A new Thai restaurant taking inspiration from global barbecue techniques opens next week in Manchester. Bangkok Diners Club, from Ben and Bo Humphries, has taken over the upstairs dining room at the Edinburgh Castle, a historic pub in Ancoats that was revived to wide acclaim in 2019.
The new kitchen replaces a well-received operation serving British dishes, whose former chef Shaun Moffatt recently opened the new Winsome restaurant in the city.
Ben said: “Barbecue is huge in Thailand, but it’s usually fast and furious over fire. Last year we spent some time in Miami – we had so much mega BBQ, and I found for me the best dishes had Mexican or Korean heat and citrus which cut through the richness of the meat. It got me thinking about how I could do that with Thai flavours and techniques.
“Bangkok is right in the middle of Thailand, the cuisine is the most complex and diverse there. They draw inspiration from all across the country – vivid with fresh turmeric and depth of shrimp paste from the South, an array of herbs and dry spices from the cooler mountainous North, and the distinctive spicy and sour flavours from the northeast Isan region.
“That exciting approach is what we’re trying to do here. It’s all rooted in a deep respect for the Thai cooking traditions and an obsessive understanding of how Thai dishes are built; how the flavours are layered and the heat builds – but without the constraints of identifying with a single region.”
Danny Collins, a partner in the project, added: “We’ve spent countless nights cooking and celebrating with Bo’s family in Bangkok, and we want to bring that same energy to Manchester, and to the pub. We hope to give people something you can’t really get anywhere else, while offering a dining experience that’s fun, communal, and full of flavour.”
Dishes on the opening menu for next Wednesday 2 April include ex-dairy beef nam tok; BQ pork jowl with burnt tomato nam jim jaew, and Thai omelette with smoked mushroom and nam prik pao.
