Cotham Hill’s Best Thai Tapas Plates for June: Three Dishes Doing the Most Right Now

Chicken Stir Fry. Spring Rolls. Thai Grilled Pork. The trio that’s quietly running Cotham Hill this month — and yes, you’ll be ordering all three.

Cotham Hill in June (Welcome Back, Almost-Summer)

There’s a moment every year when Cotham Hill stops being a winter street and starts being a summer one. The doors are wedged open. The pavement tables get wiped down. The evenings stretch out a little longer, and the whole hill suddenly remembers what it’s good at — eating, drinking, lingering.

That moment, this year, is now. And if you’re heading our way for dinner, we’ve got news. The June menu is fully on, the kitchen’s having a brilliant time, and three dishes in particular are stealing the show.

Pull up a seat. Let us walk you through them.

Why Cotham Hill Was Made for Thai Tapas Food

Cotham Hill isn’t a one-restaurant street. It’s a wander. You start with a drink at one spot, drift towards food at another, and end up back where you began for a nightcap because someone you know just walked past the window.

That kind of pace is exactly what Thai tapas food is built for. Small plates. Lots of them. Order, share, pass, reorder. Stay for two more, stay for four more, no one’s keeping count.

Mangosteen Cotham Hill — our original site, and still the one that gets called “the cosy one” — has been doing this since the very beginning. Loud, lively, and full of regulars who’ve quietly built their lives around the menu.

June’s Top Three Plates

We get asked this all the time: “what should I order?” In June, the answer’s easy. These are the three that keep going back out from the kitchen, plate after plate, table after table.

1. Thai Chicken Stir Fry

If June had a soundtrack, this dish would be on it. It’s a fast, fiery, garlicky stir fry that comes out of the wok in under three minutes and disappears off the plate in not many more.

Tender chicken thigh, fresh chillies, basil that smacks you in the nose the moment it hits the table, a hit of fish sauce, a squeeze of lime. It’s deceptively simple and properly addictive — the kind of plate that makes you go quiet for a second because you weren’t ready for it to be that good.

Order it with rice if you’re hungry. Order it without if you’re sharing. Either way, order it.

2. Crispy Thai Spring Rolls

Spring rolls in June feel right. They’re crunchy, they’re light, they’re a pre-cocktail nibble that somehow becomes a main attraction every single time.

Ours are hand-rolled, golden-crisp, and packed with a fresh, herby filling that catches the dipping sauce like it was designed for it (because it was). They land at the table with that ridiculous sizzle that makes the next-door table glance over.

Top tip — order one portion per two people. Then order another, because no one ever stops at one.

3. Thai Grilled Pork (Moo Yang)

This is the dish people text us about. Pork shoulder, marinated overnight in a slow-burn mix of garlic, coriander root, palm sugar, fish sauce and just a whisper of smoke, then chargrilled until the edges crisp and the middle stays tender.

It comes with our nam jim jaew — that tangy, toasty, smoky dipping sauce that hits sour, sweet, salty and spicy in the same teaspoon. If you’ve never tried it, you’re about to have a new favourite.

It’s bold, it’s summery, and it’s the dish that quietly anchors a whole table of small plates. Built for sharing. Built for June.

How to Order the Trio

For two people: all three plates plus a side of jasmine rice and you’re sorted. Add a Som Tam if you want a little fresh crunch in the mix.

For four people: double the Chicken Stir Fry, double the Spring Rolls, one big plate of Grilled Pork, throw in a Crispy Chilli Squid and a Thai Green Curry, and call it dinner. You’ll have leftovers. You probably won’t.

For six? Just say “feed us” to the server, point at the three June heroes, and let the kitchen do its thing. We’ve got you.

The Cocktails That Bring It Together

June dishes deserve June drinks. A Maphraw Margarita brings coconut and lime into the same conversation as the grill smoke from the pork. A Dragonfruit Paloma sits beautifully against the chilli heat from the stir fry. And a cold Singha next to the spring rolls is the simplest, smartest move on the menu.

If you fancy something brave, ask about the Bangkok Badboy. It bites. We warned you.

Why Cotham Hill, Why Now

Honestly, June’s the month Cotham Hill comes alive. The light hangs around longer, the street has that easy summer hum, and the kitchen is fully in its stride — pumping out plates with the kind of swagger that only comes from a busy summer week.

If you’ve been meaning to swing by, this is the week. Bring a mate, bring a date, bring the whole group chat. Order the three. Stay for one more cocktail. Let Cotham Hill do its thing.

See You Down the Hill

Booking’s quick online, walk-ins welcome if you fancy your luck on a quieter night, and the kitchen’s open through the evening — no awkward last-orders rush.

Three plates. One street. A very good June. Come and find out what everyone’s talking about.

Mangosteen Bristol — Fresh Food. Served Fast. Always Fun.