Giggling Squid | Norwich

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Thai Prawn Crackers with Sweet Chilli Sauce

Interior 

 Last weekend I was lucky enough to be wined and dined at the newly opened Giggling Squid* restaurant, situated in Tombland, Norwich. Tombland is the perfect location for this modern, Thai food restaurant with its clean, classy interior. Me and my partner, Ruben, were invited along to try out the menu as we are both avid Thai food lovers. On arrival, we were greeted by a friendly host and taken too our table which was situated by the bar on the ground floor. There are two floors to the restaurant, but only the ground floor was open on this particular evening meaning the atmosphere downstairs was very lively and bustling- just what you want for a Friday evening! The decor inside the restaurant is not what you'd expect from a typical Thai restaurant, instead, the simple, white washed decor creates a calming, tranquil atmosphere. 

Giggling Squid not only offers a diverse evening menu but also a fantastic tapas lunch set menu, where all of the most popular dishes can be ordered alongside a selection of starters such as spring rolls and jasmine rice all from just £9.95. As we sat down and were handed our menus we were offered Thai prawn crackers, which were a lot spicier than we're used too! It was great to have something to nibble on as we perused the very extensive menu of starters, soups, salads, fish, duck, beef, stir fry and more. We were poured a bottle of the Campo Azafran Airen Sauvignon Blanc, which had a deliciously crisp and citrus taste complementing our food exceptionally well. For our starter we decided to divide the sharing platter which consisted of riddled pork skewers, salt and pepper squid, Thai fishcakes and vegetable spring rolls. This platter gave us a real feel of the different starters on offer and the portion size was very generous! My favourite item on the platter were the Thai fishcakes, whereas Ruben preferred the salt and pepper squid. 

Sharing platter with Vegetable Spring Rolls and Salt and Pepper Squid

Sharing Platter with Thai Fishcakes and Pork Skewers 

The best thing about Thai food is the fresh, aromatic ingredients that are used in all of the dishes and our mains were no exception. My chicken cashew nut stir fry was piled high with roasted cashew nuts, mushrooms, onion, pepper and chilli, with a generous portion of succulent chicken pieces. This dish could have easily fed the both of us, especially as we both opted to accompany our mains with the delicious sticky coconut rice. Ruben went for the sleeping honey duck with orange salad served on a sizzling hot plate, which made others diners heads turn as it was brought out to our table. He said it tasted amazing and would definitely recommend it if you like duck. 

Sleeping Honey Duck with Coconut Rice and Orange Salad 

Chicken Cashew Nut Stir Fry with Coconut Rice 

Even though we were both stuffed from our meals we had to make room for desserts! I was so surprised to see proper desserts on the menu, as at most other Thai restaurants I have dined at the dessert menus were very limited. The Giggling Squid dessert menu had a selection of ice cream and sorbet made especially for them by a little shop in Brighton. Black sesame and rose are just a few of the flavours of ice cream on offer, but instead we tried the caramelised mango cake and chocolate feuillantine. The mango cake was lacking slightly in flavour, however the chocolate feuillantine mousse was to die for! Coffee was served after dessert, and as a treat I ordered a Baileys latte and Ruben had a regular latte. The coffees were the perfect aperitif to end the evening and were very enjoyable. So after all that, we rolled out of the restaurant and into a taxi, and it was probably one of the best meals we've had in a long time!

Chocolate Feuillantine

Caramelised Mango Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream 

The staff were great throughout the evening, and were very attentive! My only slight niggle was the lightening, which although was great for my photo taking, I did feel was slightly too bright for an evening meal, however that might just be personal preference. 

Ruben and I had such a great, memorable evening at Giggling Squid we can't wait to return! We've loved telling all our friends and family about the fantastic meal we had and could not recommend it more highly. I can't thank the staff at Giggling Squid or PR team enough!

Have you dined at a Giggling Squid before?

xo 

* I was lucky enough to dine free of charge in return for an honest review