Lamb & Flag

A friend brought me here and I was fairly blown away by the food. While it seems on the outside to be an ordinary British pub, what makes it rather unique is that it separately offers both a modern British/​European as well as a Thai menu. What this means is that it’s not the standard pub fare of Steak and Kidney Pie, Bangers and Mash, Shepherd’s Pie, etc. Nor is it a «fusion» place where everything is such a mishmash that nothing is recognizable as either type of cuisine. The modern British/​European cuisine stands by itself and the Thai cuisine similarly does its own «thing.» It’s almost as if they had two separate and distinct restaurants operating under the same roof! It’s absolutely brilliant!
We came for lunch just after I’d gotten in on the red-​eye from New York back in August 2010, so I wasn’t firing on all cylinders. However, the food soon perked me right up! We decided to stick with the Thai menu and for starters, we had the Prawn Crackers (a.k.a. «kropok» that is salty in the Malaysian/​Singaporean style and not bitter in the Indonesian style) and it was served with what they called a «chilli paste» that was basically a «belachan marmalade» which was stunningly good and had a «kick» worthy of the appellation. This was followed by a Pad Thai with Prawns (perfect and not utterly dessicated like so many I’ve tasted), a Tamarind Duck (juicy and delicious) and a Beef Salad (a perfect Yum Nua for Thai cuisine aficionados). Being an expatriate from that part of the world, I do know the foods of South-​East Asia fairly well and the overall high quality brought back happy memories. Furthermore, the dishes came in substantial portions and we left the Lamb and Flag stuffed to the gills. Service was quite good although the waitress was a bit scattered in forgetting our supplementary drinks order and had to be reminded twice but we got them in the end so no harm done.
On doing some research, it appears that the Lamb and Flag has a bit of a chequered history but that seems to be water under the bridge with new proprietors running the place and it appears to be on the upswing now. I wish them the very best – with food of this high level of quality, they can’t go wrong. I’m looking forward to dining here again when I next hop across «The Pond»…

Just discovered this place, wow! Lovely open light and airy pub with a mix of formal chairs and comfy sofas. Service was good, a little slow st times but friendly. 8 of us had the Thai menu, we had a three course lunch at only £20 each and the food was excellent. Will definitely be back!

Only tried their Take Away thai menu. We do eat thai quite a lot & I also cook thai. What we had was very authentic I must say. Just need to try the restaurant itself now.

We are local to the Lamb & Flag and where very happy to see it reopened under new ownership after years of neglect. Previously it had a very bad reputation and was dirty.
Well what a change! The new place is unrecognisable, clean, lovely decoration and lovely new owners!
The new menu is great value and is very well presented. The new Landlord/​owner James is a true ‘host’. The new Thai menu is VERY good. We took friends who have travelled extensively in Asia and they had nothing but praise for the Thai food. The ‘English’ menu aswell was very good (I had the English but the three others in my party ate Thai)
We received a verywarm welcome and will be back

Went there once at 12.00 on a saturday lunchtime waited 20 minutes for our drinks when the place was less than busy got up and left. Rubbish service

We ate at the new look Lamb & Flag last night. We’d heard mixed stories from the couple of days after their opening — apparently a chef hurt himself in the kitchen which meant that they had to cancel lots of people’s meals on a Saturday night.
Things are much better now. We love Thai food (have travelled in Thailand so know what is good) and were not disappointed by their new Thai menu. The owner’s father also owns the Bell in Wantage where they also have Thai chefs. I had hot/​sour mushroom soup and my partner had coconut chicken mushroom soup — although they mixed up the order we enjoyed it greatly. We both had Phad Thais (a veggie one and a prawn one) and these were one of the best I’ve had in the UK — great flavours and not at all greasy.
They also have a modern English menu (which looked straightforward and not too exciting to be honest) too.
The service is friendly and we liked the ambience. It also looks like a great place to go for a pint with lots of tables and leather chairs.
Worth checking out if you are west of Oxford. We’ll be going back.
NB the map Qype has is incorrect. It’s Faringdon Road in Longworth/​Southmoor off the A420. It’s NOT in Abingdon.