Hello World,
How are you? Hope you had a cracking weekend. Congratulations Germany on winning the world cup, you guys rock! It was an epic match, which although remained goal-less till extra time, was riveting just the same. I envisage big things for Mario Gotze, because his goal was sublime. The baby-faced wonder will forever be known as THE goal scorer of 2014’s World Cup Final, and winning the somewhat ignominious accolade of being the cute man-child who brought a face-splitting grin to Angela Merkel’s lips (I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ms Merkel smile, which makes Mario’s goal all the more momentous).
Onto even more exciting things, which is discussing one of my favourite restaurants in Derby and beyond. I’ve been going to this beyond wonderful Thai restaurant for some time now and just had to share, because they recently upped the ante and moved into newer premises. Ladies and Gentlemen, let me present to you ‘Papaya Thai’ (or in its previous incarnation, Thai Boran). With breathtakingly authentic Thai food that you can’t help but love, Papaya Thai will blow your mind, not just because it’s tasty as hell, but also because their dishes can be uber hot. Just make sure you tell your server that you prefer foods to suit a mild palate, if that’s your style.
This weekend, Papaya Thai took part in St. Peter’s Square foodie event, which is a great initiative to raise awareness for the brilliant eateries in the area. Now, St. Peter’s Square is a quaint area with tonnes of potential. It just needs some savvy investors to inject some much needed life into the area. If I had J.K. Rowling’s bank account, I’d set up a cute and cosy café in St. Peter’s Square. It wouldn’t be any old café, but a majorly writer-friendly café (I’m a writer so can tell you off the bat what writers like in cafés), with steaming hot filter coffee on tap and light as air pastries made with only the best French butter. As I currently don’t have oodles of cash, I’m pinning my hopes on a fellow coffee lover who will bring good coffee (and delicious cakes and pastries) into the area.
Back to the St. Peter’s Square foodie event; a whole bunch of restaurants participated including Sista Spice Café, which serves home-made Caribbean food, and buffet powerhouses Cosmo and Jimmy’s Spice.
My favourite is Papaya Thai which I cannot recommend heartily enough. My favourite main is Thai Grilled Marinated Chicken, served on a sizzling plate and drizzled with Thai sweet chilli sauce. The presentation of this dish is pretty amazing, as the server will pour alcohol over the dish and set it alight with a flourish, yards away from your table. If that doesn’t work for you, then I don’t know what will, but please, please give it a try if you can. Also, their Pad Seaw Gai (Thai rice noodles pan fried with chicken and fresh green vegetables in a dark soya sauce) is moreish and delightful in equal measure. It’s supposed to be a side, but it’s so darn tasty, that I’d happily munch on that alone.
The picture above is one I took yesterday of one of the Papaya Thai ladies at the buffet. They had a nice selection put on, including Chicken on Toast, Thai Style Spring Rolls, Thai Egg Fried Rice and Chicken Green Curry. We thoroughly enjoyed walking around St. Peter’s Square and sampling fayre of the different restaurants. To the organisers of this gig, well done. Keep up the great work and I look forward to the next do.
RAxx