Well, Christmas is over. Nothing happened, we just stayed in as we were instructed to do by our glorious leaders and adhered to the tier 4 rules. We stayed home, ate a lot, drank a bit more than usual and connected to our families via Zoom and WhatsApp.

I honestly do not think I can stand another year like this.

One of the few enjoyments over the Christmas period is when after you have had a Christmas left over roast for the third day in a row and you are sick and tired of washing up for the umpteenth time is to call out for a takeaway.

No pots and pans or roasting trays to scrub out and all you need to washup are two forks, two knifes and two plates. Heaven.

This is leading me into my first review, and I will review this place as I usually visit this place when it’s not in lockdown or tier 4 shutdown almost weekly, and we’ve been going there for over 12 years, and lately making use of their take-away service.

Cattleya Restaurant –  52 Charlton Church Lane, London SE7 7AB

Cattleya Thai Restaurant and Takeaway in Charlton, South East London (cattleyarestaurant.com)

It’s a Thai restaurant that also does basic Spanish tapas menus, as before it was a Thai restaurant it was a tapas café called Chu and Cho, and since the tapas side of the business was so popular with the locals, they decided to incorporate it into the Thai restaurant.

Over the years the menu has changed a little but not much and you will find all the usual Thai dishes found in many other Thai establishments.’

Before Covid-19 reared its ugly head, they would have monthly live music in the form of ‘SE7’ an amateur band formed of local musicians associated to the East Charlton residence association, playing on an ad-lib basis. Before ’SE7’ there were other local acts the Los Dawson’s and Gus Glen.

When we made a trip to Thailand, we deliberately compared the authentication of the food in Cattleya to the local establishments in Bangkok and Phuket and I was please to say the food was very genuine although it has been noted that over the last few years, I have noted they have toned down slightly the heat and spiciness in some of the dishes to accommodate a more British palate.

The owner Nittaya these days leaves most of the front of house duties to others whilst doing the actual cooking especially now that the take-away side of the business is escalating due to the pandemic.

I would recommend this restaurant highly to anyone, when you can eventually start going there again. In the meantime enjoy their takeaway service on Deliveroo.