And our new restaurant is called…

The name of the restaurant replacing the admired Nakhon Thai on Wanstead High Street has been unveiled, though reaction has not been favourable.
https://twitter.com/swift_social/status/452570855999303681

Roast chicken rarely counts as fast food, though, unless it’s maybe a French-style rotisserie joint? It could be something very fine like the roast chicken speciality restaurant Tramshed… And at least the name doesn’t say FRIED…

(Wansteadium doing best to be optimistic.)

35 thoughts on “And our new restaurant is called…”

  1. Are we sure this is going to be a takeaway?
    It is two floors, it could be we are getting something a bit special (optimistic).

    Not sure this is a huge problem, it is supply on demand and if the demand is not there then the business will fail.

    It has to be better than the Thai place. I visited it once, it was disgusting and the upstairs smelt like dead mice. So, I expect this place has a challenge on it’s hands from the start.

    I might get flamed for this, but anything that has a huge Halal sign does often put me off. Judge away…

  2. Well, that sign looks rubbish, and presentation is what it is all about. No doubt these are the same owners? I noticed a growing amount of yellow plastic tubs of cooking fat appearing and dumped outside majestic whilst sitting in traffic the other day. These fast food outlets are a blot on the landscape for such a generally lovely high street.

    Do the council not encourage a better shop front conformity? Some of the shops in the high street are just awful. For instance, the old Threshers Shop, now a cheap old booze store. This has a sun faded decrepit banner as a sign ‘Convenience Store’. You hardly ever see a sole in there and one must wonder how they survive. Such a lovely building as well. They have since added a mismatching blue to their red shop front, again looking terrible advertising a mobile phone product. Now resembles one of those ramshackle premises in Forest Gate. Then you have that outrageous sign and staging at the old Hadley House. How have they got away with that? Is it not a Conservation Area?

    Unless the authorities keep on top of enforcing against these cheapo ‘improvements’ the high street will become like parts of Walthamstow and East Ham. Actually, the council should look at Leyton High Road where shop fronts have been smart ended up an uniformity has been encouraged.

    As for this ‘Roast’ looks like another cheap old speculation that will only attract the wrong type. I hope the council will also encourage a decent business to take over the Barclays Bank building that is apparently being vacated.

    NOTE: Edited by admin, deleting one sentence.

  3. Hmmmm – with that signage it doesn’t look promising. Don’t think it will last long – though happy to be proved wrong.

  4. And we in Wanstead are so sniffy about these things because? I think a number of us need to get over ourselves, as we don’t live in Marylebone or Chelsea. We live in zone 4, nearly in Essex. What precisely were we hoping for? Michelin stars?

  8. Well Heather if you are not bothered about eating well, I am sure there are plenty of places for you to go such as Manor Park, Forest Gate etc where your tastes will be well catered for. Personally I and other residents would prefer to eat locally at decent restaurants. Also, why is “nearly in Essex” seen as so bad?

  11. I really don’t think there is a much pretension about Wanstead – the High Street is submerging its identity though beneath some very mediocre eateries. I was born in Forest Gate and returned to live there happily in the 1980’s (in Wanstead now though). So I am not being sniffy towards other areas when expecting Wanstead to be upmarket to Forest Gate. Not when you can’t buy a shoebox in Wanstead for much under £300k. Is there one decent restaurant in Wanstead at the moment? I don’t think so. The recession and Westfield has hit us hard.

  16. There was a chicken restaurant where Provender is now, I think called Chicken Gastrodome or something similar. Only lasted a few years.

  17. This is going to be another BBQ type of restaurant. ! I saw the sign going up on Saturday and it doesn’t look good at all. Shame we don’t have a Thai restaurant anymore but towards the end the food and service wasn’t as good as when it first opened.

  18. @ Compton Akers

    Re Hadley House

    http://www.guardian-series.co.uk/news/rbnews/10639650.New_restaurant_owner_asks_for_decking_permission/

    Not sure where this went; why not email Alan Romain at Redbridge for the answer.

    Don’t be surprised if neither deck nor Vegas strip sign are a priority for the Council, although I can’t fathom why either Belgique or Bungalow Cafe were.

    That said the Council got shooed on those cases so may be a bit ahem on Birk.

    Conservation, LB Redbridge. Not sure if serious.

  19. @Robespierre, thank you for the link, it is weird how some people get persecuted for minor planning infringements and a blatant breech of the regulations are practically ignored. I would have thought that the Wanstead Society would have protested as it is opposite that nice bit of greenery and really looks awful.

  20. Politicians do not rule the world. It is corporately owned. I feel that the way we buy & sell is one of our responsibilities.

