Rosa’s Thai Songkran festival menu, tasted: Celebrate Thai New Year with this delicious, ginormous flavour feast

This weekend sees the kick-off of the Songkran festival, the Thai New Year, which sees revellers all across Thailand splish-and-splash their way through a three-day water fight to symbolise purification and cleanse a person of their troubles.

Festivities officially kick off on Sunday, April 13th, and run until April 15th. It’s a riot of colour and celebration — and a great way to cool off before the oppressive heat of Thailand’s incoming summer season.

Here in old Blighty though, you’re less likely to reach for your soaker in the Spring than you are your scarf. But that doesn’t mean you can’t also celebrate in a culinary style.

This week, Rosa’s Thai — our favourite of London’s many Thai restaurant chains — is welcoming in the new year with its Songkran Family Feast Menu. And when they say feast, they mean FEAST. At £30 a head, it might be the best-value dining deal in the capital right now — though it’s technically merely a three course offering, it includes giant sharing platters and complimentary specials that will fill you to the brim.

We headed down to the Rosa’s Thai at Baker Street to try out the new menu, and came away so gloriously full of grub that we had to be airlifted home. Here’s what we had...

Starters:

We decided on the meaty Classic Platter opening option for our feast, which included Thai Fried Chicken, veggie spring rolls, grilled pork skewers, Thai calamari and mountains of prawn crackers. This finger-friendly opening was a meal in itself, with the crispy thai calamari a highlight — a peppery and crumbly batter paired with perfectly cooked calamari that avoided the rubbery pitfalls the seafood can fall into.

A vegan version of the platter, with okra tempura, summer rolls, sweetcorn fritters, veggie spring rolls and pumpkin crackers is also available. Platters are shared between two guests.

Songkran Specials:

Here’s where that “three course” description decadently expands. Rosa’s Thai throws in a couple of Songkran Specials for the Family Feast. The Larb Gai was our favourite of the entire night — a marinated minced chicken mix served on a lettuce leaf, finished with crushed rice, chilli, lime and fish sauce. Light and delicious, it’s the perfect summer dish.

The specials also include a Yum Makhuea — grilled aubergine topped with a boiled egg and sesame dressing. Both dishes are on the spicier side. We’ve got it on good authority that the Larb Gai is eventually going to make its way onto the core Rosa’s Thai menu too. So there’s our future go-to order sorted.

Main Courses:

The majority of the mains are Rosa’s Thai staples, and you can’t go wrong with the slow-cooked Massaman Beef Curry, with its melt-in-mouth cheek chunks, potatoes, cashews and light spice kick.

But we were particularly impressed with the Ginger Stir Fry vegan option which swaps out chicken for Fable Pulled Mushroom — one of the most convincing meat alternatives we’ve ever had in a dish like this. Stir fried with lashings of ginger, chillies and button mushrooms, pair it with boiled rice and you’re in guilt-free heaven.

Desserts:

Did you know that Thai Churros are a thing? We didn’t but we’re sure glad we do now, with Rosa’s taking the cinnamon sugar stick classic and pairing it with a moreish condensed milk dipping that felt very naughty.

If you’re after something a little more traditional but just as delicious, the Mango & Sticky Rice is a more laid back affair, with warm coconut milk gently and sweetly soothing your spice-ravished palate.

Drinks:

Rosa’s Thai has a few special drinks to celebrate Songkran too, sold separately at £6 a pop. Enjoy a slightly fruity Jasmine Bubble Tea to start, and, if you’ve got room at the end of the night for a real sugar rush, pick up the creamy Chocolate Bubble Tea, pictured above, which could be a dessert in its own right.

Verdict

It was a fantastic, generous meal, and certainly was in keeping with the Songkran spirit of washing our troubles away — even if it was with an avalanche of great food rather than with water. The limited edition menu is available now until the festival season’s end — book here to avoid missing out.