I absolutely love Thai food so I was excited when I got invited to attend a special blogger evening at Chilli Banana in Liverpool, Lark Lane. I had also heard there are many places to go on Lark Lane for food but I had never been. So I was looking forward to seeing what it was all about.

When I arrived I was greeted with a gorgeous fresh prosecco cocktail with sugar syrup, mint, lime and a sprig of lemongrass. It was so refreshing on a hot day! I could only have the one as I was driving but they made me alcohol-free versions for me after that!

We were greeted by the owner Mike and founder May. It is thanks to May’s culinary passion that we have Chilli Banana. She has brought all her knowledge from Thailand over here to share the wonderful taste of Thai food with us all. If you have never been to Thailand you may not realise that so many restaurants aren’t as authentic as they could be. You will not have that issue when visiting Chilli Banana! Everything is fresh and full of flavour, you would think you are in Thailand. They want everyone to experience a different side to your typical Thai food, not just green curries and pad thai. Venture out of your comfort zone a little bit and taste something different.

We then sat down and were treated to so much food to sample, it was all delicious! We started off with canapes, they kept bringing more out we were running out of space on the table! There were Thai fish cakes, chicken satay, prawns, calamari, mushrooms and more. All the sauces tasted flavourful and fresh, just writing about it now is making me want to eat it all again right now!

Next to come out was Khao Soi, a chicken curry with egg noodles, shallots, lime and ground chilli oil. This was served in stunning coconut shells that really made it look special. It had a fiery kick to it and I would definitely eat it again! This dish was my favourite one of the evening and I could have eaten a lot more of it. I think I will go back to Chilli Banana just for this dish!

We then had a cooking demonstration from May, where she showed us how to make a Thai Salmon Salad and a vegetarian Tofu and Cashew Nut Salad. She made it all so quickly and made it look really simple. We got to see how much she likes chilli, as that kept getting added! Good job I like a bit of spice! We then obviously got to sample both dishes and again they were absolutely gorgeous. I tried not to eat too much as I knew I would be having a main course and desert soon.

For my main, I picked Pad Krapow Gai Sap which is stir-fried chicken finely chopped, Thai holy basil, chilli and onion. I had this with Jasmine rice. This dish was definitely on the spicy side! I wasn’t expecting it to be as spicy as it was, but it was still delicious. I was quite full when I had my main, so I didn’t quite finish it but they offered to box it up so I could take the rest home.

For dessert, I chose Eton Mess. You may be thinking that isn’t very Thai, well, instead of it being with strawberries it had mango instead! It was so refreshing and light, I didn’t want anything too heavy after all the food we had eaten, so I feel that I chose wisely! It was the perfect way to end the evening, it even had half a passionfruit on top! Yum!

To finish off the evening May so very kindly gave us all a copy of her cookbook, which you can purchase on Amazon. I was so made up, I love Thai food and I love trying out new meals at home. This will be a great addition to our cookbooks and I can’t wait to try some of the recipes in it. Let us see if I can recreate any of the food that I tried at Chilli Banana! I can at least try!

If you love Thai food and you are in the Liverpool area, I highly recommend giving Chilli Banana a try. They also have other restaurants across the North West, so if you are nearby why not go and check it out. If you are after authentic Thai food you can’t go wrong.

Have you ever been to Chilli Banana? Do you want to go? I’d love to hear from you.