Posts Tagged ‘Thai’
July 3, 2009 | 
Author Pad Thai
Shop 38A Midtown Plaza, 246 Bourke St, Melbourne
03 9639 6868
Hidden in the midst of dodgey food court food in Midtown Plaza, there lies a little gem named Pad Thai. This unassuming Thai place serves up one of the best Thai food in Chinatown. If you like it HAWT, this IS the place to be. And when they say that they bring “you the Real Taste of Thai Cuisine” they bring you the REAL taste of Thai Cuisine!
Pad Khee Mao Noodles $10.20 is a spicy stir fry flat rice noodle with chilli, basil, chinese broccoli and a selection of chicken/beef/pork/ vegies- you can also choose prawns for $11.90. Remember to order extra hot if you want the ZING- it’s beautiful! I am so addicted to this that I crave for it every day- it’s slightly sweet, VERY spicy with slippery stir fried noodles- it’s just amazing!
Khao Pad Ka Naa Pia Khem $9.9 (meat/veg) 10.90 (seafood)- please don’t ask me to pronounce it, but this is one yummie dish! Beware though, if you don’t like salted fish, stay away from this dish! Salted fish is like anchovies, but a bit more pungent and they are normally sun dried.
Pork skewers with sticky rice- slobber!!!!!! I am sorry but am I just gushing too much in this blog post? Everything I’ve tried in here I love-Khao Kra Paow Kai Dow $10.5 (stir fried meat w/ basil leaves chilli and topped w/ fried egg), Rard Nhar $10.2 (Crispy Flat rice noodles topped with gravy & Chinese Broccoli), Kuai Teow $8.8 (Don’t mistaken this with Char Kuai Teow! Traditional Thai Boat Noodles) etc….. I think here’s where I really fell in love with Thai food and begin to think that I can eat this every day.
The only complaint I have is that all dishes have extremely small portions size for its price (in a food court of course)-I am sure that’s how much Thai people eat (hence they stay so skinny), but there are many times we had to share 3 dishes between the two of us, or I had to buy something else afterwards! 7.8/10
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Spirit House
Cuisine: Thai
www.spirithouse.com.au
20 Ninderry Rd, Yandina
Sunshine Coast QLD
Ph: (07) 5446 8994
I can’t remember how long I have wanted to go to Spirit House but I was overjoyed when my hubby said that we could go to celebrate my graduation. I’d always promised Froggy that we would have a crazy party when we graduated together, but we were happy to do this instead. Booking is very highly recommended, especially for weekends. We had to book 3 weeks in advance for our Saturday dinner.
Spirit House is situated in Yandina on the Sunshine Coast about an hour and a half drive from Brisbane. We spent the afternoon driving around Maleny and Montville before our reservation working up an appetite. When you walk into the Spirit House grounds you find yourself in a peaceful garden filled with oriental lights, Buddha statues and lots of bamboo. There is a separate building for Spirit House’s cooking lessons which Froggy and I are definitely going to try out. But the restaurant itself sits around a large pond which reflects the restaurant and its ambient lighting at night. They have lit mosquito coils but if you are one of those people that just seems to attract every mosquito around you then don’t forget some insect repellent. It is an exceptionally romantic setting if you are looking to impress a loved one.
They have recently changed their menu for shared style dining. This is a typically Asian way of dining which I have been brought up with and love. It means you order a few dishes to share and everyone gets to try each thing. This solves the meal envy problem and also having to decide on just one thing to order, which quite frankly I believe would be impossible to do. Amongst the four of us, we chose 8 dishes. Four from the entrees and starters and four from the larger meals. We also squeezed in a dessert tasting platter. Oh actually I just remembered that we did order one extra starter, but I will explain that a little further down.
First entree was the Salt & Pepper Silken Tofu with Sweet Ginger & Lime Sauce $10. This was beautiful, silky tofu with a crispy coating.
Next out we had the Crispy Pork Belly with Green Pawpaw, Scallops & Nam Jim (3 pcs) $20. Sadly I wasn’t able to try this dish which I guess worked out for us in a way. This is the only entree/starter on the menu that has an odd number of pieces. Why, I don’t know since most people usually dine in even numbers. The reason I wasn’t able to try this wasn’t because everyone took their piece first and I missed out but because I have a mild allergy to peanuts and forgot to check if any of the dishes we had ordered contained any. This dish was sprinkled in them (which wasn’t listed on the menu). I am usually cautious of places I go to eat with regards to my allergy, particularly Thai or Vietnamese restaurants. I don’t usually fault people for using it as a garnish and not stating it on the menu, though it would be nice. I will just have to go back again. I could tell though that everyone else loved this starter.
