Nonetheless, I still open to the idea when it was suggested to me; I definitely would not have gone out of my way to make a solo trip though.
Warmly ushered inside and welcomed at the reception post (aka a podium with wood-like finishes), we were handed coloured dots to stick onto a Campbells mural. With each dot, Campbells would be donating one can of soup to a food bank, or so we were told.
I chose to ignore the suggested list of toppings, placing bamboo shoots in the Taco Soup, and tortilla chips into the Thai Chicken. Quite frankly, I don't think any of the toppings would have altered the flavour of the base soup anyway.
I began munching on the Thai Chicken & Rice Khao Soi after securing myself a glass of chilled cucumber-infused water. Maybe I had raised my expectations for this particular flavour, as Khao San Road's Khao Soi had been a heavenly mix of fragrant coconut milk and various spices, for I experienced an unmistakable wave of sheer disappointment reverberate from within. I couldn't taste the coconut, nor the curry, and especially not the Thai-ness. I scooped up several grains of rice and perhaps a few meagre shreds of chicken, but there wasn't much substance elsewise. Furthermore, the soup was too watery to be considered "curry".
I’d recommend steering clear of the recipes posted on the website though, especially considering that the quality of the resulting creations featured in the pop-up.