Rosa’s Thai: Vegan Drunken Noodles in Manchester!
So for the first time I visited Rosa’s Thai Restaurant in the Deansgate area of Manchester and I was absolutely blown away (both literally and metaphorically) by the drunken noodles. Rosa’s actually started as a stall on Brick Lane’s Sunday market in London before the owners eventually bought a small caff on Hanbury Street and the first ‘Rosa’s Restaurant’ was born. Since then, Rosa’s have appeared in Soho, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Leeds and many more places. They even have a sister restaurant Lao Cafe serving up laotian cuisine in the heart of London.
I got the drunken “kee mao” noodles, named as such because they have so much chilli in them that they’ll shake you out of even the worst hangover. Hangover-free and sober, the noodles lived up to their name and may have been the hottest dish that I have ever eaten but the Thai basil and fresh chillies were packed full of flavour and no matter how hot my mouth got I just could not stop eating! We also got the tofu panang curry described as a rich red curry sauce with aubergine, red & green chillies & kaffir lime leaves and paired that with some jasmine rice. All of the flavours you would expect from a panang curry were there and in the end, none of it was left in the bowl. The final part of the meal was the Thai fresh summer rolls or Por pia sod. I must admit I have a soft spot for summer rolls and I order them every time I see them on the menu. These were no exception. Rice paper stuffed with mixed veg, tangy-sweet tamarind sauce & basil. Typically, I would see this served with a peanut sauce, however at Rosa’s the dish came with a spicy chilli sauce with crushed peanuts on top. As soon as I tried this sauce, the heat hit me instantly and worked perfectly with the freshness of the por pia sod.
Thai food is not something I would typically go out for, however this experience has opened me up to a new Asian cuisine and I will be going back to conquer the drunken noodles once more and to try all of the other amazing-sounding vegan dishes on the menu.