Mayfair can make almost anything luxurious. The harder trick is knowing when to leave well enough alone. At MIKO Mei Fair, the luxury is in the cooking.
Samyukta Nair’s new Thai dining room takes dishes people already know and love and treats them with the seriousness usually reserved for tasting menus and very expensive French sauces. There is no urge to dismantle, reinterpret or intellectualise them. Instead, Head Chef Soonthorn Apaipat concentrates on the harder stuff: balance, texture, heat, acidity and ingredients good enough to withstand very little interference.
The result is one of the more interesting new openings in Mayfair precisely because MIKO feels so assured about what belongs on the plate.
It sits on the ground floor of the Georgian townhouse shared with sister restaurant MiMi Mei Fair, although the mood is distinctly its own. MIKO is smaller, darker and more intimate, divided into a series of salon-style rooms dressed in teal and timber, red leather, brass and flashes of gold. Tropical wallcoverings and lotus motifs nod to Thailand without turning the dining room into a themed exercise.
It is a handsome room, but once the food starts arriving, you largely forget about it.
Which is exactly as it should be.
The menu is designed for sharing and begins with the sort of dishes that encourage extremely selective generosity. Netted Spring Rolls arrive intricate and crisp, while Prawns Pla Ra have much more going on beneath the surface, the fermented seasoning giving them a salty, savoury depth that lingers.
Then comes the Toasted Rice Beef Tenderloin, one of those plates that disappears suspiciously quickly. The beef is soft, the toasted rice brings texture and nuttiness, and the seasoning has enough punch to keep every mouthful interesting.
Black Pepper Squid is equally direct. There is no pile-up of ingredients trying to make squid exciting. It simply relies on tenderness, seasoning and the warmth of pepper, and is all the better for it.
MIKO’s Larb is perhaps the clearest expression of Apaipat’s cooking. Bright, fragrant and sharp enough to wake up the palate, it has the addictive push and pull that great Thai food does so well. Alongside it, Chiang Mai Sausage brings a deeper hit of spice and smoke.
Then the curries arrive, and dinner changes gear.
Lobster Choo Chee is unapologetically luxurious, but the lobster never feels like an expensive ingredient added for effect. Its sweetness makes sense against the richness and spice of the curry, giving the dish enough tension to stop it becoming heavy.
The Lamb Massaman Curry is darker and more comforting, with the sort of depth that suggests patience rather than pyrotechnics.
But MIKO’s headline act is the Apple Wood Fire Peking Duck Penang Curry.
On paper, the name alone could set alarm bells ringing. Peking duck, apple wood fire, Penang curry: there is a lot happening. On the plate, however, it clicks. The duck brings smoke and richness, the curry warmth and complexity, and together they produce a dish that feels indulgent without tipping into excess. It is the plate I would order again before I had even finished it.
The drinks deserve some attention too. The cocktail list takes its cue from the kitchen, working with tropical fruit, fragrant herbs, warming spice and citrus. Crucially, they make sense with food. Nothing arrives determined to become the main character.
By dessert, Mango Sticky Rice feels almost obligatory. There are some dishes improved by reinvention. This is not one of them. Sweet mango, coconut and sticky rice need little assistance beyond being done properly, and here they are.
That, ultimately, is MIKO’s point. There is confidence in cooking recognisable food exceptionally well. Confidence in allowing a curry to be the most interesting thing on the table. Confidence, even in Mayfair, in understanding that luxury does not always require embellishment.
MIKO could easily have taken Thai food and Mayfair-ised it within an inch of its life.
Instead, it offers a beautifully composed room, then quietly steps back and lets the cooking do the talking. Much more impressive.
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