The Begging Bowl

[JMT]

We went last night too, food was delicious. Hats off to the waitresses who were rushed off their feet, but cheerful and polite. I asked one of them about the owners. If I understood correctly there are three of them, one is the guy who owns the Palmerston, one is a Michelin starred chef who went to Thailand with the third and co-wrote a book called Thai Street food. I wish them the best of luck.

[standswithfist]

I went last week and it was fantastic. I love the thai influenced cocktails. the steak salad and the coconut,delangal and chicken soup my particular favourites.

Definately NOT owned by The Palmerston and The Herne.

Not that that should make any difference. I can't wait to go again hopefully this weekend!

[Ted Max]

Can I get a Pad Thai, a Red Chicken Curry, and a couple of Tigers, yeah?

[IJJ1963]

One of the chefs and owners of the Herne and Palmerston (the one recently on TV in the Battle of The Chefs) is involved but it is independant from both and is run by Head Chef Jane and Manageress Jenny. The Head Chef is a top chef from NZ who has cheffed at some top restaraunts in Thailand and she designs the menu. The place is open from 6.00pm - 10.00pm Tuesday to Saturday and 12.00pm - 3.00pm Saturday. How do I know all this? I ate there again last night for the fourth time since it opened! It is by far the best and most authentic Thai food I have had outside Thailand and the attention to detail and authenticity is obvious when you taste it (they even make their own coconut milk by grinding fresh coconuts each day and dont use that tinned stuff you get served everywhere else). I have not had too much trouble getting a table but if its busy we have a drink in The Victoria and one of their lovely knowledgable staff comes over and gets us when our table is ready - what could be better? I appreciate the convenience of being able to pre-book especially for the outside tables - which, I understand, were hand-made by a local craftsman - but we have never had to wait too long. I have made reservations at some so-called top eateries only to be sat at the table half an hour later than booked and be dissapointed by the food. If you had to wait 24hrs at The Begging Bowl, I can assure you it would be worth the wait - you will not be dissapointed by the food. It is that good. My veggie mate was also similarly impressed. The place is great and a very welcome addition to the area. I think they may be underpriceing until they are established - how else could they serve such top quality cuisine at such a low price - my advice is to get down there before they start charging what they really should for cuisine of this standard.

[DulwichFox]

IJJ1963 Wrote:

One of the chefs and owners of the Herne and Palmerston (the one recently on TV in the Battle of The Chefs) is involved

but it is independant from both and is run by Head Chef Jane and Manageress Jenny.

The Head Chef is a top chef from NZ who has cheffed at some top restaraunts in Thailand and she designs the menu.

The place is open from 6.00pm - 10.00pm Tuesday to Saturday and 12.00pm - 3.00pm Saturday.

How do I know all this?

I ate there again last night for the fourth time since it opened! It is by far the best and most authentic Thai

food I have had outside Thailand and the attention to detail and authenticity is obvious when you taste it.

(they even make their own coconut milk by grinding fresh coconuts each day and dont use that tinned stuff you get served everywhere else).

I have not had too much trouble getting a table but if its busy we have a drink in The Victoria and one of their lovely knowledgable

staff comes over and gets us when our table is ready -

what could be better?

I appreciate the convenience of being able to pre-book especially for the outside tables - which, I understand,

were hand-made by a local craftsman - but we have never had to wait too long.

I have made reservations at some so-called top eateries only to be sat at the table half an hour later

than booked and be dissapointed by the food.

If you had to wait 24hrs at The Begging Bowl, I can assure you it would be worth the wait

you will not be dissapointed by the food. It is that good.

My veggie mate was also similarly impressed. The place is great and a very welcome addition to the area.

I think they may be underpriceing until they are established - how else could they serve such top quality cuisine at such a low price -

My advice is to get down there before they start charging what they really should for cuisine of this standard.

Sorry IJJ1963

But could not read your post..

Foxy :)

[*Bob*]

Indeed, IJJ1963

You must try to write your posts as separate sentences.

And always leave one blank line in between each.

For some reason.

*Bob*

[*Bob*]

I think the pricing is good.

It's not exactly a 'budget eat'.. you need a fair few dishes to come out of there stuffed - more than is suggested, for sure. I think when you get over a certain price level, the informality of shared tables starts to feel a bit wrong. Once the initial buzz has subsided it's sustainability wot's needed - keep it well-priced (as it is) and I can't see how it won't continue to do well.

With a tip we paid not much under ?40 each, including a bottle of something decent plus a couple of extra glasses. And that felt about right.

[Mands]

i went there this evening but was told there was a long wait and that they would take a phone number and call me when a table was ready. That was at 7.30pm......................i still havent received a phone call!!

