Paolina Thai Cuisine is like the faded jumper you gravitate to—there are fancier options in your wardrobe, but time and time again you find yourself throwing on that dependable knit. Tucked down a side road, close to the chaos of St Pancras International, it’s a spot where dependability is valued. There’s better Thai food in London, but this is a go-to for a reliably good solo lunch or to have a quiet date night over solid pad thai. Inside, there are sauna-amounts of wood covering the walls, floors, and chairs, but the hiss you can hear is from vegetables hitting a shimmering-hot wok. There are a couple of seats upstairs but we prefer the cosiness of the sunken, lower level. Tucked away in the dim light down here, are other people who value familiarity and duck spring rolls stuffed to the brim like mini bolster cushions. Servers place plates down with a smile but then leave you to it, disappearing back upstairs for chats with the chef. There’s no need for conversation though. Once the food arrives, you’ll likely forget the hard wooden seats have left you with no feeling in both butt cheeks, and stop wondering about the framed photos of the owners’ family members and Queen Lizzy. Really, you won’t notice the sparsely decorated dining room at all. You’ll be too busy taking comfort from the dishes—excellent crispy sweetcorn cakes dredged through sticky sweet chilli sauce and deep-fried tofu nuggets with salty peanut dipping sauce.