New Christmas Menu Giggling Squid Restaurant Review

Published on: 28 Nov, 2016
Updated on: 28 Nov, 2016

Giggling Squid with a great location in the restaurant land of 8-9 Chapel Street.

By Tricia Marcotti

Giggling Squid is a vibrant place to eat in the Chapel Street restaurant area of Guildford.

We went there to try its Christmas menu.

We could see it was packed. The tables were a little close together, which made navigation between them a little fraught, but it did mean we could see the food arriving at other tables.

All the dishes we saw were very attractively presented. The aromas as trays of food passed by made me think: “I could eat that…”

Prawn crackers were brought to the table while we decided on our dinner selection. They were nice and spicy served with a sweet chilli sauce made on the premises. That too, was spicy with just a hint of sweetness.

We chose Kung Fu Girl Riesling from Washington State to accompany our meal – fruity aroma, clean taste, a perfect balance to the spiciness of the food.

The new Christmas menu at the Giggling Squid. Click to enlarge the photograph.

A starter of corn fritters came with more of the sweet chilli sauce, which I felt added to their enjoyment as the fritters could have used a little more seasoning.

The pork dumplings starter came with a dip that tasted of chilli and molasses which when eaten with the raw chilli slice overcame my dinner companion, but I enjoyed the total dish.

For my main course, I had the vegetable jungle curry, full of crunchy vegetables – green beans, cauliflower, courgettes, bamboo shoots – with spinach, in a broth which knew where it was coming from.

My companion indulged himself with Thai pork belly (he’s always been a sucker for pork belly). This was thinly sliced, well cooked, in a tasty sauce, with crunchy vegetables. Green peppercorns and chilli slices gave the dish a comforting spiciness.

There were no heat ratings on the menu, but when I chose the jungle curry our waitress told me it was very spicy and asked if I was okay with that. Portions were just the right size, not stingy but not so big as to be daunting.

Dessert for me was lemongrass and basil sorbet and rose yoghurt ice cream. I chose these flavours because they sounded unusual, but they were a refreshing way to end a meal. My companion chose the warm mango cake accompanied by vanilla ice cream and fresh fruit. This was a picture on a plate and it tasted as good as it looked.

The Christmas evening menu costs £24.95 per person.

‘Like having dinner with friends’ the comfortable and very pleasant Giggling Squid interior.

The ambience inside the Giggling Squid is like you’re having dinner with friends; low music in the background, and a buzz of conversation in the foreground. The staff were not obtrusive, but always seemed to be there before you realised you wanted them.

You can get more details including looking at the new Giggling Squid menu by clicking here. The restaurant is open noon to 10pm, Mondays to Thursdays, noon to 10.30pm on Fridays and noon to 9.30pm on Sundays.

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