The Duck & Lychee Salad with Pomegranate Molasses dressing $20 was really nice and I think we even picked off most of the pomegranate after the duck pieces were all gone. This is listed on the menu has a duck and blood orange salad, but on the night we were there it was substituted with lychee.
Our last entree was the Crispy Salmon Straws with Green Shallot, Ginger & Wasabi Mayo (4 pcs) $12. This was unanimously our favourite entree. There is no photo of this dish however and I do apologise. The boys started eating them too fast for me to take a photo. Froggy and I even convinced them that we should order more, which we did, only to then again eat them all before realising we forgot to take a photo again. But if you can imagine, they were about the size of a bread stick and were spring roll pastry wrapped around salmon and fried. These crispy straws sat in a small glass of wasabi mayo which was had a gentle wasabi kick. The mayo was so good we all scooped some onto our plates to save for later dishes.
You are probably starting to wonder how we possibly had room for our mains. In hindsight, I myself also wonder about this. But when you are sitting there with delicious plate after delicious plate in front of you, you will find that it is impossible to resist. Your body will make room for anything they bring out to you.
The BBQ Mooloolaba Prawns in Rendang Paste with Mango, Coconut & Mint (4 pcs) $29 were fresh prawns, perfectly BBQ’d. The green mango and coconut salad atop the prawns had a lovely, crisp texture.
The Coconut Poached Chicken with Lemon Grass, Cashews & Chilli Jam $28 was very tender and was one of my favourite dishes.. oh wait, no they are ALL my favourite.
This was a big hit with our table, the Mild Red Curry of Wagyu Beef with Tamarind & Cassia $30. The wagyu was so tender and while we were all being conservative with the portions we were taking so that we didn’t appear greedy, I know each of us was secretly eyeing the last piece. It was quite a large portion though and the curry was creamy with the tang of the tamarind coming through.
I know I have said everything has been our favourite, but this was really deserving of the favourite tag as well. The Whole Crispy Reef Fish (Baby Snapper) with Tamarind Chilli Sauce market price ($36) was so full of flavour and crispy. The sauce was really beautiful with a nice chilli kick. I can’t really express how much we loved this dish except to show you the photographic evidence of what we did to it.
This was the fish as it was presented to our table.
And this is how it left our table. When it looked finished, somehow Froggy and I still found more of it to eat. We picked off every single bone. Hubby and I have never eaten the fish head but we found the cheeks while someone else cleaned up the fins and tail. We were so full but if someone had given me another one I would have found the will to eat it.
But I guess I had to leave room for dessert.
A single serving of any of their desserts is $14.50. But knowing how much we had just eaten we decided to share the dessert tasting plate for two ($22) amongst the four of us which comes with a bit of everything.
Chocolate Palm Sugar Caramel Delice & Candied Chili (LEFT)
Spiced Pineapple Tart Tatin with Gingerbread Ice Cream (RIGHT)
Warm Coconut Citrus Syrup Cake with Roasted Rhubarb & Double Cream (LEFT)
Pink Peppercorn Meringue with Mandarin Cardamon Compote & Saffron Fairy Floss (RIGHT)
The desserts were a little too sweet for us and we found it difficult to eat them after the feast we had. Our favourite was the chocolate palm sugar caramel delice though we could barely finish even that.
Including a couple of drinks, our whole dinner set us back about $250 for the whole table. It’s a wonderful place for special occasion dining and I am kind of glad it is out of the way for me. Otherwise I’d try to concoct reasons to go all the time. Spirit House also has a couple of cook books out and cooking lessons are $125. Froggy and I have decided we will definitely be going since we discovered that one of the classes teaches you how to make the fish we loved so much.
Spice I Am
Cuisine: Thai
http://www.spiceiam.com/eatin-takeaway/index.asp
90 Wentworth Avenue
Surry Hills, Sydney
Opening hours
Tuesday – Sunday
Lunch: 11:30 AM – 3:30 PM
Dinner: 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
I love thai food. I read about Spice I AM from a deck of cards on where to eat in Sydney. A friend of mine who lived in Thailand for a year and regularly goes back to Thailand for the food decided to give it try. Sadly, it was closed when we went there at 11am. So she went later that night with her family and said it was the BEST Thai she has had outside of Thailand. I decided i had to try so i went there the next day for dinner.
