Review: Ekachai, Kings Cross

I absolutely love Pan-Asian food and was excited to sample the various dishes at Ekachai, who are also currently running a Hawker8 Special menu for 8 weeks where you can try a different special dish each week for £8 when dining in at any of their locations.

Ekachai was first established in 1999 with a site on Liverpool Street, which is the flagship restaurant, and there are four other additional branches across London. It was born as a result of two Hong Kong school friends, Thomas Tjong and Sidney Tsang making a decision to set up a South East Asian hawker food restaurant in London as they missed their favourite, authentic street food dishes so much.

I arrived at their Kings Cross branch and instantly loved the buzz, ambience and casual setting. It’s perfect for a date night or as a place for a group meal to catch up with your friends with wooden, shabby chic interiors with long tables with benches as well as higher corner seats. I loved the semi-open kitchen that is in view at the back of the restaurant where you can see the chefs at work preparing the dishes.

To start with we had the Salt and Pepper Tofu, which is a dish that will definitely be ordered whenever I spot it on a menu! This version was Chinese-style crispy tofu pieces with salt, pepper, chilli, spring onion and served with a sweet chilli dip. It was so delicious with a crisp exterior and soft interior. The Vegetarian options on the menu are excellent.

We also tried the Thai BBQ Spare Ribs, which were marinated sweet, sticky and spicy ribs with Thai Nam Prik Pao chilli sauce, which we just could not get enough of! The ribs were tender and cooked to perfection.

For mains we went for the Kai Krapow, a classic Thai dish of ground chicken with chilli, fine beans, fragrant lime leaves and holy basil. It’s traditionally eaten in Thailand with a fried egg but we opted to have it without, accompanied with egg fried rice. I loved this dish so much! It was full of flavour and had a nice spicy and fiery kick without being too overpowering.

Now for the Hakwer8 Special, we had the Hokkien Braised Duck, which was the limited edition dish for the week we visited. It was a generous serving of Duck, pork belly and tofu braised in master stock with half boiled egg, cucumber and a spicy chilli vinegar sauce on the side. It was such a delicious dish with such a fantastic sized portion, perfect for sharing or even to indulge on your own!

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and loved the casual setting, bustling atmosphere, fabulous service and brilliant portions. The food is really reasonably priced and I will definitely be back to try some more of the dishes on the menu.

Ekachai King’s Cross
62-67 York Way
London
N1 9AG

Visit the Ekachai website

I was a guest of Ekachai but all views and opinions are my own.

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About Binny

Hi, I'm Binny - a writer, dreamer and serial wanderluster with a love for Wildlife Conservation. I am originally from Kenya but I now live in London. 'Karibu' to Binny's Food and Travel! I regularly share my experiences eating out, cooking and travelling, both in the UK and globally, as well as educate on the plight of Wildlife. I am an ambassador for World Animal Protection and regularly support the work of The Born Free Foundation, Four Paws and Dreams Come True Charity. I love packing my bags and going off on adventures as one of the best things about travelling is the ability to just get lost in it. To set aside the maps and itineraries and just see where the road takes you, learning and evolving and living in the moment along the way. It's my goal to get swept off my feet as often as possible!