There's a lot of hype around Singburi.
In its original incarnation in Leytonstone, it developed a cult following from in the know foodies who trekked out to Zone 3 to try their bold flavoured Thai cooking from a menu of blackboard specials.
This family run BYOB cash-only restaurant, which was touted by some as the best restaurant in London, sounded like a lot of fun… that is if you could get a table.
Having relocated to a shiny new industrial dining space in Shoreditch in 2025, Singburi 2.0 appears to be a much more typical London restaurant experience – online reservations are straightforward to come by, there’s a paper menu of various sized plates without any paragraph breaks delineating them, you can quaff a glass of wine with your dinner and then pay by card at the end.
On a dreary Friday night in January there was a warm welcome from a friendly member of front of house who explained how the menu works (so far so hip London restaurant).
A fresh and juicy glass of Bright Side of Life Scheurebe, Sauvignon Blanc and Riesling blend (£7.90) was a tasty drop to pair with all the aromatic food. I followed it up with a half of draught Singha (£4).
Our first small plate to arrive was an Isaan smoked chicken thigh (£7). Juicy, crisp skinned and lightly smoked, it was a lovely bit of meat.
A radish and kohlrabi herbal salad (£8) was enjoyably crisp, cleansing and fragrant. Long spirals of vegetable were tumbled together with the crunch of nuts and aroma of green herb.
Crispy rice salad (£8.50), made with golden nuggets of crisp edged grains flecked with coriander, cucumber and mixed onions, was another tasty yet mild proposition.
Lift off finally arrived with aubergine pad phet (£16). Lightly battered and stupidly tender aubergine pieces were coated in spicy, sweet, sour, savoury and sticky sauce flecked with chillies, batons of garlic and fragrant basil leaves. Potently flavoured yet comforting, it was a belter of a dish.
Things became milder once again with a beautifully juicy, smoke-kissed and fat-rich iberico pork collar (£26) that was served with a bowl of zingy and garlicky prik nam som dipping sauce.
Alongside the aubergine, hispi cabbage stir fried in pork fat (£6.50) was the other standout dish. Addictively smoky and meaty, this would ensure that anyone eats their greens.
Finally, a bowl of sticky jasmine rice (£3) hit the mark, but in the end, there weren’t really any sauces that needed mopping up.
Overall, I really enjoyed Singburi but I perhaps expected a bigger wallop of flavour and spice than their cooking delivered. Maybe it's because I never went to the original Singburi and so don’t have an emotional connection with the place. Or maybe we just didn't pick the biggest spiced dishes. However, this just seems like another very nice modern Thai restaurant to me rather than a cult institution.
The Details:
Address - Singburi, Unit 7, Montacute Yards, 185‑186 Shoreditch High Street, London E1 6HU
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