Green Peppercorn - Sydney

Thai food is better eaten with friends because you get to sample so much more food. I've been to Green Peppercorn in Fairfield but I'd never been to their Sydney joint. Our friends, however, swear that this is one of their favourite Thai places and come here on a regular basis. We also ordered much of their favourite dishes.

The Charcoal OX tongue didn't look too pretty but it was absolutely deliciousness. It was flavourful, succulent and slightly chewy. Pretty yum, especially with the special dipping sauce.

The chicken feet salad was another favourite. De-boned chicken feet is heaps easy to eat. Slightly chilli but packed full of flavour.

Pad thai is always my favourite go-to dish. The pad thai here was pretty good - slightly too chilli for me when I mixed in all the the chilli flakes, but otherwise, not too bad a noodle dish.

One of the specials was their pork knuckle. It was massive!!! Crispy skinned, caramelised sweet sauce, fall-off-the-bone meat. Cannot complain - I was in pork heaven :)

 Dessert-wise, our friends order their fried icecream every single time. Delicious caramelised sweet sauce, flaky thin filo pastry and a good amount of nuts to add the crunch. Pretty deliciousness.

I wanted to try their mango coconut dessert with coconut jelly, coconut milk and sago. It was really really good. I loved it! Really refreshing, not too sweet, a good combination of flavours. YUM!

All up, a pretty good dinner. Would love to come back again sometime.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Green Peppercorn
Civic Hotel Level 1
388 Pitt Street 
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 8080 7043

Thai Paragon (Menulog takeaway) - North Strathfield

What's better than being able to lounge at home after a hectic working day? It's being allowed to lounge at home, order your dinner from the comfort of your laptop and have your dinner dropped off at whatever time you please. AND no washing up! :)

After much browsing and indecision around on Menulog - No.1 for Online Takeway,  I decided on a Thai restaurant down the road from us at North Strathfield - Thai Paragon. Thai Paragon is one of those Thai places that I've been driving past day in and day out for the past three years, each time saying that we've got to try it. Browsing the menu on Menulog was very easy. After you choose your  dishes, a confirmation of the order and time is sent to my email (and mobile) promptly. Also - my meal was delivered pretty much on-the-dot of when I asked for it to arrive!

An extensive look over the menu left me with the decision of curry puffs, pad thai, and beef masaman curry. For some funny reason, when it came to the actual order - my pad thai became a soft-shell crab with papaya salad... No idea how it happened, but it gave me a bit of a shock when I opened my takeaway and found no pad thai! Nonetheless, it was quite an enjoyable meal :)

The curry puffs were quite delicious! The pastry was buttery and flaky. The curry bits inside - potatoes, carrots, peas - all mixed with a mild curry, was tasty and hit the spot for me.

curry puffs

My accidental soft-shell crab with green papaya salad was okay too. The crab was deep fried a bit too dark for my liking, but it was still tasty. As for the papaya salad? It was just like any other. My only complaint would be that the box looked a bit meager when we first looked at it...

soft shell crab with papaya salad

The beef masaman curry with the addition of a roti was my favourite for the night. The curry was creamy and flavoured just right. The beef was also super tender and fell apart easily under the fork. Would definitely want seconds of this one!

beef masaman curry

roti

I definitely appreciated having no cooking no washing and virtually no moving after a tough work day. For this purpose, Menulog well exceeded my expectations - easy to browse, easy to order, delivered super promptly. As for Thai Paragon, I wouldn't mind another meal from here:)

Thai Paragon 
Shop G2, 24 Bakehouse Quarter
George Street
North Strathfield, NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 9746 7005
http://www.menulog.com.au/takeaway/north-strathfield
http://www.menulog.com.au/thai-paragon-north-strathfield

Spice I Am - Surry Hills

After a day of chilling around in the city, hubby and I decided to grab a quick dinner at Spice I Am before meeting up with a few friends. We got there around 7.15pm ish, and as expected, there was a bit of a crowd. Lucky for us , we were the only ones wanting a table for two - meaning that we got a table in around 15 mins or so albiet tucked away in a tiny table next to the wall.

Hubby wanted to eat EVERYTHING. It was so difficult to contain him and narrow our orders down to an entree and two mains. For entree, we got the mini curry puffs (6 pieces for $8.50). These little puffs were golden and flaky on the outside,with a tasty curry and potatoey  filling. I liked it. The pastry was a tad on the thick side though...

curry puffs

We also opted for a beef massaman curry ($18.50). This was really tasty. The beef was really tender and soft. There were two big bits of potato which weren't too mush or too hard. Loved this curry :P

beef massaman curry

Lastly, we couldn't resist but order deep fried whole snapper. The crunchy, crispy, perfectly cooked snapper was topped with garlic, chilli, eschallot, lemon grass and corriander. It also came with a green mango salad. There was a tiny shot of chilli sauce... I licked a tiny bit of this and couldn't take it.... it was hot hot hot. But the fish itself was pretty amazing~ really smooth, tasty and fresh tasting fish meat with a crispy skin.

deep fried whole snapper

I had a pretty good meal here. It was bustling and a tiny bit hot and stuffy. But for the food, I'm pretty sure we'd come back at a later time.

