Chat Thai, Sydney

I am on a mission to find authentic Thai food since my trip back in January from Bangkok and Phuket. Having sampled lots of local fare, I now realise that most of the Thai food in Sydney is tweaked to a Western palate with lots of coconut milk and not enough spices. There is a tricky balance of sour, sweet, salty, hot and bitter is the key element to Thai cuisine.

Chat Thai has been a local Thai institution for a long while now and the scores of long queues should be enough to demonstrate their popularity. Their latest addition to the family is situation on level 6 of Westfield Centrepoint in Sydney CBD with the restaurant’s decor fairly posh compared to its Chinatown sister. Their food menu is quite similar to Chinatown but they have a bigger drinks selection with special cocktails.

Comfy seats for the wait

Shiny new dig

The textural element of this dish is the reason why I keep on ordering this at every Thai restaurant I go to. I love the crunch of the peanuts with the papaya and snake beans with the little bursts of  sweetness coming through the tomatoes. This salad is really refreshing to eat on a hot summer’s day.

Som Dtum - $12

The next picture doesn’t do the dish justice. The barramundi was filleted and fried, served with 2 types of garnishes: fried garlic and lemongrass salad. Delicate flesh of fish along with the freshness of the mint and lemongrass, makes me not feel as guilty eating fried fish! I love eating fried fish as a whole as it means I can crunch on the bones.

Bpla sohng jai - $35

Thai food always lets the ingredients speak for themselves which is why I encountered a lot of dishes simply served grilled with a dipping sauce on the side. Grilling squid and serving it this way lets the natural sweetness of the squid shine through.

Bpla muek yaang - $18

Char grilled beef, cucumber, chilli, tomatoes and coriander. Simple but yet amazing!

Yum nuea - $15

This was my least favourite dish. I love tom yum soups and everywhere we ate in Thailand, we would have to have a bowl. The tom yum soup I experienced was a very clear broth infused with lemongrass, galangal, limes and chilli. Even drinking it in the humidity, it was still refreshing. Chat Thai’s version was made with a dash of coconut milk which I find makes the soup slightly sweeter and it hides the bursts of flavour from the lemongrass.

Dtom yum goong - $22

 

I’m still on the hunt for the best Thai food in Sydney which transports me back to outdoor street eating with a Changi beer in hand. If you readers out there who know of such place, give me a shout!

 

Chat Thai Westfield

shop 6002, level 6
188 pitt st.
westfield centre point
tel 9221 0600

 

 

 

T&K Seafood Restaurant, Bangkok

After spending 2 weeks during the Christmas/New Year break in Hong Kong for my friend’s wedding, I was eager to go for a quick getaway somewhere warm. Thailand is less than 3 hour flight from Hong Kong and the price of an air ticket is less than a Sydney-Melbourne return!! Mr Dough had caught wind that shark fin was cheap there and my friend had told me about cheap bird’s nest. Armed with a fobby guide-book, we picked out a restaurant in Chinatown to show our hotel staff to order us a taxi there. The taxi driver wasn’t sure of the exact location but we told him to drop us on the main strip and we will find it ourselves.

We found the restaurant but didn’t find anyone dining in it. I told Mr Dough maybe we should keep on walking and find another place to eat as judging by the lack of activity in the place. We walked further along the main strip and I was just taking in all the street stalls set up on the side selling various things like pomegranate juice, chicken rice, freshly cut fruit, assorted skewers, Thai sweets and noodles etc.

Street vendors everywhere

Al fresco dining has a new meaning

Half way down the strip we were greeted with scores of tables spilling out onto the road and people in bright green t-shirts, waving us into their restaurant. We stopped and looked at the menu and we thought if there are that many people at this place, it must be good. Big BBQ stations were outside the restaurant, cooking the fresh seafood which was packed in ice, displayed outside the restaurant.

BBQ stations

Pick your own seafood

We wanted to sit outside to in the midst of the action but we were ushered into the restaurant. There, the feast began.

Just in case you think Thai food isn't spicy enough

When in Thailand....drink as Thai do?

And.....JACKPOT!

Mr Dough got greedy and ordered a large since it was worked out only to be about $15 AUD which is a bargain! The soup comes with a plate of coriander and shallots, where you can season to your liking.

Shark fin soup

I couldn’t get over how cheap this dish was all over Thailand. It costs the same price as I would buy it from the markets here.

Morning glory with chillies

This is the most memorable dish on the trip. The fresh flavours of lemon and garlic really brought out the sweetness of the squid. The dish was really spicy but yet so addictive and refreshing.

Steamed squid in lemon, chilli and garlic

We saw the cooks BBQing them as we were walking in. The prawns were the size of my palm! What I loved about the big prawns was the roe in the prawn head. Simply just grilled, the prawn was tender and moist from the juices in the shell it was grilled in.

BBQ grilled prawns

The BBQ cockles were nothing of spectacular but it’s definitely something you can’t get in Sydney. I was slightly worried them not being cooked open.

BBQ cockles

Last but not least, bird’s nest. This was nice and refreshing at the end of the meal and the best thing of all this was less than $5 AUD.

Chilled bird's nest with coconut milk

The whole meal costed less than $50AUD including drinks. Now where can you get that in Sydney?

T & K Seafood
49-51 Soi Phadung Dao, Yaowarat Rd, Bangkok 10100

Open from 4:30pm to 2am Tel. 01 507 5555