Mangosteen, Cotham Hill: ‘Thai tapas served at Formula One speed’ – restaurant review

Mangosteen has opened in the former Pasta Loco site, a local favourite whose loss was mourned by Bristol’s foodies.

The site’s latest iteration therefore has big shoes to fill, and perhaps because of that, has chosen to take a completely different approach: Thai tapas.

Fusing fast food-style dining with trendy lighting and a tropical interior, Mangosteen feels like a cross between Sri Lankan Stokes Croft restaurant Nadu and Caribbean chain, Turtle Bay.

On a recent evening, New Order’s Blue Monday blast through the speakers and tables were positioned within touching distance of each other as groups of young students and millennials whose hearing was still intact chatted among themselves.

The menu is a whistle stop tour through Thai classics as smaller tapas-style dishes. We opted for sweet and sour aubergine (£8) and Som tam salad (£6) from the small plates menu, alongside a classic Thai green curry (£9) and Pad Thai noodles (£7).

Dishes came faster than you could say Mangosteen

In a similar fashion to Nadu, cocktails are fiery and south-Asia inspired. We opted for a Maphraw margarita (£9) and a Thai sunrise (£9).

On this particular occasion, my friend and I had thought dinner would be the perfect opportunity to catch up after nearly six months away from each other.

But we’d have to save the talk until after dinner as, within minutes of ordering, our food was on the table, before our cocktails had even arrived.

Food that arrives less than five minutes after being ordered always raises my suspicions, but on this occasion, we didn’t think too much into it – I’ve had my fair share of Thai takeaways, and speedy service is definitely the overarching vibe.

On this occasion, the Pad Thai was fresh and light and the noodles were bouncy, with a generous portion of peanuts and a chunky lime segment. I appreciated the noodle to vegetable ratio but would have liked a tad more sauce on this one.

What our pad Thai lacked slightly in flavour made up for in texture

The Som Tom salad was less papaya and more carrots and cabbage, but it was moorish enough, with a crunchy bite and zingy hot and sour dressing, both elements key to a delicious salad.

The sweet and sour aubergine was actually a welcome mix of vegetables, but was overly saccharine and syrupy, and slightly stodgy (I may be biased as sweet and sour has never been a massive favourite of mine).

Although slightly lacking in flavour, the Thai green curry was deliciously creamy and packed with perfectly-cooked vegetables, although we had to order the rice separately.

With reasonable prices, fast service and the option to try every Thai dish on a small scale, Mangosteen is a solid crowd pleaser, the timeless Wagamama of Thai food even.

I’m confident Mangosteen will bring back regulars who don’t mind the towel-to-towel dining, funky lighting and loud acoustics time and time again.

Mangosteen, 37A Cotham Hill, Redland, BS6 6JY
www.mangosteenbristol.co.uk

All photos: Mia Vines Booth

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