  21. @ Heather

    Thanks for pointing out that Wanstead is no Marylebone or Chelsea. Why should that stop locals demanding better quality outfits? Having lived in the Bone for many years I can assure you you don’t need to look too far back in time and you would have found a shabby old high street. What turned it around? Better planning and control. They let some chains in, but not all of them. It is balanced. Wanstead is in limbo – too many shops that are shut, too many sub standard outfits and no good quality chains.

    Fine, MBHS is in W1. Go to Lordship Lane – if they can do it, why can’t Wanstead?

  23. @Stuart – I am not religious, I see no place for it. I don’t know why this has to be in my face.. Does it taste any different? No.
    It is still an animal that was killed for a purpose. People are blind if they think that it has actually come from a different source.

  24. Different type of slaughter of the animals, Muslims believe that an animal has a right to be sentient when it is killed by a human, so in Halal slaughter there is no metal bolt fired at their head to stun them first. Makes no difference to us non-muslims, as you say. But it is important for Muslims to know the meat is Halal.

  25. I think a good thai, with reasonable prices would be a sure fir hit in Wanstead. Particularly if it was a bit like Tiger, Tiger where you chose your ingredients and it is cooked freshly in front of your eyes. Speaking to shop/restaurant owners in Wanstead rent is high and footfall is low so it’s just too risky an investment for many independent shops to open up.

  26. Ask yourselves why the rents are too high. Who owns these empty shops…….you don’t have to look very far. Let people have a go at improving the high street – it may even benefit the businesses of the empty shop owners….

  27. @Stuart. I know what you are saying, but where will this end..
    Next it will be a logo for ‘Our food may contains nuts’ or ‘Suitable for vegans’ – I just do not understand why the Halal logo has to be so prominent at times.

    am_hayer – maybe the owners want the plots to be empty so that they get grants to ‘clean them up’.

    Too many folk on here with ideas, suggestions, gripes. If you all got together then I am sure you could start something! Take a couple of weeks off work, ask one of the landlords for a temporary loan so you can set up a ‘pop-up’ shop and test the water.

    I was thinking that a good business would be a pop-up plot. Gives people a chance to do this and keeps the choices fresh on the high street.

    As for keeping the betting shops and the likes away. Do you think ‘unsavoury’ folk come from miles away to visit the establishments on our high street.. I very much doubt it. The people who use these places are just as local as the rest of us.

    The only way to make a difference is to be part of the difference.

  28. So, it seems from their FB page that ROAST would be much the same fayre as BBQ Express, but with wooden plates and perhaps more of an emphasis on eat-in. Good luck to them, as is customary.

  29. “The proof is in the pudding.” How can one comment and give views to say “Another crap outlet” when you haven’t tasted the food? Its people like you that have held Wanstead back! “ROAST” is another choice for all and that’s got to be a good thing. We are so closed up in our own living ways that we feel threatened and do not accept change. Get out of your cocoon world. Wanstead high street has been boring. Just go back a few years & you had the same old. I think its great idea & we should all welcome anybody who invests in Wanstead. It takes alot of courage to open a business nowadays. Good on “ROAST”, We don’t want to see another type of betting shop. We are better than that. Its good to see business people invest in this great area.

  30. Sadly these ‘restaurants’ seem to be aimed at the kids from the local school. It may be halal chicken, what it definitely will be, is chicken that was crammed in a small barn, has never seen the light of day and has been pumped full of water and enzymes. It’s perfectly reasonable to want the best for your high street. I don’t see anything wrong with wanting to go to the high street and eat good food. Walthamstow Village has restaurants with character, great food and good staff. We seem to have a lack of imagination in our restaurants. It’s not just about the poor standard of food it’s about the blank feel where they attempting to be modern but delivering the banal.

  31. Disappointed to read comments (some) on here which are loaded with ignorance, prejudice, judgement (guilty until proved otherwise) and nimbyism not the Wanstead I know. Glad to see there are some other more balanced comments ‘of reason’… come on Wanstead, we are better than this!

  33. Flippin great Halal sign will ensure I do NOT patronise it. Why do they have to stick their religion in everyone’s face? Utterly ludicrous diktat anyhow – I want any animal I eat to have been slaughtered as humanely as possible.

    I hope it does not succeed.

  34. And to Farooq – yes, we are better than that in Wanstead. Better than Forest Gate, Leyton, East Ham, Barking. It’s why I live here.

  35. This post is getting a bit too heated for Wansteadium’s taste. So we’re closing it (just like Nakhon Thai, strangely).

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