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 28.5/40

Spice I Am
90 Wentworth Ave
Surry Hills
NSW 2010
Tel: (02) 9280 0928

Thai Flavours - Bella Vista

We recently found out that one of our high school friends owned a Thai restaurant in Bella Vista and have been wanting to pay it a visit for a while now. Apart from it being a bit out of the way from where we all currently lived, us and a few high school friends decided that it would be a good venue for a catch up. Thai Flavours was a restaurant tucked up within the businesses at Norwest - kind of close to the home-maker center down there, near all the gyms and the GP practices and the radiologists etc. For a Saturday night, the place attracted a decent enough crowd.

The place was modestly decorated, high ceilings - sending off that chillaxy vibe. We also took it for granted that our friend wasn't going to kick us out of his restaurant as we chilled and chatted until past their stated closing time. We ordered some chicken satay skewers, a couple of curries, a pork belly stir fried dish and a couple of noodles to share.

The chicken satay skewers (4 for $8.50) were actually quite appetising. The meat was tender and well seasoned and the peanutty satay sauce hit the spot with my satay craving. Not bad at all.

chicken satay skewers - $8.50 for 4

 I wanted a red curry and my friend wanted duck so we saw that the Thai duck curry ($16.90) as an obvious choice. The curry was tasty, mildly spicy as indicated, but not as "red" as others I've had in the past. The Choo-chee ($14.90), which we had with fish on recommendation from our restaurant owner friend, was really mild and smooth and creamy. I actually really liked the taste of it (maybe because I'm not into heavily spiced things) and would have been happy to gobble down the whole plate (if sharing wasn't the ettiquette :P).

thai duck curry - $16.80

Choo-Chee - $14.90

 One of the items on the restaurant's specialty list was the Pork Belly stir fried with greens. There was a good assortment of peas and broccoli with a decent a portion of pork belly (with crispy skin - kinda). It did look a little more watery than I had in mind but it was alrightly tasty in it's own rights.

Pork belly stir fry

The Pad Thai ($11.90) was good. But then again, I've very rarely labeled a pad thai as bad. It was the right sweetness, right texture and right amount of meat/vege/nuts ratio. However, I was slightly less impressed with the thai basil noodles. There was that hint of chili but not a lot of basil flavour. the noodles were also slightly sloppier.

Pad Thai - $11.90

Thai Basil Noodle - $11.90

Our restaurant owner friend recommended for us to try two desserts from his menu. One was a taro (meant to have sago) coconut milk dessert, and the other was sticky rice pudding. My friend loved the sticky rice pudding, especially this smooth pasty mousse that came with it. I was more a coconut tara fan...but it was a little odder than I expected. It was luke warm and slightly salty? I guess my personal preference for this dessert would be ice cold and sweet.

Taro coconut milk

sticky rice pudding

 All up, this was a relatively good dining experience. Sure it's not the most WOW thai food around - but it was decent food, good company in a good environment. Our owner friend seemed friendly with everyone and was pretty hands on - from taking orders to bringing food out to driving out the takeaway to taking the cash. Would probably come back for dinner if we just so happen to be in the area.

Ratings:
Food - 7.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 29/40

Thai Flavours
F116/ 24-32 Lexington Drive
Bella Vista NSW 2153
Tel: (02) 8824 4333

Thai Eatery - Concord

My partner and I decided to grab a quick thai dinner locally at Thai Eatery. I ordered my usual - Chicken Pad Thai, whereas my partner opted for a Duck red curry with rice.

Service here is quite quick and efficient. Ordered quickly, food came quickly, finished eating quickly. My Pad Thai was really delicious. The noodles was cooked just right and there was just the right amount of sauce - not too soggy, not too dry. YUM :)

chicken pad thai

My partner's duck curry was also quite delicious. The curry was a good consistency, there was a good amount of duck and veges in it. Not bad at all.

Duck red curry

Overall - it was a good local thai eatery :)

Ratings:
Food - 8.5/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7.5/10
Overall - 30/40

Thai Eatery
47 Majors Bay Road
Concord
NSW 2137
Tel: (02) 9736 3334

Thainatown - Sydney

One of the perks I'm missing out on by not working in the City is all the awesome restaurants and cafes I could be lunching at with friends. What I don't miss, however, is the congestion, the crowds and spending heaps of money each day on coffee and food :P

Whilst I am in the city for work-purposes, however, food in the city was on the agenda.

As we were based at the Masonic Center, my friends and I decided to hope across the road and lunch at Thainatown.

