MIKO Mei Fair Review: Thai Dining on Curzon Street, Mayfair

Written by Martin Seymour | Editor, The Mayfair Foodie | About Me

I’ll admit I was tempted to open this review with, ‘I’ve discovered a hidden gem of a Thai restaurant in Mayfair.’ Sadly for me, MIKO didn’t wait around to be discovered – on the evening we visited, it was already packed to the rafters. So it’s no longer hidden – but it is most definitely still a gem.

This time last year, I was reviewing MiMi Mei Fair, the theatrical Chinese restaurant occupying this handsome Georgian townhouse on Curzon Street. Twelve months on, I’m back at the same address, this time for MIKO Mei Fair, which has taken over the ground floor with a Thai menu of its own. The two restaurants share a building, a restaurateur – Samyukta Nair, also behind Bombay Bustle, Jamavar and Nipotina – and, judging by the queue at the bar, a fair amount of appetite from Mayfair diners.

MIKO brings in Head Chef Soonthorn Apaipat, previously of the well-regarded KOYN Thai, to lead the kitchen, and the menu leans into the regional flavours of Thailand – Isaan heat, though kept pleasingly subtle on our visit, Southern coconut richness, Central Thai balance – filtered through a robata grill and a fair amount of Mayfair polish. Read on to find out how we got on.

1 The Décor

MIKO Mei Fair occupies the ground floor of the townhouse across a sequence of smaller, more intimate rooms rather than one big dining hall, which suits an evening where you want to talk as much as you want to eat. One room curves round a mustard-gold panelled wall, brass wall lights with tasselled shades, and a starburst of drum pendants overhead – warm, clubby, very much dinner-party lighting rather than spreadsheet lighting. Through an open set of double doors sits a paler, greener room, glimpsed rather than fully revealed, which does a nice job of making the whole space feel bigger than it is.

Head further in and the mood shifts again: deep red leather booths line a corridor of dark timber panelling and mirrored glass, with a Chinoiserie-style wallpaper of birds and foliage on a deep green ground doing a lot of the heavy lifting. Add a fan-patterned floor and a candle glowing in a glass hurricane on every table, and you have somewhere that photographs beautifully and, more importantly, feels genuinely good to sit in for a few hours.

It’s a lot of pattern in a small space – but it works.

2 The Menu

MIKO offers an à la carte menu, tasting menus from £68 per person, and a lunch and early-dinner menu from £21 per person – the last of which, on this evidence, is one of the better-value ways to eat well in Mayfair. We went à la carte, ably steered by the team, who clearly know which dishes need explaining to newcomers and which speak for themselves.

We began with an amuse bouche – a neat little palate-waker sent out before we’d even opened the menu properly, and a promising sign of a kitchen that likes to look after its guests.

3 Starters

To start, we went for the signature prawn toast and the black pepper crispy squid. Prawn toast has long been a staple of Chinese restaurants in the UK, but in Thailand it’s a popular street food – kanom pang na goong – and shouldn’t be confused with its Chinese cousin. MIKO’s version has a distinctly Thai identity, with fish sauce and lemongrass doing the talking; served with a dipping sauce, it’s a must-try if you visit.

The squid is always a useful test of a kitchen – it needs to be soft, the batter light and crisp – and I’m pleased to report MIKO’s was cooked exactly right, with the black pepper providing a gentle, building heat in the background. A strong way to start any meal here; other options on the menu include classic Thai fish cakes, Thai spring rolls and Chiang Mai sausage, should prawn toast and squid not tempt you.

4 From the Grill

Next, onto the grill section: chicken satay and tiger prawn pla-ra. Poor chicken satay has been done a disservice by the supermarket version most of us grew up with; try a proper, freshly grilled version and it’s on an entirely different planet. MIKO’s was every bit as good as anything you’d find at the food markets of Thailand, arriving with its own satay and dipping sauce.

The tiger prawn pla-ra was new to me. I’ve had my share of grilled prawns before, but these were enormous, and served with a pla-ra sauce – a North-Eastern Thai seasoning made from fermented fish, I’m reliably informed. As they say, a picture paints a thousand words, so I’ll leave you to admire it in the photo below rather than attempt to out-write it.

5 Curries and Mains

How do you follow that? A curry is always a good shout, and ours arrived in the form of Panang duck curry, alongside a classic pad Thai and, in my view, the best fried rice I’ve had in some time – MIKO’s crab fried rice.

A Thai duck curry is one of my favourite things at the best of times, and knowing that sister restaurant MiMi serves a genuinely excellent signature Peking duck upstairs, I had a feeling we were in for a treat. A nice touch: the duck arrived with the lightest roti bread, ideal for mopping up every last bit of curry sauce. I’ve already given away my feelings on the crab fried rice – a dish I’ll be thinking about for a while yet. The pad Thai had strong competition on the table but held its own comfortably; I suspect I’ll be back for a lunchtime plate of it, seeing as it’s on the £21 lunch menu.

Every plate that came to the table was beautifully presented. I’ve always admired the precision that runs through good Japanese cooking, and it’s just as true of good Thai cooking – MIKO showcased that skill throughout. All told, I thought we chose well, though there were plenty more dishes left on the menu to tempt us back for another visit. Our first meal at Miko was a memorable one.

6 Cocktails and Bar

MIKO’s cocktail list runs on tropical fruits, warming spice and citrus – think a Sabai Sabai of Mekong rum, kaffir lime and Thai basil, or a Golden Mango Margarita for something a little more playful.

7 Dessert

The final act was dessert, in the shape of mango sticky rice, mango panna cotta, and sticky rice and coconut sorbet. After everything that had come before, you won’t be surprised to hear we shared it. It was a proper flavour explosion – ripe mango, cooling coconut sorbet, and the contrasting texture of the sticky rice – and the perfect way to close out the meal.

8 Conclusion

I’ve been lucky enough to visit Thailand a few times, and it has long earned the nickname “the land of smiles.” As a keen foodie, I can see why – the food is excellent from street stall to smart restaurant, and Thai cooking is consistently, reliably good.

The biggest compliment I can pay MIKO Mei Fair is that the food stays true to the authentic flavours of Thailand while, as all good restaurants do, putting its own identity into the menu. The food was exceptional – a delight in every dish – and between that and a room I’d happily sit in all evening, MIKO has earned itself a regular spot in the Mayfair Foodie rotation.