Food: Blue Elephant

This is another place that has been on my to-do list for a while. I've not met anyone who has had a bad experience at this place, so was looking forward to pick at the holes others may have missed.

In short, there weren't many. The first thing that strikes you when entering Blue Elephant is the decor. It sounds incredibly cheesy writing it here but the internal water pieces (and bridges over them), real live fish and lots of, erm, plants were actually pretty striking and attractive, and the floor itself was vast and seemingly never ending. I'm not sure I've been to such a visibly different and interesting place since La Porte De Indes.

But we were there for the halal Thai food, not the decor. Since it was a bit of a do, we stuck to a set menu. For the starters, this consisted of Spring Rolls, Fish Cakes and Chicken Satay, all of which were wonderful - if it was up to me I would have stopped right there. Instead we moved onto the mains which, although still nice, weren't as special as the previous course. Of the three I liked the Chicken Curry the most, but the Beef and Fish were edible too. In contrast, dessert was disappointing; especially as the papaya was kinda off. Urgh.

Other things: the service was passable, nothing great but nothing bad either. Atmosphere and ambiance were fine with the tables spaced well, and we were both able to talk quietly and be reasonably loud without any trouble - I think everyone was able to enjoy themselves. The cost was a pleasant surprise too; the set menu was priced at £25 which would have been fine as it stood, but after some kind of discount (I'm not sure of the details) we paid a meagre £22 per head including drinks (which largely consisted of water). It actually felt odd paying so little.

Blue Elephant is a fine resturant. It hasn't quite made it to my favourites list, but I'd have no qualms having to go back, especially if it meant dining a la carte.