Spicy Basil

This review is for takeaway. This place is always buzzing with people, probably because the food is great. The yellow curry is my favorite. It’s cheap and cheerful takeaway. Portions are great and they are always efficient. Our go-​to Thai takeaway in Kilburn.

Delicious food. Authentic Thai recipes that are made with real quality. Very good value for what you get.

I can’t even remember the amount of times I walked past this place without a second glance. It doesn’t look all that inviting and is well camouflaged amongst pound stores and cheap beauty salons despite being right there, on the high road.
It takes friends visiting from out of town to show you your local gems (mind you, they used to live here, but still …) and I will be forever grateful. Generous portions of beautiful Thai food, cooked fresh in front of you — they have quite a production line going behind the corner, very impressive.
You don’t come to a place like this expecting five star service, but staff are super efficient — in a «shuffling people around in order to make most of the available seats» sort of way — and you may have to share the table with a stranger with weird table manners; this is no place to be fussy. Mind you, they take on board special requests which makes the already generous menu even more attractive. I will definitely follow my friends’ example of asking for my spicy chicken with just green vegetables next time (they are the experts!).
I was amazed how busy they were on a Saturday afternoon (lunch at 3.30pm anyone?!) but not surprised — queues are probably a bit more serious at peak times. The only drawback is the lingering smell on your clothes which reminds you of your lovely meal for several days after your visit.

We thought we would give this a go. Certainly redefines the idea of fast food, with 8 chefs and a queue at the door, the idea is in and out as fast as lightning. Although we were never really rushed. Dumplings were superb and certainly the basil with the soy sauce wowed wrll with the spring onions which appeared everywhere. Chicken coconut tom soy was full of chicken literally which I rather liked. The spicy noodles were ok I thought and for the price one cannot complain. So certainly an experience which I thought was entertaining and you could BYO. So for a cheap date night wasn’t too bad.

My favourite tai in London. No fancy stuff… but the food is über cheap and tasty.
Were else in London you can go out and eat for a £10…that includes starter, main and soft drink.

5 stars for the food and price, but loses a star for customer service.
We’ve done both takeaway and eat in at this place. The sticky tables and lack of air con isn’t ideal but I’m not sure how much you can expect at this price point.
If you do takeaway, call once you know what you want. You can find the menu online and you should do this in advance because the guy who answers is no nonsense and wants to take your order as quickly as possible. Also, he will insist that the rice is «per person» but their rice is really large portions so one serve between two people is plenty!
I’ve had a lot of trouble finding great Thai food in London and this place does the job. I recommend the vegetable spring rolls, beef masaman curry and special fried rice.

Incredible place about 10 minute walk from Kilburn tube station. Dishes with basil ingredients are the specialty here, and are packed with flavors!
This place is what the term «cheap and cheery» was named after! Almost all of the dishes are around 5.50−6 pounds! Crazy!
Favs/​must haves (anything basil is great!) and is extremely flavorful, packed with such great Thai spices:
— spicy beef with chili, vegetables and basil over rice
— spicy rice noodle dish w basil. They use the flat rice noodle here. For those Asians who are used to a soggier, softer version; you won’t find that here. They cook their noodles «al dente». It actually tastes very good if you are not used to that. Just think of die hard ramen fans who eat theirs al dente and the same for the die hard pasta lovers. Soggy is for those who are not savvy eaters.
— Tom yum soup w shrimp
— spring rolls (light brown, not over fried)
I know a handful of people who live around here and swear by this place. When I took the first bite of my spicy beef chili vegetables w basil; it almost blew my mind out of the flavors. It could be because I was so hungry. Who knows. What I do know is this place is worth for me to trek out here for a couple of meals when I’m out in London!

my dish was see food and I got just prawns. the food is too salty I complained to the waiter and he said he can’t do any thing.

The amount of times I’ve heard colleague’s talk about this place! when another friend suggested going I jumped at the chance to try. I’d heard it served big portions of great, cheap food and the queue through the door was proof of this little restaurant’s popularity.
Well my average sized bowl of food was really greasy and so, so HOT. I mean I know it’s called Spicy Basil but a green thai curry is not meant to taste like a fireball. The service was meh, it is one of those restaurants which try to get you served and out the door as quick as possible. V. cramped seating… basically I really don’t see the appeal. Would recommend perhaps if you’re walking through Kilburn starving and have a high tolerance for heat.

