Lemongrass Thai Street Food Sheffield: We visited Moor Market restaurant recommended by Michelin-rated chef

One of Sheffield’s true hidden gem restaurants is found in the city’s original food hall at the Moor Market.

Lemongrass Thai Street Food has built up a solid following since it opened in 2017 and is among Sheffield city centre’s top-rated places to eat, with an impressive average score of 4.7 stars from more than 300 Google reviews.

Those in the know rhapsodise about the authentic flavours which transport you to the streets of Bangkok, where owner Narumol Dudek grew up and worked in her auntie’s restaurant.

Glowing reviews describe the dishes there as ‘absolutely gorgeous’ and the best and ‘most authentic’ Thai food in Sheffield.

Famous customers

Narumol said its customers include Sheffield Wednesday chairman Dejphon Chansiri and the snooker star Noppon Saengkham.

Another fan is Luke French, co-owner and head chef at the acclaimed Michelin-recommended JÖRO restaurant in Kelham Island, who recently described it in the Guardian as one of his favourite places to eat.

We had to try it for ourselves so we visited on a Tuesday and found Sheffield’s original food hall at the Moor Market bustling, with queues at many of the takeaways there.

We ordered the sticky rice and durian in coconut milk, which cost £8.09 including the 10 per cent discount for buying direct from Lemongrass’ website.

‘One of the best Thai dishes I’ve ever tasted’

We were also persuaded to try the crab meat red curry, which is one of its signature dishes. That was a little more expensive, at £15.99 including steamed Thai jasmine rice, but given the generous portion and the quality of the ingredients this did not seem unreasonable.

The curry was a delicious blend of sweet and spicy with such depth of flavour you wanted to dive into the bowl to devour every last drop. There was no scrimping on the succulent crab meat or the fresh asparagus and baby sweetcorn, while the Thai sweet basil and kaffir lime leaves added to the intoxicating aroma.

It was easily one of the best Thai dishes I’ve ever tasted.

The durian dish was a sweet one described on the menu as being ‘only for the most fearless of our customers’ as it is made with what is said to be the world’s smelliest fruit.

World’s smelliest fruit

We were given a pretty pot of sticky blue rice, with the durian and its sauce in a separate tightly sealed bag, presumably to mask the smell, though when we opened the bag it was not as overwhelming as I’d expected.

The durian was unlike anything I’d ever tasted but the sweet, creamy sauce was akin to condensed milk which the pieces of fleshy yellow fruit perfectly complemented.

As a whole, the dish felt like a very sophisticated rice pudding. It was perhaps a touch sweet for me but it’s definitely worth trying even though it won’t be to everyone’s taste.

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Narumol explained how she had started out running the Lemongrass Thai Supermarket at the Moor Market and only launched the takeaway/restaurant to try to reduce waste by using the ingredients which had not sold.

It proved a big hit and she has since sold the grocery store and opened a sister restaurant/takeaway at the market called Mango Thai Cafe, with an extensive vegan menu and an excellent value £9.99 lunch special, consisting of a starter, main and prawn crackers of the day.

Narumol told how the food from both kitchens is inspired by a mixture of old family recipes and travelling around Thailand sampling the nation’s best dishes.

Working at the market ‘like being on Coronation Street’

As well as being taught to cook by her family and attending college in Thailand, she also trained in classic cuisine at The Sheffield College.

She likes to fuse Thai and western cuisine, even creating a massaman pie, which she said had failed to catch on as the people of Sheffield were perhaps not quite ready for it!

Her costs have risen, as they have across the hospitality industry, but she refuses to compromise when it comes to the quality of her ingredients, insisting her customers deserve the ‘full flavour’ which you don’t get by ‘cutting corners’.

She told how she loves working at the market, adding: “It’s a bit like being on Coronation Street, you meet such a mixture of lovely people and you get to hear all the gossip.”

With the top quality ingredients, the precise cooking and such super friendly service, it’s easy to see why Lemongrass’ fans range from snooker stars and football chairmen to Michelin-rated chefs.