Busaba Eathai

The queues that manifest themselves outside every single branch of Busaba in London are also present at the new Westfield branch, and we’re waiting for over 20 minutes before seats become available despite being tempted to leave on several occasions. We stand patiently in line however, as the rest of the group are fans of Busaba’s Thai fare and we are at Westfields after all, we’re hardly going to stroll out and find ourselves with a choice of independent bistros. We should have chanced it however, as unfortunately the tried and tested food from the other branches falls terribly short here; the spicy deep fried calamari (£5.90) is overcooked and chewy, the noodles that come with the smoked chicken (£6.90) are dry and unappetising. Only the chicken and butternut squash stir fry with cashews (£6.90) is an enjoyable mix of juicy chicken, sweet squash and crunchy nuttiness. It’s a shame, because on previous visits this affordable chain came close to proving it was worth queuing for, but now that the squid is rubbery all the other things that are wrong with Busaba reappear – there is a long wait for both seats and food, it’s noisy, you have to share a table with strangers, plus while it’s cheap, it’s not that cheap. So why does the capital’s population love it so? At a glance, the vast majority of Busaba’s customers appear to be aged between 16 and 25, therefore it has to be the branding that is attracting people in droves. It’s certainly not the food.