Kolae

About Kolae

Walk into Kolae's ground floor and the visual cue is immediate: concrete flooring, bare brick walls, exposed ventilation ducting, and an open kitchen firing skewers over an open flame. The industrial fit-out is deliberate, not accidental, and it matches the food's directness. Counter seating runs along the bar and extends toward the kitchen, so you can watch the skewers go on and come off the grill from most seats on this level. Two additional floors sit above, offering a slightly calmer setting if the ground-floor energy feels like too much. For solo diners or pairs, the counter is the better seat; groups of four or more will find the upper levels easier to manage a shared spread.

The concept comes from Mark Dobbie and Andy Oliver, the team behind Som Saa in Spitalfields, and it is rooted specifically in southern Thai cooking rather than the broader Thai repertoire. The name refers to kolae (sometimes written as gaw lae), the tradition of threading meat and fish onto bamboo skewers, coating them in spiced coconut marinades, and grilling them over open fire. That technique is the centrepiece of the menu, but the kitchen does not stop there. Curries, rice dishes, and snacks built around British produce fill out the card, with sourcing that includes Middle White pork and British stone bass. The result is a menu that feels coherent rather than eclectic: every dish connects back to the same regional logic.

The menu structure lends itself to sharing, and the set menu option is the most efficient way to eat here, especially on a first visit. A vegan version of the set menu is available, which is a practical advantage in mixed groups. For those ordering à la carte, the grilled mussel skewers and the yellow curry are the dishes most frequently cited in editorial coverage of the restaurant. The pandan sticky rice dessert is the only one on the menu, which removes any decision fatigue at the end of the meal.

On the drinks side, the list is built around the food's heat and spice levels, with wine selections chosen for spice tolerance, alongside tropical cocktails and a short list of craft beers. The Jiddler's Tipple (an apricot-flavoured hazy beer) is a detail that signals the drinks programme is taken seriously rather than treated as an afterthought. If your group includes non-drinkers or lighter drinkers, the soft drink options are worth asking about.

Borough Market, where Kolae sits at 6 Park St SE1, is one of London's most visited food destinations, and the foot traffic that generates has a direct bearing on how busy Kolae gets at peak hours. Lunch on a Friday or Saturday, and dinner across the week, run at high capacity. If you are visiting as part of a Borough Market food day, Kolae fits naturally as the sit-down anchor around which you build the rest of the market grazing. For a broader picture of what else is worth your time in the area, see our full London restaurants guide, our full London bars guide, and our full London experiences guide.

On the question of whether the food travels well for takeout or delivery: the skewer format that defines Kolae's menu is designed for immediate consumption. Grilled skewers lose texture quickly once they come off the heat, and the curries, while more resilient, are leading eaten in the room where the open-kitchen energy is part of the experience. The Bib Gourmand recognition reflects the full sit-down proposition. If convenience is the priority, you will get a diminished version of what makes Kolae worth visiting. This is a restaurant where the sensory environment, the smell of the grill, the noise of a full room, and the counter view of the kitchen, are load-bearing parts of the experience, not background decoration. Book a table rather than an app order.

Compared to London's other Thai destinations, Kolae occupies a specific and useful position. AngloThai works in a more hybrid register, crossing Thai technique with British fine dining in a way that pushes the price higher. Farang covers some similar northern and central Thai territory with a more chef-driven tasting format. Plaza Khao Gaeng is worth knowing for its regional Thai rice dishes at an even lower price point, while Long Chim offers a larger, more casual format. If your frame of reference is the source material and you have eaten well at Nahm or Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok, Kolae holds up as a credible London counterpart without pretending to be a replica. For food enthusiasts who track their Thai cooking seriously, the southern regional focus here is genuinely specific and worth experiencing on those terms.

The Google rating of 4.6 across 821 reviews gives a reasonable signal on consistency. At ££, the risk of a disappointing meal is low. Book it, eat at the counter if you can, and order the set menu unless your group has strong views about what they want to skip.