Farang
The kitchen shuts three days a week because the fresh Thai produce leaves Bangkok on a Sunday and takes until midweek to land in London.
Why go
Sebby Holmes learned this cooking under Jane Alty at The Begging Bowl in Peckham, got to sous chef there, then ran the original Smoking Goat on Denmark Street in 2015 (Sebby Holmes). Both of those rooms rewrote how London cooks Thai food, and what came out the other side here is a former Italian trattoria on Highbury Park cooking at that heat level for a neighborhood.
The produce is the argument. Leonie Cooper set it out plainly in Time Out: "Farang is only open Wednesday to Saturday, partially because the fresh produce they source from Bangkok leaves the city on a Sunday and it takes that long to land in London" (ref). Four trading days is a lot of revenue to give up for herbs.
The kit went the same way. When the lease finally went long, the old San Daniele pizza oven came out and a big wok burner went in, the same one the team had used at Hawker House (Hot Dinners). Holmes opened the place in 2016 with no outside investment and a broken oven, on a six-month lease; the long lease came in 2017 and it has been full ever since.
Michelin has given it a Bib Gourmand since 2019 and it has held on to it, which Cooper confirmed from the pavement in 2023: the door carries "a phalanx of pillar box red Michelin Bib Gourmand shields".
Order this / avoid
- Order: gai prik, chicken in an IPA batter with a fish sauce glaze, blood orange and lime. The sharing crispy seabass, twisted back on itself, in a coconut and mandarin nahm yum. A coconut curry of tiger prawns with white turmeric and crispy shallots, with roti to mop it. Betel leaf bites first. Cold Singha, since the spice will beat most wine.
- Avoid: Sunday through Tuesday, when the kitchen is dark. Locking six people into the feasting menu before anyone knows how hungry they are, because the a la carte is there for exactly that. Booking it for a quiet talk.
What locals & experts say
- Leonie Cooper, Time Out London, 28 September 2023 (5 out of 5, Recommended): the cooking is "a passionate and masterful display of technique, skill and sheer ingenuity, without being nearly as wanky as that sounds." On finding it: "One of north London's most lowkey dining rooms, Farang is a decent enough saunter from both Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington tubes that nobody will simply stumble across it. You go because you know." ref
- Harden's survey, across four editions: "Amazing and quirky Thai-inspired dishes" at "this Highbury 10-year-old", with one contributor writing "I've never tasted more exciting cuisine!" Earlier editions land on the heat and the bread: "Super spicy (in a good way) cooking", "really interesting dishes" and "roti to die for". ref
- The critical line, from the same survey: "Any downsides? It's noisy." ref
- Hot Dinners calls it "some of the best Thai cooking across London" on its venue page, which is the masthead's line rather than a named critic's. ref
Good to know
- Where: 72 Highbury Park, N5 2XE. Arsenal tube is closest, Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington are both a walk.
- Timing: Wednesday 5pm to 9pm. Thursday to Saturday noon to 2.30pm and 5pm to 9pm. Closed Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Last sitting is early by London standards.
- Booking: strongly recommended. Six or more must book ahead, leave a deposit, and choose the tasting or feasting menu in advance.
- Menus: a la carte, tasting and feasting, each with a pescatarian and a vegetarian version. Takeaway needs a pre-order by 4pm on the day.
- Diet: vegetarian and pescatarian menus, with a published allergen guide. No vegan or gluten-free statement was found, so neither is claimed here.
- Hygiene: FSA rating 4, Islington, inspected 24 May 2024, FHRSID 1018549. A 4 is "good"; the inspection is two years old. ref
- Sites: one. The FSA register holds a single premises under this name in England. Payst, the curry paste line Holmes runs with his brother, is made in this kitchen and is not a second venue.
- Sourcing note: Giles Coren in The Times and a four-star Fay Maschler verdict in the Evening Standard are both quoted on the chef's own website. Neither original was reached in this pass, so neither is quoted here.
Jeff's take (his words)
- Note: none. His saved-places export carries this row as "Farang London" with an empty note. The master list's line about neighborhood Thai came from a later enrichment pass, not from him.
Verdict (Chef Jeff ladder)
should-visit — Worth rearranging an evening for, and the reason is in the calendar. Farang trades Wednesday to Saturday because the fresh produce comes out of Bangkok on a Sunday and takes until midweek to land, which Leonie Cooper reported in Time Out when she gave the room five stars. A kitchen that shortens its own week to cook with the right herbs is telling you where its money goes, and the same instinct bought a wok range secondhand off Hawker House when the old San Daniele pizza oven came out. Sebby Holmes learned this cooking under Jane Alty at The Begging Bowl and ran the first Smoking Goat, and the heat in the food is the direct evidence of it: Harden's contributors keep landing on the same words, 'super spicy (in a good way)' and 'properly spicy too'. A Bib Gourmand since 2019, held long enough that Time Out counted the shields on the door in a row. It holds at should-visit rather than higher because London's Thai field is one of the deepest in the country and nothing on record puts Farang at the top of it, and because the last bylined verdict anyone published is from 2023.