‘For us, many people come for escapism’
Zaap Thai opens its first ever restaurant in Manchester this week(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
The hustle-and-bustle of Bangkok’s night markets have been brought to life with a new city centre restaurant offering real and traditional Thai flavours.
Described as a ‘true assault on the senses’, the restaurant on Brazennose Street is filled with an abundance of brightly illuminated signs and street art on the walls and ceiling, and even TukTuk’s – shipped in directly from Bangkok – representing the red and blue of Manchester’s fierce football rivalry.
Esteemed chef and restaurateur Yupha ‘Ban’ Kaewkraikhot opened Sukhothai Chapel Allerton, her first Thai restaurant in the country, in 2002 after moving from Bangkok to the UK and wanting to bring an authentic representation of Thai food to the country. The first Zaap Thai opened in Leeds ten years ago.
The Manchester venue marks the eighth Zaap in the UK now, following successes in the likes of Newcastle and Sheffield, and is situated near the Town Hall and towards Deansgate – opening opposite famed Middle Eastern restaurant Maray on Thursday (June 26).
The lively open kitchen features chefs preparing dishes-to-order, featuring curries, noodles, soups, dim sum, bao buns, and sharing platters. Popular choices include Pad Thai Bo Ran, with rice noodles, and the sharing Tom Yum Mor Fai soup, which comes with chicken or seafood.
The Pad Ga Prao, Tom Yum Mor Fai soup and the Pad Thai Bo Ran are amongst some of the most popular dishes on the menu(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
“There are a lot of dishes on our menu that are quite unique to us here,” Greg Collinghan, Marketing Manager, tells the Manchester Evening News. “We have a few salads that you aren’t really going to be able to find in many places around Manchester, including a pork belly salad that is based on Ban’s recipe that was created many years ago.”
The menu of around 80 dishes also includes the Pad Ga Prao, which features minced pork, stir fried with garlic, chill and basil, with a fried egg on top, and the Kai Jeaw Moo Thai-style omelette.
Zaap Thai owner Yupha ‘Ban’ Kaewkraikhot(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
“Ten years ago, there were nowhere near as many Thai restaurants as there are now,” Greg says of how diners’ tastes have changed since Zaap opened. “For us, many people come for escapism – it’s a city in another city – and it’s all about the great food and the great atmosphere.”
Alongside its food, there’s boozy bubble teas and specialty cocktails – including the Tued Tued, which is served in a traditional Thai silver teapot and features a mixture of white and dark rum, Cointreau, mixed fruits, lemon, orange, pineapple and mango juice.
There are around 80 dishes on the menu to choose from(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
Speaking about how Zaap has become a success in the cities it has already opened in, Greg says that Manchester was always eyed up as a spot for a future restaurant, which is being led by manager Natchanok Siriwatanacharoen.
He explains: “The journey has been steady for us, we definitely don’t want to rush things and we always want to make sure the locations are right for us.
Dishes are made from scratch via the open kitchen(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
“Even though we are a chain, we are independent – we are still owner-operated. And I feel like Manchester has always supported their independent spots.
“This Manchester location has actually been in the works for two years now. Manchester has always been somewhere we’ve wanted to come, just because it’s such an amazing city and it has such a great mix of people.”
The restaurant even features a red and blue booth tuk-tuk, representing Manchester’s football colours(Image: Kenny Brown | Manchester Evening News)
To mark its opening on Thursday, Zaap Thai will be giving away 100 free Pad Thais (or any curry) to the first guests to arrive at the restaurant when it opens at midday.
All guests who visit during the opening week will also receive a VIP scratch card with their bill to be used on their next visit, with each scratch card winning a prize – including free food and drinks.
Zaap Thai is open Monday to Thursday from 12pm to 10pm, Friday and Saturday from 12pm to 11pm and Sunday from 12pm to 9pm.
Zaap Thai is on 9 Brazennose Street, Manchester, M2 5AD.