Kiln - Thai Grill in London (Review)
Our Rating: ★★★ | ££££ (£60pp) - Proper Thai grill in a truly bustling atmosphere (How we rate restaurants)
We’ve always been drawn to restaurants that challenge what we think we know about a cuisine.
Thai food is a perfect example. For most people, it brings to mind creamy coconutty curries, pad thai, and the familiar red, green, and massaman staples that have become fixtures of UK takeaway menus.
But there is another side to Thai cooking, one that feels more elemental, and less softened for Western tastes.
Kiln taps into that side completely. Its menu is built around fire and smoke, with dishes cooked over open flames, unapologetic spice, and bold, punchy flavours that feel closer to a bustling street stall than a typical British Thai restaurant. The cooking draws on influences from regions where Thailand borders Myanmar, Laos and Yunnan, with British produce elevated by Thai flavours.
Named Time Out’s number one restaurant in London back in 2018, Kiln has been on our radar ever since we moved to the city and, as it turns out, it more than lived up to the anticipation.
Website: www.kilnsoho.com
Instagram: @Kilnsoho
Email: info@kilnsoho.com
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 12:00-23:00 | Sun 12:00-21:00
No bookings, you can turn up to the restaurant and put your name on a waiting list, and they will text you when space is available allowing you to go for a drink nearby. We went at arount 7 pm on a Saturday night and waited exactly an hour for our table.
Ask for counter seating for the best experience as a couple, or a table downstairs if you’re a larger group
Order the glass noodles!
Other Super 8 Restaurants: Smoking Goat | Brat | Mountain | Impala (Executive Chef Meedu Saad’s newest opening in 2026)
The restaurant is split across two floors, and they offer very different experiences.
Upstairs, on the ground floor, is where most of the energy sits. A long counter runs through the space, with a bar towards the front and the open kitchen at the back. There’s constant movement. Staff calling orders, flames from the grill, plates flying out. At the same time, people are filtering in, adding their names to the waiting list, or standing behind you with a drink in hand, waiting to be squeezed in, just like a market stall on holiday.
Downstairs, where we ended up sitting, is a different pace entirely. A smaller, more contained room with a handful of tables, dim lighting, and a calmer feel. You lose the theatre of the open kitchen, but in return, you get space to actually sit, talk, and enjoy the food without people brushing past you every few minutes.
When we visited, a vinyl player was blasting Jay-Z, adding to the atmosphere of the entire restaurant. Both floors work; it just depends on what kind of evening you’re after.
What we ate
The menu at Kiln is built around Thai-style sharing plates.
We asked the waiter for a bit of guidance on how best to order and were met with a fairly relaxed “however you want”, which, while in keeping with the casual feel of the place, wasn’t the most helpful starting point.
Miang of Barbecued Celeriac
That said, he did take the time to walk us through the menu properly, explaining the Thai names and what each dish actually involved, which helped a lot. The general steer was around 5 to 7 dishes between two people, depending on appetite, and a clear nudge towards the glass noodles, which is their signature dish. Our order included (our favourites are circled):
Drinks
Vodka, Beetroot & Fish Sauce - A brilliantly unique cocktail!
KILN House Vermouth
Food
Miang of Barbecued Celeriac
Gai Yang with Smoked Chilli Relish (Grilled chicken)
Shrimp Relish with Asparagus
Jungle Curry of Kippers
Fried Monkfish Curry with its Liver
Claypot Baked Glass Noodles with Tamworth Belly and Brown Crab Meat
Brown Jasmine Rice
Sticky Rice
The food, overall, was excellent. Bold, punchy flavours throughout, and they don’t shy away from spice. Dishes like the Miang of Barbecued Celeriac and the Jungle Curry in particular had a proper kick. Not overwhelming, but enough to keep you fully switched on as you eat.
Gai Yang with Smoked Chilli Relish and Shrimp Relish with Asparagus
Everything arrived bit by bit, but ultimately within a very short window, which led to a slightly chaotic bit of table Tetris as we tried to fit everything on. We would have liked a bit more pacing between dishes, especially with a menu that invites you to focus on each plate.
The Miang of Barbecued Celeriac set the tone perfectly. A small, one-bite wrap eaten in a leaf, but packed with flavour and heat. It’s sharp, spicy, and immediate. Exactly the kind of opening that tells you what this kitchen is about.
There were a couple of clear standouts for us. The claypot glass noodles, which Alice loved, are mixed and dressed at the table, soaking up all the richness from the crab and pork. It’s interactive and deeply flavourful. I couldn’t try them myself (I don’t eat pork), but it was the dish she kept going back to.
Claypot Baked Glass Noodles with Tamworth Belly and Brown Crab Meat
The shrimp relish with asparagus was one of the best things we ate all night. Intensely savoury and properly seasoned with fresh asparagus to go with it.
The smoked chilli relish that came with the Gai Yang was incredible too, and paired very well with the perfectly cooked chicken, which was presented on the bone but cut into manageable pieces.
The curries were good, with the monkfish and kippers cooked perfectly, but they didn’t feel dramatically better than strong versions you might find at other casual Thai spots in London. We think the grilled dishes, relishes, and those sharper, more unusual plates are the ones that stand out most here. We also would have liked a bit more of the Monkfish.
Jungle Curry of Kippers
Fried Monkfish Curry with its Liver
Overall thoughts
Overall, we really enjoyed our experience at Kiln. For a central London meal, it feels reasonably priced for the quality and originality you’re getting. More importantly, it gives you access to a side of Thai cooking that most people in the UK simply haven’t experienced. The flavours feel authentic and confident, with the overall vibe of the restaurant playing a big part.
That said, would we call it a meal that feels like you’re dining at “London’s number one restaurant”? Probably not.
It’s somewhere we would absolutely return to, but not before exploring more of what London’s Thai food scene has to offer.
Map
58 Brewer Street, London, W1F 9TL
