"Eating in a restaurant attached to a catering college is an intriguing prospect. So, too, was their once-a-week themed night which promised a platter of Thai dishes on the night we visited. The first thing to say is that everyone was extremely friendly, which translated to service that was a little unpolished. The second thing to point out is that the dining room is large, a little canteen-like, although with well-separated tables, and packed to the rafters with customers evidently eager to experience a cut-price dinner. The menu included both standard and vegan options, although I suspect we, as vegetarians, were in the minority. The starter of corn and chilli fritters were served quickly but there wasn't a trace of chilli to be tasted. One of the waiters attending our table admitted that he'd been responsible for making the fritters and seemed remarkably blase about his omission. It then took 45 minutes for a platter of four dishes to be served. The vegetable green curry had some depth of flavour, but there was a hint of nam pla (fish sauce) in the background, which clearly is neither vegetarian nor vegan. Nam pla was even more evident in the pad thai noodles, which was almost cold and, quite simply, dreadful. Satay tofu skewers were much more successful and vegetable spring rolls were passable, although the pastry was thick and chewy. The desserts had no resemblance to anything Thai and someone had turned a singular custard into plural ones. Overall, the meal was a curate's egg and we thought more effort should have been made in creating the dishes in the first place and ensuring that service could cope with the number of covers. As a training experience, Edmunds need to do more to help their students learn from their mistakes."
