John and Desiree Chantarasak to open AngloThai in Marylebone
The couple will open their first bricks and mortar site on Seymour Place in Marylebone this autumn in partnership with MJMK Restaurants following a number of pop ups and residencies, including at Outcrop at London’s 180 The Strand last year.
The 50-cover AngloThai will serve John’s take on Thai-British cuisine that marries Thai flavours with seasonal ingredients sourced within the British Isles and will draw inspiration from both his Thai and British heritage and his time working in restaurants including Som Saa in London and Nahm in Bangkok.
The food will be accompanied by a European-focused wine list created by Desiree that will have a focus on biodynamic producers.
The menu will change seasonally and feature a la carte dishes designed to be shared as traditional in Thai eating culture, with guests also having the option to choose from a daily changing chef selection menu.
The restaurant will champion slow grown British-reared meats, such as black faced Hebridean Sheep from Ryall Farm in Dorset, owned and farmed by Desiree’s family. Line-caught seafood, British caviar and Carlingford oysters will also feature prominently, as well as seasonal vegetables, fruits and foraged foods, and British grown Asian produce such as holy basil, young ginger root, makrut citrus and chillies.
The restaurant’s interior has been designed with Thai-American designer May Redding, who has drawn inspiration from Thailand’s contemporary design movement.
A private dining room called Baan, named after the Thai word for home, will open later in the year.
The opening comes after a protracted period of trying to open a restaurant for the Chantarasaks. The couple have been looking for a site since 2020 and announced back in 2021 that they would be opening their debut restaurant having found a site in Fitzrovia. However, they ultimately couldn’t finalise a deal with the landlord and didn’t proceed with it.
Speaking to Restaurant at the time John said: "When you spend the best part of a year working on a project you expect to see something as a result, so it was very tough. It was the lowest we had been
AngloThai will open in Marylebone in October.
