Why yes - that IS a big steak (that's a normal dinner plate for size reference). Pretty happy with our effort of aiming for "medium" too.
What can you tell us about Anglo Thai?
It's the duo of John Chantarasak (chef) and his wife Desiree Chantarasak (sommelier) who have been getting nothing but praise for their pop-ups and residencies, particularly their recently finished stint at Newcomer Wines in Dalston. Their food is a combination of traditional Thai recipes and flavours created seasonal British (and in this case Irish) ingredients.
What have they got for us to cook up?
This is not the first box from Anglo Thai - they previously created a hot dog kit with famed London butchers HG Walter at the very beginning of Lockdown 1.0 and now they're teaming up with them again for this banquet box as well as Dalston's Newcomer Wines.
At the heart of the box is a mammoth Irish T-Bone steak, that's paired with their Som Tam salad, jasmine rice, Jaew dipping sauce and roasted beef marrows.
The instructions are very easy to follow - and there's a simple two minute video demonstration that's worth watching too. You should have everything you need to cook it up - although a meat thermometer is very useful (and if you don't have one yet, it's definitely time to invest in one).
And how was the cooking?
Here's how it went...
Here's what you get in the box - and if that steak doesn't look big enough there...
...here's a look at the T Bone with knife and fork only for scale - we don't like our steak THAT rare.
The steak needs browning first - two minutes searing the fat, then a further two minutes on each side - then transfer to the oven for about eight to 10 minutes (plus 5 minutes resting after). You'll put the rice on then.
While all that's cooking - make up the salad. Just chop the cabbage and tomato, grate the carrot - and just before you're ready to serve up, mix in the Som Tam dressing and the little pack of toasted seeds.
Then there's the bone marrow. This just needs 10 minutes in the oven (put it in the same time as the steak). Then cover it with the beef fat umami crumb and cook for another two minutes. As you can imagine, this is AMAZING.
Put it all together and you have a banquet! That dipping sauce in the middle is tamarind and roasted chilli "jaew" sauce. You'll never want steak without it again.
And what about the wine?
This box comes with wine from Anglo Thai collaborators Newcomer Wines - so you've a bottle of Blaufränkisch 'Bela Joska' 2017 (Christoph Wachter-Wiesler) included in the pack. That's been picked by Desiree Chantarasak to be a perfect match for the meal.
Overall thoughts
The whole thing is very easy to pull together - it takes about 20 mins to put on the table - and we were extremely pleased with how that steak turned out (plus the instructions in these boxes are also helping us to improve our rice cooking game immeasurably. Uncle Roger would approve). Fantastic steak, wonderful accompaniments - an easy recommendation.
More about The Anglo Thai Banquet Box
When is it available? For two weeks only from 9 November 2020
Delivery range: Postcodes within the M25
How to order: On the Newcomer Wines website
Find out more: Visit their website or follow them on Instagram
Hot Dinners received a preview banquet box, courtesy of Anglo Thai.
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