FOOD & DR INK
G i gg lin g S qui d WITH FLAVOURS THAT PACK A PUNCH AND INTERIORS TO MATCH, CAN THIS THAI-INSPIRED RESTAURANT BRING A SMILE TO OUR FACES? REVIEW WORDS BY ROGER PAYNE
so, by their own admission, the staff were still finding their feet. Even so, with the venue relatively quiet when we arrived for lunch, I would have expected to get our first round of drinks a little quicker than we did, especially when three of them only required the top taking off a bottle. Naturally, we blamed our cocktail- drinking colleague for the ten-minute wait. For the record, she chose a Silky Pink: a lychee martini that was rather too sweet for my beer-aged palate, but went down very well with her. So well, in fact, she had a couple more, presumably to check the consistency of flavour. Ahem.
given a bright, airy makeover with floral decorations and The Old Library’s domed ceiling floods the main restaurant area with light. It feels fresh and inviting, much like the menu itself. If you want to make your visit even more special, you can opt to dine in one of the large birdcages. Typically reserved for special occasions, there’s space in a birdcage for up to six people, and while they’re bedecked with (plastic) flowers, the interior designers stopped short of adding a stuffed parrot or two. That was probably for the best. Our quartet visited just five days after the restaurant had opened its doors and
et’s start with the name. Giggling Squid was cooked up by co- founders Andy Laurillard and his wife Pranee as a nickname
for their eldest child, later putting it over the door of their first restaurant when it opened in Brighton in 2002. Eighteen years and close to 40 restaurants later, the name, and chain, has expanded across much of central and southern England, so it was only a matter of time before Cambridge residents got to sample its tasty Thai-inspired treats. The Wheeler Street location was previously Jamie’s Italian, but it’s been
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