Siam Orchid

Authentically decorated interior and sweet wait staff make for a good feeling in this restaurant. Eastbourne doesn’t have much cultural variety, so it’s nice to have Thai here. Had the appetizer sampler with fried shrimp, fish cakes, fried egg roll, hot pockets (chicken and fish mix), all with sweet/​sour and peanut sauces on the side. Pretty good but the sauces could’ve been way more flavorful. Also had the papaya salad to start which was incredibly spicy but fresh in the ways of vegetables. For the main dish I had the red curry with fried tofu and vegetables. The curry flavor wasn’t like any other curry I’ve tasted before, but not in a good way, too sweet and not enough of that milky goodness I’m used to. Tofu was fried well and vegetables weren’t too soggy, which is hard to do with them sitting in the sauce for too long. Other family members had the tiger prawn dish — sorry, but these were NOT tiger prawns, they were just small prawns that were already shelled and very undercooked. Sauce was nice though, which is I believe their best quality. The worst part was getting the check and seeing that they charge 2.50 pounds for rice, they didn’t even tell us that. We won’t be returning, it’s not worth the money they charge to eat here. Given the atmosphere, I wish i could conclude otherwise.

Firstly Not as good as Thai Marina!
We were impressed with the vegetarian menu, however the questions that we asked about the different dishes, were not answered efficiently.
I specifically asked the owner if he would be able to make me some coconut rice with my meal (which is a family favourite) and the owner was extremely offended that I had even asked, and his reply was My wife is Thai, and they do not eat coconut rice as a main meal in Thailand! Even after asking the owner several times more if he would be able to make the coconut rice especially for us (as we were a group of 7 people) he refused to so. If he wanted to, he could have accommodated this request.
Despite this, the food was tasty and spicy. However there is definitely room for improvement with their customer service.

This is one of the three best Thai restaurants in Eastbourne, if you’re after authenticity and not overly amended for English tastes. I would say in terms of value for money there are cheaper places to eat out there but none come up to the standard of this place. The atmosphere is good, and the staff are attentive without being overly annoying. I can recommend all the curries there, from the Mussaman to the Red, despite the previous reviewer’s assertion that it was too spicy for her. Spicy it surely is, but that’s the point of the Red curry, and goes towards my argument of authenticity.

I have eaten here once and had take away a few times, and to be honest it’s a bit hit and miss. The first few times the food was great, as good as the Thai Marina but cheaper. However, last time the red curry was incredibly spicy, far hotter than any red curry I’ve had before. I don’t mind spicy food but it was so hot it spoilt the meal for me. Perhaps it was just an off day but it has put me off going back.