Deep-fried food – it's popular the world over. The Japanese are expert deep fryers and the Scots have never seen a fish, Mars Bar or pizza slice they didn't think would look better battered and dunked in sizzling oil. Hell, if you've been to Finland you may have even tried a deep-fried meat pie. At Iima, they offer a deep-fried som tum – shredded green papaya, chilli, peanuts, cherry tomatoes and dried baby shrimp – which is as wrong as it sounds.
But there's good news, too. Deep-fried salad might make you want to run screaming (or not, if, like us, you're curious) but a light, fluffy omelette studded with plump,
briny mussels with chilli sauce will have you glued to your seat. There are all the usuals and they're all done well – crisp pork belly with Chinese
broccoli, pad Thai – but then there's the entire section of the menu dedicated to the noble pancake. Our picks are the pandan pancakes
with mango and vanilla ice cream - yum - or plain pancakes with pandan sauce.
You've gotta love Thai desserts.
It may not be up there with your favourite Thai restaurant, but as inner-city pub Thai goes, Iima is representing the A team.