Sticky Mango Restaurant offers a modern taste of South East Asia with perfectly executed dishes in a setting to match. Head here before the whole town knows about it, which trust us, won’t be long…

Perhaps one of the most over-used phrases in the London foodie scene is “best-kept secret.” Often overused to describe many restaurants that are either mediocre or that everyone actually knows about already. That’s why I’m often reluctant to use the phrase, yet a recent visit to The Sticky Mango proved worthy. In fact, it’s so worthy I’m almost hesitant to share. Tucked away in Coin Street, Sticky Mango is an independent Pan-Asian restaurant offering an array of delicious dishes and an extensive wine list to match. While it’s a short few minute walk from stations such as Blackfriars or Waterloo, it is a world away from the mania of Southbank, its soft colours a soothing relief from the rows of glaringly bright chain restaurants and bars that line the riverfront. This sophisticated yet beautiful decor continues as you head inside and it proves itself as a place that doesn’t need bells and whistles to showcase itself. It prides itself in providing truly delicious food and this itself is more than enough to entice their custom. It’s cosy and it’s welcoming. It’s somewhere you can dress to impress for a date night, or go a little more casual should you desire.

We commence our dining experience with a bellini cocktail while perusing the menu, opting for the tasting menu without much hesitation. Priced at £39.50 a head, it’s a reasonable price considering you get nine different dishes included.

The biting cold outside is soon forgotten and we relax, warm and comfortable into our seats as the delicious scents waft around us. It’s not too long before our first dishes arrive, accompanied by a delicious bottle of house red. The first three dishes placed before us are a Thai Green Mango salad with a candied ginger dressing and Cashew nuts, Malaysian Chicken Curry Puffs with Coriander Yoghurt Dipping Sauce & Crispy Curry Leaves and Black Pepper Prawns with Dehydrated Pineapple, Jicama & Pea Shoots. You can taste the thought behind each dish, the flavours meticulously partnered for optimum flavour, each plate tantalising the tongue. Dishes are placed in the middle of the table to share, and it’s almost a chopsticks war as we battle to have the first taste. The candied ginger dressing marries perfectly with the Thai Green mango flavour and the Black Pepper Prawns create just the right amount of spice on the tongue, levelled out by the sharp-sweetness of the dehydrated pineapple. It doesn’t take long before the plates are cleared and we eagerly await the next courses.

It is clear already that Chef and Owner Peter Lloyd doesn’t mess around when it comes to his cooking. His passion, flair and craftsmanship shine through in a way it only can when you’re not only exceptionally talented but experienced, hard-working and devoted to the industry. And with Lloyd’s impressive past and TV appearances including on Saturday Kitchen, BBC Celebrity Masterchef and Junior Bake Off he isn’t one to be underestimated. His first head chef position was secured at the age of just 23 at the RSJ restaurant Waterloo where he quickly acquired two AA rosettes. During this period he found time to work with the likes of Pierre Koffman, Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White and it was in 2009 that he discovered his true flair for South-East Asian Cuisine. In 2011 he took the helm as the Executive Chef of Spice Market at The W Hotel, a concept created by world-renowned 2 Michelin Star Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. Following its closure in 2016, Nigel Wilkinson, RSJ Restaurant’s owner invited Peter to open his own restaurant on the first floor of RSJ and Sticky Mango was born. When Nigel retired, Peter grasped the opportunity to take on the whole restaurant and today runs it with his partner Rosa D’Imperio who he met while working at Spice Market.

The next dishes to arrive at our table are a wok-fried monkfish – a piece of fish so tender it almost melts in the mouth. It’s accompanied by a Malaysian Chilli sauce that again hits the right level of spice and a Sauteed Boi Choi and Apple Blossom. Another dish is a Wok Fried Tenderstem Brocolli cooked perfectly with the right amount of crunch and accompanied by Water Chestnuts, Shiitake Mushrooms and a particularly moreish Oyster Sauce. The other two dishes were a Mamak BBQ Chicken with long charred beans and a pickled red onion salad and a Truffle Egg Fried Rice with Leek & Truffle paste. The latter arrived as a mound of steaming rice with a whole fried egg on top which they proceeded to chop and mix in infront of us, the golden yolk oozing through the rice instantly imbuing it with further flavour.

Sticky Mango is special in the fact that just when you think you’ve found your favourite dish, you try something else and are just as blown away. There’s nothing worse than coming out for dinner and eating something you feel you could make yourself. This is the complete opposite at Sticky Mango. I am impressed with every course, the inventive use of flavours, the perfectly calculated ratio of spice to sweet and the level of thought behind each element.

Our meal was rounded off with dessert – A Pandan Macaron with Kaya Jam and Soy Caramel Ice Cream and (of course) a sticky mango – black sticky rice with mango sorbet and coconut milk. They are the perfect way to finish off the meal, not too heavy as some desserts can be, yet still packing a punch with flavours.

We complete the evening with the last drop of wine from the bottle and feel satisfyingly full, warm and comfortable. The thought of heading back into the biting January air isn’t a welcome one. It’s with heavy hearts that we drag ourselves out of the door twenty minutes later, comforted only in the promise to each other that we will return again as soon as possible. “Tomorrow?” my partner replies.

For there’s something about Sticky Mango that captures your heart and your tastebuds. It encourages sociable, shared dining and is somewhere you can’t just visit once. Sticky Mango takes you on a culinary journey, teasing your tastebuds with some of the best food pairings you’ll ever try.

So what are you waiting for? Discover the South bank’s best-kept secret before everyone else does.

Sticky Mango
33 Coin Street
London
SE1 9NR
0207 928 4554
info@stickymango.co.uk