J and I had to wait about 45 minutes for a table but thats to be expected from a restaurant that has won heaps of awards. They do not take bookings for dinner and are extremely busy. The place is really small but the staff are efficient and polite. So get there half an hr before you’re hungry and give them your number. They will call you when a table is ready.
We sat down in the corner of the shop next to some people who were obviously suffering from the spicyness of the food. I was excited cause I love spicy and can never get spicy enough. The waitress came over promptly with cold water and menus. She came back to take our orders about 10 mins later. I ordered fried fish balls with peanut chilli dressing, spicy fried rice and basil cripsy pork belly. J ordered pad thai.
The fish balls were delicious. They were springy and salty and sweet with a hint of chilli. I liked it very much and so did J.
The spicy fried rice was very spicy. So dont say i didnt warn you. Its not for the faint hearted. I truly enjoyed the spicyness but i think most people would find it too spicy. The fried basil gave the fried rice a special texture and made it so fragant.
Basil cripsy pork belly is a signature dish of theirs and it was one of nicest pork dishes i have ever had. The pork belly was so crispy and there was no strong pork taste. It was so well balanced with the chinese brocolli and basil. A must try.
The pad thai was good too. As good as any other Thai place. The portion was big too.
I went back last week cause i really wanted to try their Tom Tum noodle soup. They only serve it for lunch. It was very unlike normal Tom Yum soup you would get in most Australian Thai restaurants but it was very delicious. It was very authentic Thai. I have not had tom yum soup like this outside of Thailand.
J had Nam Khao Tod which is crispy rice salad with Thai pork sausages, chilli powder and ground peanuts. For someone who doesnt like salad, J ate this pretty quickly and only offered me one bite. It was very flavoursome and full of texture because of the crispy rice bits and soft sausages and peanuts. This is not a dish for those who are allergic to peanuts.
Overall i’d give Spice I AM a 9/10 rating. They get full points for food but the prices are a little steep and unless you have a big group and are able to share a few dishes I would be hard pressed to eat there regularly. =(
Pad Thai
Shop 38A Midtown Plaza, 246 Bourke St, Melbourne
03 9639 6868
I normally shun Food Court food, and after the brush with Untasty Thai (ahem, I mean, Tasty Thai) I am especially wary of Thai food. However, I went to Pad Thai this time because my Thai friend, Ying, told me it was fabulous, so I thought I’d trust her!
There isn’t a huge selection, but Ying told me they make good Thai food. They have a special that time we went, which is the Traditional Thai Boat Noodle-beef ($8.8). Normally they only make it during weekend.
The food arrived quickly and we tasted the soup first. The soup is a bit sweet and salty, very yummie. Us chilli girls started dumping huge amounts of chilli into our soup to make it taste even better- yum yummmmm.
The beef balls were- weird to describe it this way- al dente, really firm and full of texture. The beef slices were also very tender & flavoursome. Overall I would say the soup was slightly sweeter than I like, although nothing a pinch of chilli and vinegar won’t fix.
Other recommendation from Ying was Pad Thai, Pad Khee Mao, Rard Nhar and Khao Kra Paow Kai Dow.
Thai Culinary
433 Elizabeth St, Melbourne
I was going to brag that I’ve found one of the best Thai delivery around Melb CBD, but alas, at the time of writing this blog I had a so-so delivery from Thai Culinary. Now I’ve eaten there about 5-7 times and they have been mostly impressive, so I will review it in general.
The one thing that impresses me most is when you ask for extra hot- they give you EXTRA HOT and even I had to drown my meal down with soy milk. This is one good Thai restaurant where, whilst it gives you the hot hot chilli kick, it doesn’t lose the beautiful flavours that comes with the Thai culinary territory.
They do pretty generous servings, however, they have been sneakily upping their prices every time we order. Delivery is free of chrage in Melb CBD when the order is $25 or over.
Special recommendations: Thai green curry (chicken) and Stir fry Thai noodles with basil and chilli (Pad Kee Mao).
Cookie
Cuisine: Thai
www.cookie.net.au
First Floor, 252 Swanston Street
Melbourne
03 9663 7660
Refreshing Peach Spritzer- this is sooo good in a 35 degree heat 
There are lots of other yummie spritzers and huge cocktails- yum yum!!!
The noodles is a bit overcooked and a bit limp.
