Review of 'The Thai Kitchen Tarporley'
We regularly travel on the A51 between where we live, Nantwich, and Chester. Over the years we have seen development along the way including this new Thai restaurant just outside Tarporley in Clotton, in fact only a short distance from one of our favourite Indian restaurants “The Rasoi”. With my companion finishing work early on a Saturday we made a reservation to finally give it a try. To be sure about one thing, it is a pub known as the “Bulls Head” that serves a pretty damn good Thai…
There is parking along the side with the lot pretty empty when we arrived shortly after 4 pm. We were the only guests there though we were joined by two others, who appeared to be regulars, an hour later. After passing through a (plastic) arch of colourful flowers we entered into the restaurant with the bar immediately ahead of us, bar seating to the right (behind the wood-fuelled fireplace that provided a nice smoky smell to the place), and restaurant seating to the left, around and behind the bar, with outdoor picnic tables at back (and at front, if you don't mind the busy road). It was not a day to be sitting outside so we were shown to our table at the front window to the immediate left of the door.
The simple food menu is divided into “starters”, “soups and pho”, “house specialities”, “curries”, “rice”, (over) “stir-fry main course”, “noodles” and “salads” along with “sides” (chips, noodles and rice) and “extras”. I think anyone reasonably familiar with Thai food would recognize most offerings though there was a nice effort to use (relatively) local produce such as lamb and seabass.
While viewing the menu we were brought a nice sided serving of “Prawn Crackers” (£3.50; “Served with sweet chilli dip.”) which were quite nice, these being the darker variety rather than the white ones so these are a bit more “prawn” flavoured. These were fresh and the dip had quite a good spicy kick to it.
It was all a bit relaxed as we were given lots of time to figure out what we wanted but when we put our menus down we were immediately approached to place our order. As it was a bar we opted for some simple (non-alcoholic) drinks (£3.50 for a pint of sparkling lemonade) then placed our order.
About 20 minutes later our starters arrived. I had the “Hot & Sour Soup (Tom Yum)” with prawn (£12.50, also available with chicken £10.50 or vegetables £8.50; “Classic Thai hot and sour soup, made with a rich mixed vegetables broth. Liberally spiced with chilli, lemongrass, lime juice and Thai herbs.”) which was quite tasty and served piping hot. There were a few cherry tomatoes along with quite a good number of prawns. The broth was a bit thinner than I am used to, but quite nicely herbal with a good amount of a kick.
My companion opted for the “Spicy Papaya Salad” (£9.95; “Thailand’s most popular salad from the northeast Isaan region made with shredded papaya, French beans, carrot, cherry tomato, garlic, chilli and fresh lime juice balanced with fish sauce made from anchovies offers a refreshing satisfying flavours.”) which she found absolutely delicious and quite different than the salad we had at the Vietnamese restaurant we visited last week (Vietnamese Restaurant Hamley - It had none of the sweet note but still a good umami about it with incredibly fresh ingredients. She found it a bit too spicy with the chilis cut up so small she couldn't get them all out but she thought the green beans provided a nice crunchy note. The portion size was reasonable as a starter.
For our mains I chose the “Slow Cooked Lamb Shank in Massaman Curry” from the “Specialities” section of the menu (£23.95; “Fragrant and creamy curry originating from the south of Thailand made with onion, pineapple and potatoes with a smooth finish of coconut cream. Accompanied with jasmine rice.”). The curry was absolutely amazing - creamy, slightly sweet and VERY rich - and the lamb was “falling off the bone” as they say (I only had to pull the bone away to get at the meat). There were a good number of perfectly cooked new potatoes with no trace of onions but I did get a few pieces of pineapple. The portion size was quite…generous…particularly when combined with the rice. I was not going away hungry.
My companion opted for the “Steamed Sea Bass in Fresh Chilli Lime Juice” also from the “Specialities” section of the menu (£21.95; “Steamed sea bass fillet cooked with fresh chilli, garlic, ginger, spring onion and finished with fresh seafood sauce. Accompanied with jasmine rice.”). She absolutely adored this with the fish delicately cooked, very light, tasting wonderful with the mild marinade and the nice accompanying “seafood sauce”, served on top of a bed of vegetables including peppers, and cabbage. The sliced limes provided also added further freshness to the dish. The skin was not crispy but tasted nice and she did find a bone despite it being a fillet, however this is all easily forgiven by the general taste of the dish.
We had eyed up the most interesting offer on the dessert menu that was present in a presentation stand on the table throughout our meal – The “Sweet Sticky Rice and Mango” (£8.95). In my experience this is not something that is common in Thai restaurants, unfortunately, so we gave it a go. The rice was slightly al denté and also only slightly sweet with punchy, sweet poached slices of mango on top. Quite nice indeed and we easily polished it off between the two of us. I think this is more an adult dessert with it's subtle sweetness that children, for example, would find boring (“sticky toffee pudding” this is not).
The service throughout was exemplary with the arrival of every dish followed a short time later by inquiries to make sure we were happy with the food. They were friendly and gave us lots of time to enjoy the food and we never felt rushed which I felt was normal here – Yes, it was not busy but I think the whole ambiance here was one of relaxation and enjoyment of the food on offer. When my companion ordered a cappuccino at the end of our meal (£4.25) it was delivered with a mysterious “let us know if you want us to make it again” as we learned a short time later their machine was broken so it was being prepared by hand. At the end, it tasted more like a latté but she was happy nonetheless.
The bill came to just over £105 which included a “10.01%” service charge which is a bit pricy but considering the quality of dishes and the generally good portion sizes (along with our three pints of lemonade), it was not as expensive as you might think. There were a few flavours that somewhat underwhelmed but overall we were very satisfied – It will be a long time before I forget my wonderful Massaman lamb…my highlight of the meal other than, of course, my companion.
Rating: “Really good but I have some issues”
Review Date: 2026-03-07
Cuisine: Thai
Address: Bull's Head, Clotton, Tarporley, Cheshire CW6 0EG ENGLAND
Location: Cheshire (England) - Tarporley
Map:
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Telephone: +44 (0) 1829 863733
URL: https://www.thethaikitchentarporley.com/