One of my friends ordered the Pad See Ew. This was a generous portion of flat rice noodles, egg, chicken (I think?) and dabs of greens. It looked a bit sauced up... and my friend complained about the saltiness of this dish. In fact, it was so salty that she didn't finish it in fear of a sodium imbalance after LOL

Pad See Ew

Another of our dining mates was a vegan. Whilst not many dishes on the menu are explicitly vegetarian, the waitresses are accommodating and quite considerate - even down to asking if she wanted to substitute fish sauce for vegetarian oyster sauce. Nice touch I think. She thoroughly enjoyed her pad thai, saying it was beautiful, and polished it all off! :)

Vegetarian Pad Thai

I was curious about their "black soup". This was their blended herbal soup with rice noodles, either beef or pork (I chose pork) meat and balls, and chinese broccoli. They had the option of a small portion for just $5.50 and as I was cautious about this "black soup", I decided that ordering small is probably the best idea. The soup was slightly oily - with a 3mm layer of oil on top. It was extremely flavoursome in the sense that there were grainy bits in the soup that stuck to the rice noodles - ie. no escaping from the soup. It was a mix of chilliness and saltiness. Interesting blend... but not my cup of tea.

Boat noodle soup - (small) $5.50

To finish off the meal, icecream was on my agenda. My friend opted for a scoop of taro, I wanted green tea ($3/scoop). Both icecreams were creamy, not over-powering in flavour and quite a satifsfying end to our lunch meal :)

green tea and taro icecream - $3/ scoop

So not a bad little Thai food joint. Price-wise is OK too. Service... it's your normal typical Asain service :)

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 6.5/10
Ambiance - 6.5/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 27/40

Thainatown
91 Goulburn Street
Haymarket
NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9211 0090

Hi Thai - Blacktown

I met up with a friend after work one day, and we decided to eat at Hi Thai, a recently opened Thai restaurant in Blacktown.

I was sooooo close to ordering my usual Pad Thai. To break tradition, I opted for the chicken Peanut Noodle instead ($13.90). This was chicken pieces with super thick rice noodles, topped with a HUGE heap of super rich, super tasty, super oily, super unhealthy, yet super yum peanut sauce, mixed vegetables and egg. This was extremely extremely yummy. But with every bite, I could tell the I was eating something that was doing my body harm. I felt as guilty as I would have been, eating peanut butter out of a jar - which I guess was pretty much what I was doing - eating peanut butter mixed with oil! *sighz* Never mind - a treat after a hard days work.

Chicken Peanut Noodle - $13.90

My friend opted for a heathier option. He chose the Tasty Pumpkin with beef ($13.90). This was thin pumpkin pieces with beef, egg, veges and mixed with oyster sauce. As it doesn't come with noodles, hence he had to order rice with it. His dish was much much healthier tasting and looking compared to mine. Unfortunately, it was less yummy than mine.

Tasty Pumpkin with beef - $13.90

Overall, this was an average Thai place. Not bad, not excellent - but Thai is good any day.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 28/40

Hi Thai
On Four, Westpoint Shopping Centre
Blacktown
NSW 2148
tel: (02) 9831 2415

Red Spoon - Castle Hill

Red Spoon

We were going to Maccas - but I walked past this new Thai place a Castle Towers and we thought we'd give it a go.

Thai places are aways good for my decision making dilemmas as I order what I usually order - Chicken Pad Thai ($12.90). Pad Thai is alway what my partner orders, but we couldn't both order it and hence, my partner went for the next best thing (according to him) which is the chilli basil noodle with chicken ($12.90).

Both dishes came out nice and hot on big white plates. My pad thai came out nice and hot. Not too oily with side condiments of bean sprouts, lemon, chilli flakes, peanuts and amazingly - sugar. I have never had pad thai with sugar but honestly, I thought that the noodles were sweet enough without these clear sweet crystals. The chicken pieces in these noodles were cut in BIG chunks. Unfortunately, the thai people are unlike the Chinese and their chicken piece tend to be rough and untender. Atleast the noodles and tofu cubes were yummy enough to make up for it!

Chicken Pad Thai - $12.90

My partner was also happy with his chilli basil noodles extra extra hot. Whilst he did not believe the noodles were hot (at all) I saw flakes of chilli all over it. He gobbled up his noodles and were satisfiedly full afterwards.

Chilli Basil Noodles - $12.90

Well overall, there ought to have been a thai restaurant at Towers long ago. Thai is yummy and this restaurant doesn't do it bad. Serving big plates of noodles, these left us extremely filled. Further, sitting in the piazza next to a small water fountain is not a bad place to eat a late lunch.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 7/10
Ambiance - 8/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 30/40

Red Spoon Thai
Shop 7
6-14 Castle Street
Castle Hill
NSW 2154
tel: (02) 98995669

Bamboodle - Parramatta

Bamboodle

After church on Sunday, someone wanted Thai food. Being in the Hills area, the idea of Bamboodle was tossed around - and hence, that's where we all landed.