Grilled eye fillet & shitake mushroom salad w/ thai basil & chilli $23.50. This is not bad, but for 23 bucks you’d hope to get more strips of eye fillet. My friend and I also secretly think that we can make this at home 
I think I like the bar food and the last few meals better
321 Bay St, Port Melbourne
Guys, this is entry level Thai food. If you like super spicy, super flavoursome Thai cuisine you are eating at the wrong restaurant. Not only does this Thai restuarant is aimed at Western tastebuds, they also advertised that there is no MSG and use as little oil as possible. That being said, the food is still full of flavour with other herbs like galangal, lemongrass and lime.
Chicken Springroll $7.5- not the usual unidentifiable crap you normally eat in asian restuarant, you can actually taste AND see the mince chicken in this springroll.
CurryPuff $7.5- Now the weird thing with this is, the description said “yellow curry mixed w/potato made into fluffy puffs served w/ peanut sauce- but it tasted like they used taro! It tastes a bit weird but I quickly got used to it- Alan on the otherhand simply refused to eat it
Chicken Satay Sticks $8- This is not bad however it lacks the aroma of a normal chicken satay stick (that’s possibly marinated with MSG)
Roti Bread- mmmm a bit chewy, don’t like this dish either
and red chilli, served on a bed of fresh lettuce- This is yummie, light, fresh and tangy, great summer salad. The chicken curry is fantastic also- obviously more chilli is required, and it would be great if it’s a bit bigger, but it’s actually pretty filling and very yummie.
The last dish is Thai beef salad- I originally ordered green papaya salad, and they said that they don’t have Green papaya and ask me if it’s ok to make me carrot salad -_- errrmmm no. So that’s why a beef salad was ordered. Not chilli enough and not enough salad, but there’s a lot of beef and really yummie sauce.
Cookie
Swanston St, Melbourne
Forget about coming here for dinner on weeknights unless you want to wait forever to get seats (you might not even get past the bouncer in the first place), then be crowded by beer, wine, cocktail drinkers. I am pretty sure that there is a huge book (menu) for each of the aforementioned beverages but with food, they kept it to a one page selection.
We came here for lunch, as it’s always relatively quiet during the day. There are basically small, medium & large dishes to choose from, so we ordered two medium dishes and one small dish to share.
But this is a rare healthy dish in a world of eating out so it felt good eating it and to justify eating other not-so-healthy dishes (or drinking not-so-healthy cocktails)
I lurve flat rice noodles so I ordered this dish with the duck & basil. This dish was good, although slightly salty than we would have liked it to be. The flavours of the duck and basil was pretty good though, all I needed was probably some raw chilli with it…. Mmmmm
We also ordered the rice noodles w/bamboo shoots, prawns & pickled chilli soy. I was a bit worried about the prawn factor, but reasoned that I could just eat the rice noodles and leave the prawns for my friends. Turns out it’s like those rice noodle rolls people have in yum cha, the prawns are wrapped inside the rice noodles and there is no escaping it! I gamely tried one so I can report back to you guys, and it tasted really good! It doesn’t have a strong prawney taste that lingers in my mouth, I suspected that they use minced prawns (and not a lot of it either! So I think it’s a yay for me, but not-so-yay for prawn lovers?) and lots of bamboo shoots.
The prices in Cookie are quite expensive and their service is a bit slow, but they have truly good, fresh food with fantastic flavours. I just love going there everytime to try something new, and many times it gives me a pleasant surprise.
Tasty Thai
QV Building Foodcourt - Melbourne
Fresh- well, it’s not too bad with its freshness, so they do get a tick in that. Healthy- mmmm maybe healthIER, but definitely not healthy- you don’t sell curry and stir fry noodles with more carbs & meat than vegies and say that it’s healthy.
Authentic- most certainly not. Thai flavours should be a marriage of sweet, tangy, spicy and salty. I ordered Pad Thai (extra hot) and if it’s a good authentic Thai place, although it has hot hot hot chilli flavours, it will still have the fantastic blend of fish sauce, tamarind, garlic etc. Not this horrible pad thai. This pad thai IS hot- very hot, very worried about firebolt coming out of the butt later hot, but there are absolutely no other flavours to speak of.
Maybe they really tried to be healthy and use less oil, but the noodle is also very hard & bland. And chicken thighs would be preferable to breast, thank you very much.
I miss Chilli Cafe- yummie and cheap… :’(