Randomness Guide to London Menu

Thai restaurant and bar at the western edge of the Royal Docks in Docklands.

It's a decent-sized space, with floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides plus a mirrored wall at the back to distribute the sunlight further. The low ceiling is painted a vibrant deep purple, and hung with ornate lampshades. Elaborately-carved wooden panels and other decorative touches are here and there. Additional seating is provided on a mezzanine floor, and in good weather tables are also available outside on the terrace.

Food is served lunchtimes and evenings, and the bar remains open for a drink in between times. According to their website as of February 2018, all the food is halal.

Kake first visited on a Friday afternoon in September 2008. I was hoping to get some spring rolls or something to tide me over until a late dinner, but unfortunately I'd missed the lunch service and was too early for the dinner service. Instead, I had a glass of perfectly decent white wine (house white, £3.25 for 175ml) and a basket of perfectly decent prawn crackers (£1.50 for a generous portion, enough for two people at least). I wasn't the only customer; there were three people having some kind of business meeting at the bar, and a couple who seemed to be lingering after lunch. Service was friendly and pleasant.

Kake visited again on a rainy Saturday afternoon in February 2018. There were only two other groups in when I arrived around 2:30pm, and I was offered a choice of where to sit, though others continued to arrive throughout my visit. Peaceful vocal music was playing quietly.

Ped kheemao (duck with long beans, aubergine, and baby corn; £11) photo was pretty good. The duck was flavourful and tender, in generous proportion, and they'd rendered the fat properly. The vegetables were al dente, which worked very well, even for the aubergines (which I don't generally like undercooked). The green beans had a perfect snap of freshness. There was a nice level of chilli heat in the sauce too. Coconut rice (£4), on the other hand, was disappointing — sweet, not very coconutty, and with an overly starchy texture.

I also had a Thai lemon iced tea (£3.50) photo, which was quite interesting; not too sweet, dark orange (possibly from food colouring), and with a hint of molasses flavour that might have come from palm sugar.

Tap water arrived promptly but wasn't topped up when I ran out. Other than that, service was fine, both efficient and friendly. A 12.5% service charge was added to the bill, which made it something of a surprise when the card machine prompted me to add an extra tip.

Accessibility: Step-free access to the ground floor and toilets via a ramp. The toilet cubicles are a little cramped.

See also:

• Photos of the takeaway menu as of February 2018: page 1, page 2
• Yelp comments