[taper]

*Bob* Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Perhaps a footnote could be added to the menu:

>

>

> "The Management understands and appreciates that

> affordable flights to - and accommmodation within

> - Thailand, Laos etc etc are now within reach of

> many of its customers. Whilst we appreciate that

> some of you may have spent weeks combing the

> backstreets of Patong in search of the ultimate in

> REAL south-east Asian cuisine, the waitresses do

> not necessarily require a blow-by-blow account of

> how each of the dishes on our own menu compare.

> Especially if we're quite busy."

Very good! There's no bigger bore than a 'foodie'.

[Mands]

i went there tonight and have to say the food was great and the staff were very nice. Would definately recommend and will definately be going again.

[cclairon]

Since the day we saw that a Thai restaurant was opening on Bellenden, we were really excited and looking forward to the opening. We went to the Begging Bowl for the first time for a Saturday lunch.

On one hand we thought it was a bit pricey. And, despite the number of kiddies there, the menu is not very baby friendly (we had two 18-months old with us, generally non fussy eaters). Anything with noodles would have been great for little ones, but they don't have any on the menu. And many of their meals are quite spicy. I do get that the Begging Bowl wants to be an authentic and sophisticated Thai not just serving green curry and Pad Thai, but we thought that it was a bit of a shame.

On the other hand, for the grown-ups the food was delicious, and the staff very nice. The place looks pretty and has a nice atmosphere. I hope they do well.

[camberlou]

I gave this place a try last week. There were very limited options for vegetarians, so we didn't stay to eat. The friendly staff seemed quite happy for us to stay at the table to finish our Meantime beers (ordered before we'd seen the menu) without pushing us out, despite it being very busy. A few more veggie options and I'll be back.

[glitzydebs]

We have just eaten at the begging bowl and were on the whole a but disappointed as food was delicious but very small portions and very over priced. Ie ?7 for a dish of broccoli!!

Staff were lovely and very attentive and loved the outside space I would go back if portion sizes increase or prices drop to reflect their small size

Bit of a shame as was really excited about new restaurant :(

[daisy80]

>

> Sorry IJJ1963

>

> But could not read your post..

>

> Foxy :)

You must have a terrible time with books?

[DulwichFox]

daisy80 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> >

> > Sorry IJJ1963

> >

> > But could not read your post..

> >

> > Foxy :)

>

>

> You must have a terrible time with books?

Books do not have 20+ words on one line.

The human eye cannot scan that many words.

The Brain however can understand sentences even if all the words are misspelt.

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy,

it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,

olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pcleas.

The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Foxy.

[Lanremakele]

I wish I could talk about the quality of the food at the Begging bowl unfortunately, our experience was slightly different and we never got the chance to provide positive feedback. Below is a letter that I sent to its proprietors detailing our experience on the 17th August (by email and post on the 20th August). I received a brief one minute phone call from the hostess saying she would call me back within 24 hours to discuss, that was over a week ago and I am still waiting. Their food might be amazing (I wouldn't know) however, their customer service was seriously lacking. Happy Reading.

To Whom It May Concern,

FAO: The Proprietor of the Begging Bowl, Peckham Rye

I am writing to draw your attention to the poor customer service we received on the evening of Friday 17th August 2012.

Having lived in the area for a couple of years we noticed that your restaurant was new and we were keen to pay it a visit. On the evening it was understandably busy and as prior reservation isn?t possible, we arrived as early as we could. There was a small queue at the time and as such we put our name on the waiting list and were told that we would be contacted in forty five minutes when a table would be available. At this point we made a note of the person just ahead of us in the queue.

Having waited for over an hour at the local pub with still no phone call, we wandered back to the restaurant in the hope that a table would now be available (given the reasonable amount of time we had allowed). On arrival, we politely asked at the door if a table was free and explained the length of our wait. At this point the hostess stared at us blankly and we had to prompt her to check that our name and telephone number were indeed on the waiting list. It was at this stage that we noticed the man who earlier was directly in front of us in the queue was already seated and eating.

The hostess then told us that there were currently no tables available and we informed her that this wasn?t a problem and we would wait by the door. She stated in a rather discourteous manner that this wasn?t feasible and we should wait on the pavement outside the restaurant (please note, at this stage, we were the only couple waiting to be seated). Once again we agreed to this request and while waiting patiently, we witnessed her proceed to telephone at least four other customers and seat another three groups. This seemed surprising considering that the man just ahead of us earlier in the queue was near completion of his meal (they were a table of two, as we would have been).

Having now been waiting for over an hour and a half (twenty minutes of which was spent on a pavement) we were hungry and starting to lose our patience. We went back to the front door and chatted to a friendly couple that had just arrived and they mentioned that they were not on the waiting list and they had visited on the off chance that they might get a table. We informed them that we had been waiting for over an hour and a half and while worth a try, it was probably unlikely that they would be successful. Imagine our surprise when the hostess returned (still failing to acknowledge us) to the door and advised the new couple that they could be seated immediately.

