Father's Day Menu Launch and Thai Cookery Class at Chaophraya

What comes to mind when you think of a Father's Day meal? Is it a Sunday Roast, pub grub, or maybe a steak. Thai food may not be your first answer, but why not?

Chaophraya Thai has launched a special menu to enjoy on Father's Day. For £14.95 per person, there's a choice of a starter, main meal and a bottle of Singha or Chang beer included in the price.

I was invited along with a group of Birmingham bloggers to try my hand at a traditional Thai dish and taste test the menu.

Making our way up to the first floor of the restaurant, a space which can be used for special events, private dining and in our case, for masterclasses, we started off by making a Strawberry Mojito.

Not traditionally Thai, you may say, but Chaophraya has an extensive cocktail menu, and I was all too happy to rustle up this particular creation. Refreshing and sweet, I made mine with just a touch much sugar than necessary to satisfy my cravings.

Next, we were able to tuck into a selection of starters from the Father's Day menu, including Chicken Satay, Chicken Tom-Kha and Vegetable Spring Rolls. Although I didn't sample the Chicken Satay as it's not gluten free, I did instead sample the Chicken Tom-Kha. Unusually, I had never tried this dish, and was surprised at the rich, creamy flavours of this coconut based soup. Complete with a piece of young coconut, straw mushrooms and the subtle flavours of galangal, lemongrass and chilli, I would happily order this again.

The final option wasn't delivered to the table, however, and for this one we grabbed a partner, headed to a cooking station and rustled up our very own Spring Rolls. Firstly chopping then cooking the filling mixture, we then filled and rolled our spring rolls before frying them until golden brown. Although I sadly couldn't eat my spring rolls, they looked pretty good!

Thai Red Prawn Curry, Panang Beef Curry, Tofu and Pineapple Curry

After all the hard work of cooking, we were then able to tuck into the main courses, which came served in adorable boat shaped bamboo plates for us to sample. The main course selection includes Panang Beef Curry, Massaman Lamb Curry, Thai Green Chicken Curry, Tofu and Pineapple Curry and Thai Red Prawn Curry. I was served a full sized portion of Thai Green Curry as this was the only gluten free option from the selection, but as I can tolerate soy sauce, I did also try small portions of the other dishes.

Thai Green Curry

As it happens, my favourite dish was the Thai Green Curry. Large pieces of chicken had been simmered in coconut milk with courgettes and aubergine, and topped off with basil and chillies. This dish to me is Thai comfort food, and served with a helping of Jasmine Rice to mop up all the great flavours in the sauce, makes a sublime dish.

Thai Red Prawn Curry

My favourites of the tasters was definitely the Thai Red Prawn Curry. The prawns were huge, juicy, and tender, and the sauce was creamy and full of flavour, balanced out in favour of sweet with some sour lime notes. The sauce was the best Thai Red Curry I've tried anywhere.

Massaman Lamb Curry

Panang Beef Curry

Tofu and Pineapple Curry

A big thank you to the team at Chaophraya for hosting such an enjoyable masterclass. If you haven't already booked for Father's Day then I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it; you could even book your dad in for the Cooking School is you're stuck for gift inspiration.

To view the Father's Day menu click here. To make a reservation or find out more, visit the Chaophraya Birmingham page. 

Event: Cookery School Launch at Chaophraya Birmingham

When an email inviting me to learn to cook the Chaophraya way landed in my inbox, my finger hit the reply button in super fast time.

Chaophraya Thai Fine Dining restaurant has been a fixture on Spiceal Street, Bullring Birmingham since 2011 and brings authentic Thai cusine and genuine Thai hospitality to sites across the UK.

Already popular in Leeds, myself, Natasha from NutellaTasha and Laura from Full To The Brum were invited to trial out the cookery school format and space in the Birmingham restaurant.

Lesson in progress

Heading down on a cold winter evening, I met Laura in the bar area downstairs before Natasha joined us. Lynsey from Chaophraya runs the cookery schools and took us upstairs ready for the cookery evening.

The upstairs seating area had been closed off for us to use as a specially converted kitchen, and we took to our stations which were ready and laid out with the ingredients for each course, a gas burner, knives chopping boards and even our own hats and aprons!

Chicken Spring Rolls - before

Chicken Spring Rolls - after

The format of the evening was interactive and fun, with our chef demonstrating step by step how to prepare and cook the ingredients as well as flavouring the demonstration with knowledge and tips.

With my spring roll!

Spring Roll vegetables and chicken ready to roll

Spring Rolls frying

For starters, we prepared Chicken Spring Rolls. Although I can't chop as quickly or professionally as the chefs there, I can roll a mean Spring Roll!! I somehow ended up with a huge pile of Sping Rolls and we also got to fry these ourselves.

My alternative King Prawn dish

As a gluten free foodie I was able to make these but sadly not eat them, but the chefs prepared me a special spicy prawn dish instead to eat whilst Natasha and Laura tucked into their dish. They were also really good at adapting dishes to our requirements (more on this later), and Natasha had Vegetable Spring Rolls.

Beef Stir Fry ingredients

With my huge portion of Beef Stir Fry

The finished dish - Beef Stir Fry with Thai Basil and Rice

The main was Stir Fried Beef with Thai Basil. In place of Soya Sauce I used fish sauce but my stir fry tasted amazing, so much so that I ate a massive portion with the rice provided, much to everyones amusement.

Banana in Coconut Batter ingredients

Banana in Coconut Milk simmering

My finished Banana in Coconut Milk dessert

The desserts we cooked were Banana in Coconut Batter for everyone else and Banana in Coconut Milk for me. Again, these were fried in oil, but mine was simmered in coconut milk (yum!) and flavoured with pandan leaf which has a fabulous sweet, slightly citrus taste. I also got to garnish mine with sesame seeds and strawberries.

The cookery lesson was not just great fun, but fascinating too as we touched on the flavours used in Thai cooking, how to balance sweet, salty, sour and spicy elements and the usage of Pandan in Thai cookery. As well as cooking the food, we were able to eat our creations course by course and enjoy our meal in the company of bloggers, on this occasion, and the friendly, helpful team at Chaophraya. They were also able to tailor the sessions to vegetarian and gluten free diets with ease. At the end of the night we even got to take away our aprons, recipe cards and selected ingredients to help us on our culinary adventure.

The cookery lessons will start running from 3rd February and take place once a month in Birmingham at a cost of £60 per person. This includes a welcome drinks reception, introduction to Thai ingredients, demonstration and practical hands on session, all equipment and ingredients. The evenings last approximately 3 hours and cover a complete meal, starter, main and dessert, and can include stir fries, curries, traditional starters and desserts. To find out more, contact Lynsey Miller on lynsey.miller@chaophraya.co.uk.

A big thank you to Lynsey and the Birmingham Chaophraya team for having me!