Where do you go if you are looking for a Thai Restaurant in Ramsbottom?

Picture this, Square Street in Ramsbottom. Less than 400 meters in length, could easily be overlooked but has arguably two of the best restaurants in Ramsbottom in just the first 50 meters of it.

Of these, one is a little Thai Restaurant named Spice Garden that has managed to lodge itself in my personal Ramsbottom top 5.

There are good points and bad points with its location on Square Street.

First, the bad point being its proximity to the other top restaurant; the hugely successful Levanter Fine Foods (which recently featured in the Top 100 Restaurants in the UK). There is a chance it could be passed over by potential customers.

There is a good thing for Spice Garden though. Levanter (at the time of writing) doesn’t take table bookings. An odd concept you might think, but it’s hardly ever quiet in there due to their popularity. This popularity has the potential of leaving hungry people who don’t want to wait up to an hour looking for somewhere else to eat.

This is where Spice Garden can get some passing trade from people who aren’t necessarily looking for a Thai Restaurant in Ramsbottom but they’re hungry and want feeding.

We weren’t in that section of people on this night, we had full intentions of going to Spice Garden as Thai food has a special place in our hearts, this and we’d been wanting to visit Spice Garden ever since moving to Ramsbottom.

Even when Buddha Lounge was open, Spice Garden was THE Thai Restaurant in Ramsbottom?

When we moved here, we had wanted to get to The Buddha Lounge (now Owen’s) but that had closed its doors before we had chance to eat there. (We’ve since heard that Spice Garden is much better than The Buddha Lounge ever was. Do you agree? Comment below.)

So we headed off for our meal out and despite arriving without any reservations (a’la Levanter) we knew we would get in SOMEWHERE in Ramsbottom so we weren’t worried much. Thankfully we were able to get a table and we’re glad we were.

Having spent our honeymoon in Thailand; Thai food has a certain welcome place in our heart, especially as whilst there I took part in an afternoon cooking class to get to grips with three basic dishes. (Thai Green Curry, Massaman Curry and something else that escapes me). Based on my experience of these curries before I decided to go with the Beef Masman Curry (Geng Masman Nua). On the menu, Spice Garden describe their Masman curry as “Fresh beef cooked in masman curry paste with coconut milk, potatoes and topped with peanuts. Choose from mild, medium or hot.” I don’t recall actually being asked how hot I wanted it however, maybe I should have said that at the time?

So, was my choice of Masman Curry a good one or was I spoiled with my experience from Thailand? It certainly didn’t disappoint and my wife who was fairly sceptical before we went in (it took some bargaining to convince her to go to Spice Garden, just because she wasn’t sure it would live up to Thailand) said that it was fantastic too.

Cost wise, it’s reasonable. It’s not the cheapest but it’s far from the most expensive meal in Ramsbottom. Take a look at their menu for an idea of their current prices and things they offer. If you’re a fan of Thai then there will no doubt be something you’ll like.

We didn’t book, but you probably should.

To sum up, the food was great, we were seated right away (despite not having booked; they were very accommodating) and the atmosphere was reasonable. If you were even pondering going to Spice Garden, I can recommend it, but I would certainly look to book though as it’s quite a small restaurant and I can’t help but feel we were quite lucky.

There’s no constant pestering too, you’re left alone to eat and chat, our only negative was we were sat next to a loud group of four people who seemed to think it was acceptable to swear loudly during their conversations.

They weren’t particularly drunk, they just seemed to think this was a normal way to talk, loud and obscene. Sadly, they’re wrong, but we did manage to ignore them as they were leaving soon anyway.

Despite this, I still recommend Spice Garden for a night out and certainly recommend it as the best Thai Restaurant in Ramsbottom.

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