Thankfully, the very friendly couple pointed out that this hardly seemed fair given that they had just arrived and we were there before them. The hostess proceeded to shrug, offer us no apology (which had been absent all evening) and lead us to a table. The menu was shoved in front of us with an extremely brusque explanation and she walked off to speak with other customers. It was at this point that we decided to leave. Despite the lengthy wait and still feeling rather ravenous (we had arrived at 8pm and it was now approaching 10pm), the absolutely appalling service had left us feeling that we no longer wanted to give you our custom.

I am rarely one to complain and consider myself to be incredibly tolerant. I also completely understand that it was busy and the task of arranging seating without a reservation system would be taxing for anyone. Nonetheless, I believe that the service and attitude we were subjected to was shocking and unacceptable. At no point in the evening were we offered an apology for an incredibly lengthy wait and for being repeatedly overlooked whilst others who had arrived after us were seated before us.

It would be easy to put this down to an oversight given that it was busy (although this does seem unlikely as we were in her line of site while waiting and it appeared that she just refused to acknowledge us). Our only other assumption is that perhaps we were not dressed appropriately however, like most people, we had just arrived from our respective office jobs and nothing had been highlighted.

I would recommend that you should invest heavily in training your staff on the importance of customer service and treating people with common courtesy and respect. The whole experience left us feeling deflated and we will definitely not be offering our custom or recommending your restaurant to the number of friends that we have in the area. You may feel that this is something you can live with but please bear in mind; we could easily have been food critics. I do hope you take this correspondence on board and make some changes that you feel will paint your establishment in a better light.

[DulwichFox]

Cannot understand why people would wait for an Hour+ for the 'Privilege' of payin ?7.00 for a dish of Brocholli.

Do not associate Brocholli as being Thai.

I notice they have not bothered to get their Website up and Running.

Probably do not want to reveal their prices 'till you actually get to sit down and are already

hungry enough to eat just about anything put in front of you.

Seems popular but with mixed reviews. Well people have different standards.

If they are sending people to 'The Pub Across The Road' Victoria Inn ?? They might just as well eat there.

Fox.

[RosieH]

DulwichFox Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> daisy80 Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > >

> > > Sorry IJJ1963

> > >

> > > But could not read your post..

> > >

> > > Foxy :)

> >

> >

>

>

> > You must have a terrible time with books?

>

> Books do not have 20+ words on one line.

> The human eye cannot scan that many words.

>

> The Brain however can understand sentences even if

> all the words are misspelt.

>

> Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy,

>

>

> it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a

> wrod are,

>

> olny taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the

> rghit pcleas.

>

> The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll

> raed it wouthit a porbelm.

>

> Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed ervey lteter by

> ilstef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

>

> Foxy.

Perhaps, Foxy, perhaps.

But then again, a paragraph is a unit of thought, not of length.

[jimbo1964]

That's a shame. We ate there on Friday night and found the staff really helpful.. If a bit under the cosh. Brocolli was tasty too.

[toffeese15]

Been there once and will definitely return.

Thought the pricing was mixed. The mid-price dishes seemed expensive for what you got, but the soups seemed a bargain. Main courses pretty much as you'd expect. Food excellent all round, though personally would prefer a bit more of a chilli kick.

I'm surprised to hear about Lanremakele's awful experience, because the staff were friendly and seemed to be doing a decent job in hectic conditions.

All in all, a really pleasant addition to the area.

[taper]

Lanremakele

'I am rarely one to complain...'

You certainly make up for it when you do, taking the trouble to register on edf so you can make your seemingly minor gripe public. What would motivate you to do that? The place has only been open a few weeks. It's bound to have teething problems. And yet you seem very eager to damage its burgeoning reputation.

[dontpanic]

Ate this evening and 'twas lovely. Nice squid, kids enjoyed chicken with soy and rice. I am a seasoned kids-in-restaurants experimenter, and they passed my requirements easily; speedy service where it mattered, attentive, welcoming to kids, good children's food (a welcome change from fish and chips - however delicious).

Good to have another good restaurant to add to the local list - which is already outstanding. I look forward ot visiting child free too.

[Gidget]

Begging Bowl have tweeted about letter Lanremakele sent. They should at least reply to you.

[Jeremy]

I think it's quite unprofessional to openly discuss customer complaints. Surely if someone queued for an hour and were forgotten about, the restaurant should look into how it happened, and maybe offer some free drinks or something.

[Gidget]

Agree Jeremy. Ridiculous to tweet about it not having answered the letter. There seems to be a very bold group of businesses in this area who think it's ok to ignore customer complaints, even if they are legit.