If I were so inclined, I would laud this establishment with splendid panegyrics. Suffice it to say, this place is truly a gem. All the curries are top rank and the Pad Thai is superior. Cheap as chips, snug and intimate, go here to eat these aforementioned items and leave elated.

I go here at least twice a week. It is well out of my way too but no matter what, this is the best Thai food in London by far. The food is always fresh, excellent quality, unbeatable value for money, very tasty, and the staff are always polite and jolly. The food is served right after being cooked to order, never pre-​prepared or pre-​cooked and reheated. I challenge anyone to find a better value and better quality AUTHENTIC THAI restaurant anywhere in London !!! This is by far the BEST so just go there and eat. Don’t bother looking around for a different Thai place to eat because I’ve already made that mistake. There are other good places like CATS on Stroud Green Road but CATS is well over priced considering the food is good but not great. Anyway, SPICY BASIL IS THE PLACE TO GO. Oh, and the drinks are NOT overpriced either.

Service — the subtraction of two stars is for the horrible service we received last time we went there. The food was delicious, as always but the waitresses were so rude. We stood for 30 minutes and when a table opened up, they gave it to some people who came in behind us because we’d ordered for take away in case it took too long to be seated.
We were very disappointed about this.

Best take out in Kilburn, maybe even all of London! Such a hidden gem!
AMAZING value for your money, all dishes basically 5 pounds, yellow curry and pad thai my personal favorites.
Don’t go on a Saturday night though, the wait is way too long. But every other night it is a great idea :)

Great value Thai that is pretty much always packed. Nice and flavoursome with plenty of options. Not a lot better around London for this type of Thai

Greasy, tasty goodness for only five pounds. For five pounds, you pretty much have your choice between McDonald’s, KFC, and this place. Take your pick.

This is my favourite takeaway in London!
You can tell just how popular it is by the fact that you can never get a table. The food is really well priced, the portions are huge and it seems much healthier than other takeaways — the fried rice is not to greasy and packed full of vegetables. Not bad at all for £5.
If you live near Kilburn high road then you definitely have to try it.

Spicy Basil is a fast-​food restaurant that offers excellent value for money. The food is tasty and quite generous, and the service is reasonably quick. It is often rather crowded and you may have to wait for a seat at busy times. This is a far better option than the big name fast-​food chains, especially as the food is much healthier than chips. Reccommended.

Hier gibt es ganz gutes thailändisches Essen. Der Laden ist immer voll und meistens muss man Schlange stehen, bis man einen Platz bekommt. Das Personal ist freundlich und richtig, richtig schnell. In der Showküche haben die Mitarbeiter ein tolles System entwickelt, mit dessen Hilfe sie unglaublich schnell die frischen und leckeren Gerichte zubereiten können. Günstig ist das ganze auch noch und um das Ganze zu toppen bieten sie nicht nur einige vegetarische Gerichte an, sondern ändern Fleisch-​Gerichte ohne Murren in vegetarische Gerichte. Einziger Mankerl: Es ist ziemlich ungemütlich, veräuchert und hektisch. Außerdem hab ich schon noch besseres Thaifood gehabt, daher möchte ich dem Spicy Basil keine fünf Sterne geben. Wiederkommen werde ich aber trotzdem :)

Cheap, fresh and delish for takeaway. I’m definitely ordering again.
If they got brown rice and upgraded to styrofoam packaging I’d give them 5 stars.

I was pretty stoked to find a reasonably priced Thai restaurant with delivery just down the High Road from us. At the same time, I was also a bit apprehensive, since living TOO close to amazing Thai takeaway is good for neither the waistband nor the pocketbook.
Fear not. Spicy Basil is delicious enough for those nights when you just need Thai food and cant be bothered to cook, but not so amazing that we’ll be tempted to go here all the time. We had an assortment of red and green curries — all were OK, but nothing to write home about. I’ve had better Thai food at places like Monkey & Me (in Marylebone) for not much more money.

Incredibly popular as it is cheap and with ingredients that are good value for the price.
The service and décor are not great and it is busy and noisy, but the food and price make it a popular place.
This place is a top choice in the area for workers and young trendies alike for take away and eat in, but it is not a place for quiet slow dinners with personal service.