Jintana Thai - Bowness-on-Windermere

Please be careful here. many of the V dishes contain garnel paste or fish sauce. this is a ludicrous to think, someone can have an allergy and order them one of the veggie dishes. the owners will change the menu so that customers can get the right information. I mean, a pad thai jay should be veggie because jay doesn't mean fishing in thai! sort it out.

You have to go up a flight of stairs to get in here. Cheap and cheerful, colourful Thai-themed interior. I was especially tickled by the toilet doors, which have a picture of (I assume) a Thai man and woman instead of Gents and Ladies signs. Front of house staff are Thai and don't speak English as a first language, but certainly know what a vegan is and which dishes are vegan (I wish native English-speakers always knew this.. They suggested substitutes when a dish was not available. Prices are moderately expensive. The vegetarian platter was great for a starter (between two people). Curries were delicious though quite small, so I recommend a side dish of rice as well. Banana spring rolls were nice for dessert but I especially recommend the sago with coconut cream topping. No-one could imagine that a dish made of sago, and which looks like pale green fish eyes, could possibly be so delicious. Full marks! Update: apologies, when I later asked a member of staff, he said that many of the dishes in the vegetarian section contain fish sauce (and didn't understand why this was a problem), so to get an edible meal you have to specify that you want a non-fish-sauce meal (they complied with this when asked). So this is not a very vegetarian-friendly place after all. Still love the food, though. Updated from previous review on 2015-01-18

I went to Jintana Thai this weekend as the only option around for vegan food. However, when I asked about vegan options, the waitress didn't know what vegan meant. When I explained, she said she doubted any dishes would be suitable because even the vegetarian dishes have fish sauce in them! I was quite shocked and asked why they were called vegetarian if they included fish sauce.. There was no warning on the menu either. The waitress replied that her boss (the owner) was vegetarian but he ate fish, so that's why they are called vegetarian dishes. I replied saying that he wasn't vegetarian then, but a pescetarian! Anyway, nothing suitable here for veggies of any nature. Most disappointed. Perhaps it should be removed from Happy Cow.

Staff were really nice helping us choose some vegan options. Food was beautiful seasoned and so delicious.

We had a delicious lunch at this restaurant while visiting the Lake District. The decor is charming and the service was quick. We ordered the pad thai and massaman curry, both of which were tasty.