Zaap Thai Street Food - Leeds

Love this restaurant, great menu and friendly staff which offers Thai street food which comes close to the real thing in Thailand every time myself and my wife visit Leeds we will visit !

Great decor and convenient location. Big space. All was a good experience at this location until the long wait for the never prepped dessert. Asked a waiter to check on it and he acknowledged after we saw him speak to his colleague in the kitchen and removed what looked like the sticky rice base from the fridge? Minutes passed and that base was still sat on the counter untouched, we looked at the time and as we needed to catch a train, we had to pay up and leave. The first bill which we were given had the dessert still on it -1* Fortunately for us…we double checked before tapping!! Auto-added service too -1* which on this occasion felt undeserved.

A big queue outside is typically a good sign Everything about the place, inside, I loved!! I loved the decor, the madness, the noise, the buzz, the re enactment of a hawker stand Staff were awesome all night too Food wise….this is the thing Can I be too harsh when it appears the dishes have been toned down to match the English palette? Starters I couldn’t be sure if they were freshly made or from frozen, I’ll go with the former for now…we ordered both platter sets Mains good size portions But I would say they were bang on average It’s good they had he traditional types of chilli oil and sauce condiments (one of our colleagues underestimated the chilli oil, much to our delight) But you just felt it lacked that extra bit of authenticity that we cry out for Tom Yum Soup was creamy for a start that ain’t right I think I wanted it to be so much better than what it turned out to be, but as my title says in a different context I could give this place a 4 or more But my other reviews will tell you I’m well travelled and to give it more than 3, as a rating, would be an injustice to the restaurants that truly hit the mark I’d still return…which is more than could be said about other, more upmarket, Thai places in Leeds

We decided on Zaap Thai for a meal with friends and liked that we didn’t have to book so we were not stuck to a particular time. We arrived about 7.45pm on a busy Saturday evening. Yes we did have to wait and part of that was queuing outside so bare that in mind if you’re going in bad weather. It wasn’t too long a wait and we were soon seated. We ordered drinks and for starters both couples chose the Bangkok platter. Spring rolls, chicken skewers, chicken gyoza, prawn and pork dumplings and Thai fish cakes. The spring rolls and skewers were really good but I didnt like the texture or flavour of the fish cakes and the gyoza were over cooked and quite hard. For main two people went for the Gai Tod Prik Gang, myself the Som Tum Gai Yang salad and my friend a pork curry which she was sharing half and half with her husband. The boys Gai Tod Prik Gang came out but neither mine or my friends dishes which then transpired had gone to the next table, and the people ate it, like they had forgotten what they had ordered!! We had to wait then by which time the boys had nearly finished theirs so our friends were disappointed they couldn’t really share the mains as planned. My partner was a bit disappointed with his as it was really mild yet it had 3 chills on the menu. My friends pork was far spicier but it wasn’t meant to be. The salad I had could blow your head off but I was expecting that. I was disappointed with the roast chicken, I was expecting roasted skewers but I got quite a few pieces of leg and bone and skin. It just wasn’t that nice. When we came to pay the bill 20% as well as the service charge had been deducted for the food mix up. This was a nice gesture and one that we didn’t ask for so all in all not an expensive meal. On the plus point the service was good and the restaurant is lovely inside and very authentic but we’ve had much better Thai food in Leeds and probably wouldn’t return.

Great to see the well-run ZAAP food stall at Chapeltown Carnival again this year. I live in Chapeltown, and can eat Caribbean food any time I like. Getting hold of vegan food at the Carnival hasn't always been easy, so I always go Thai! Thai sweetcorn cakes were very tasty, as always. I probably left it too late for the Pad Thai Tofu, got the last portion, which wasn't so good, and rather pricey at £10 for a small portion. I'll get there early next year!