas sized" I'd guess that there was at least as much curry as I'd cook for myself at home for a whole meal. The steamed dumplings were juicy, chewy yummy dim-sum, made even better by the sweetened soy dressing they were served with. The only let down on the plate were the spring rolls which didn't taste of much except the sweet chilli they were drizzled with.

We also ordered Salt and Pepper squid. The batter was light and crisp, while the squid remained nice and tender, but I felt it could have used a bit more salt and pepper. The chilli dip was very tasty though, reminding me (in a good way) of the bottles of Encona chilli sauce you can buy.

Tempura vegetables were also nice, with a light cripsy batter and a good choice of vegetables. Much to my delight (and Hubby's horror) they even had some cauliflower in there.

With a pot of green tea and a bottle of diet coke the whole thing came to around £29, which is a bargain  in my eyes.  I haven't mentioned it yet, but the service was also great. This was probably of the nicer thai meals I've had on the high street and while it doesn't compare to places like the Blue Elephant, it is also great value for money.

7/10