It may be just one of 46, but Thai restaurant The Giggling Squid, in Alderley Edge, has the freshest and most delicious of food and wonderful service, which makes it precisely designed to please the Cheshire diner
Oh my, I do love Thai. I first discovered the extraordinary blending of flavours and textures when backpacking through south east Asia during my gap year, back in the early 90s. The most exotic flavour I had previously encountered being sweet and sour chicken from my local takeaway, you can imagine how overwhelming it was to be met with street food vendors throwing chillies, lemongrass, coconut milk and coriander (to list but four) into hot pans and moments later presenting me with my new version of culinary heaven. When Giggling Squid opened in Alderley Edge last year, I immediately added it to my list of must-visits, but it took me till this month to actually make it, and now I am devastated at how many amazing meals I have missed out on.
Giggling Squid may be a chain restaurant (there are now 46 across the UK) but in no way does that affect the freshness and flavour of the food, and the service and surroundings are all that you could ask for.
We started with Jaew Beef Tips (cubes of slow cooked beef, cooked to a crispy texture and served with a Thai salad of star fruit, coriander, carrot, jicama, lemongrass and dill). They were fabulous, though I could have done with a little less chilli in the salad – I have clearly lost my hard-earned asbestos mouth since 1991. Mike chose Yummy Duck Spring Rolls, which came beautifully presented and were immediately scoffed. I managed to snatch half of one, and it was the perfect blend of crispy outer and soft, sweet inner. In return he demolished half my beef, which was fine, because the main course portion sizes are generous, and I needed the space.
In our game of who chose best, we entered the second course round level pegging, but his choice of Lamb Shank Massaman took him ahead. Falling from the bone, in the most flavoursome curry sauce you can imagine, the lamb was incredible. I am absolutely going for a Massaman on our next visit. I had chosen Chubby Cheek Pork, which on any other occasion would have won hands down. Soaked in ginger root, black pepper and palm sugar, the pork cheeks are then slow-cooked to sweet, tender perfection – seriously, you only need a spoon to cut through this heavenly concoction, with comes with a rich, dark sauce that blends perfectly with the coconut rice I chose as my side. A fresh salad of carrot and cucumber adds the perfect contrast of texture and cuts through the intense, though not spicy, flavour. I brought three pieces home for lunch, after a battle with Mike’s fork as he helped himself.
Full to the brim, gushing to each other over our new discovery, we left determined to return, very soon indeed.
