Vegetable spring rolls, Thai sweet corn cakes, Pad Thai tofu, tofu green curry and rice… these are some of the mouthwatering vegan dishes Sala Thai Kitchen serves up at Harpenden Sustainability Market. After a very successful first market in September, the award-winning restaurant will be back at the next market on Sunday the 16th of November. But make sure you visit their stall early on – when the market team spoke to them for this interview they had just sold out of everything!
As well as selling delicious Thai dishes to marketgoers, you can find Sala Thai Kitchen at 5a High Street in St Albans. The restaurant is run by Thippi, who moved to the UK from Chaiyaphum in northeastern Thailand 15 years ago and has made the restaurant the success it is today. And her hard work has now been recognised with the Herts Responsible Food Award, the first restaurant in St Albans to receive the honour.
Thai food, made to order
While Sala Thai Kitchen is not a vegan restaurant, all dishes are cooked to order. This means the recipes can be easily adapted for vegans, vegetarians, halal diets and even little tummies – a few weeks ago, Thippi cooked a special baby-mild curry for a 14-month-old who gobbled it up!
Sustainability is important to how Sala Thai operates. They source all their supplies locally, including vegetables from the local market, meat from local Asian halal shops and beer from local breweries. Packaging – essential for takeaways – is compostable, and they are moving towards a zero waste model.
Not just a Thai restaurant
If you’ve ever been curious about trying your hand at Thai cooking and want to learn from professional Thai chefs, then you can learn to recreate the delicious flavours of Thailand in one of the many cookery classes on offer.
Sala Thai has also recently launched jazz nights and jazz brunches, usually on the third Sunday of the month. You can expect lighter Thai dishes like fish cakes and salads to the sounds of jazz piano and saxophone – keep your eyes on their Facebook page for more information.
There’s nothing quite like food to bond people, and one of Thippi’s favourite parts of running a Thai restaurant – aside from the cooking – is the people she meets. Her aim to make restaurant goers feel as though they’re visiting a friend’s house for dinner. And this inspires many a conversation – diners love chatting to Thippi about their Thai holidays, where they should visit and what they should eat. In fact, during our interview a man who had lived in Thailand for a year came over for a natter and reminiscence!
Seasonal, local food and carbon-free transport
Thippi’s top eco tip is to support local businesses where possible, ‘Choose seasonal fruit and vegetables – not only are they eco-friendly but they taste better too. Walk or cycle if you can. I’m a runner, so I walk and run a lot. And at work, our staff car-share – one member picks up the others.
With food, choose the right portion size. Start small, add more if you’re hungry, to reduce waste. If we all eat a little less and waste less, we save energy and stay healthier.’
As a keen runner who recently completed the New York Marathon, Thippi was particularly interested in the active stalls, including OTT Mountain Bike and the St Albans Cycle Campaign, through which she learned about Breeze women’s cycling group.
If you can’t make the next market, you can visit Sala Thai’s website, Facebook and Instagram. And if your hunger just can’t wait, you can order a Thai curry on Deliveroo and Uber Eats.
Join us at the next Sustainability Market on Sunday the 16th of November to discover Sala Thai and other local eco and food stalls that promote a more sustainable lifestyle. It’ll be the perfect opportunity to source sustainable stocking fillers as you enjoy the festive atmosphere. Visit our markets page for the full schedule of dates.