Review of 'Paya'

Item: Paya
Rating: 4.5
Author: Stephen Rice

Paya has a number of branches throughout the city offering “oriental cuisine”, specifically, Chinese and Thai fast food. We tried this as a bit of a treat over the Christmas holidays as our local branch is just down the road from us. The meal turned out to be quite tasty.

Though they generally specialise in delivery (£1.50) we picked up our meal directly from their location which consists of a kitchen with a small waiting room at the front (nicely appointed, it has to be said, with a leather sofa). After ordering our meal was ready within about 10 minutes despite their being quite busy.

On this visit we stuck to the Chinese part of the menu and started with “Hot and Sour Szechuan Soup” (£3.95) which was not as spicy or flavourful as we have previously had. We had the “Peppercorn Salt” (deep fried squid with spring onions, chili, lettuce and garlic; £7.95) which was very well prepared (not chewy) and quite tasty if a bit small. The “Malaysian Kung Po Stir Fry” (beef; £6.95) was extremely hot with loads of chilli peppers in it - Much hotter than we expected (yes, it does say “spicy” in the menu) and a bit watery. My wife was generous in providing me with her share of the peppers (sigh). Also on our order was “Chinese Authentic Curry” (chicken; £6.95) which was good if a bit mild and liquidy. Our final item was “Singapore Noodles” (shrimp, chicken and pork; £6.25) which was good if also a bit bland. On the side we had a single order of “Steamed Jasmine Rice” (£2.85) which was satisfactory. Pleasingly we were given a free order of “Thai Prawn Crackers” (normally £1.65) which were very light and tasty.

Ok, so we had a fair good amount of food (yes, it lasted for several days of leftovers) but we felt it was a bit expensive at £35.

The staff were very friendly, the food was quite tasty though a bit expensive and service was very good. What much more do you want in a take-away?

Rating: “Nearly perfect, but not quite”

Review Date: 2012-01-10

Cuisine: Chinese

Address: 161 Askew Road, London W12 9AU ENGLAND

Public Transport: Ravenscourt Park