After our usual hours of contemplation, it was around 2pm when we got to our lunch destination. As such, seating area was not too much of an issue.

My partner ordered a chicken laksa with extra extra chilli, and I ordered a chicken pad-thai (my favourite form of Thai food). Being so incredibly hungry by this time, I completely forgot to note the prices (but I think each was around $10).

Chicken Laksa

Trying to train my chilli-eating skills, I took a sip of my partner's extra chilli laksa soup. Surprisingly, it wasn't much chilli... I think the chilli was drenched by the coconuty flavours. To remedy, my partner pilled on the extra chilli condiments... Even though it wasn't as chilli or potent as the famous UNSW laksa, I think my partner thoroughly enjoyed the fragrant flavours.

Chicken pad-thai

My chicken pad-thai was also very yummy. Although I didn't like the chicken much, the peanuty flavour and the soft yet chewiness of the noodles won me over. Mmm... yum. Love Pad-Thai's.

The food came out super quick. However, after the waiter plonks the food infront of you, it signals the end of the service at this place.

Ratings:
Food - 8/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 7/10
Value for money - 6/10
Overall - 27/40

Bamboodle
Shop 2184B, Westfield Parramatta
159-175 Church Street
Parramatta, 2150
tel: (02) 9633 9402

Cocolo Thai & Japanese Dining Bar - Randwick

After a prolonged period of starvation following a busy day at uni, a few friends and I rocked up to 'the spot' at Randwick and ended up at Cocolo, a Thai and Japanese restaurant. For those who are wondering if this is a fusion restaurant... well, the menu has elements of Japanese food and elements of Thai food but the fusion bit is a bit err... awkward... (I shall explain this later on).

Cocolo

One of my friends ordered the Chirashi Don ($9.90) which she described as a 'giant sushi in a bowl'. The sashimi pieces look quite fresh, and as no complaints came from my friend (although this could have been due to our starved exhausted state), I'm inclined to think that this dish was quite alrite.

Chirashi Don - $9.90

Another of my friends ordered a Massamun Curry with Mixed Vegetables ($12.90). The bowl of curry was quite big (I thought) and slightly more watery than I'm used to seeing. Although the curry was quite large, along with the big bowlb of rice, my friend seemed to consider it just as a first dinner - or perhaps as "snack" - as she mentioned that she had dinner waiting for her at home too~ hehehe. But having said that, I must reiterate that we had all had a long exhausting day.

Massamun Curry - $12.90

My next friend ordered the Shio Butter Ramen ($9.90), whilst I ordered the Miso Ramen ($9.90). The ramen is also where I believe, this "fusion" restaurant goes wrong. When I order ramen, I guess I'm expecting half an egg (which this place provides), a couple of thin slices of pork (which here, is substituted by chicken), some corn, bamboo shoots, and shallots (which here, appears to be just a selection of greens normally found in stir-fries). I guess my problem with these substitutions is firstly, the look of the dish - makes it look messy and less appetising, the oddness - I've never had zucchini and brocoli with ramen (outside of my home-made two minute noodles with all the left overs chucked in), and lastly, the taste - the chicken was... urm... wierd tasting. The chicken peices in my bowl had a somewhat sour taste to them - and dunking it in the "miso" soup did not make it any better. So, I just let them be at the bottom of my bowl. Speaking of the soup base, it was alot less "miso-y" than expected. My friend also commented that her buttered-up soup was a bit odd as well (which is understandable as butter in ramen must must MUST be accompanied by corn!).

Shio Butter Ramen - $9.90

Miso Ramen - $9.90

In all, I must say that I didn't really like the "fusion" in my ramen, and the next time I come here, I think I'll stick with a pad thai or some sushi. Although the food wasn't brill at this restaurant, my company was - and without my lovely friends, I definately would have went home dissappointed by the meal. The service was average and the ambiance... nothing brilliant but I think we WERE the noise, so no complaints from me! :)

Ratings:
Food - 5/10
Service - 6/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 5/10
Overall - 22/40

Cocolo Thai and Japanese Dining Bar
20 Perouse Rd
Randwick, NSW
Tel: (02) 9326 3855

Tanaphorn Thai - Kingsford

After an evening statistics class on a dreary Monday morning, food was definitely on the agenda.

Long discussions about what to eat followed, and it was agreed - dirt cheap (yet edible) Chinese food in Kingsford.

And hence, there we were, stepping into a Thai place. (what happened???)

Tanaphorn Thai

Nonetheless, having settled down near the back of the restaurant, we chose our dinners and patiently awaited... and waited... and waited...

And, it came!
My favourite thai noodles (ie. chicken pad thai) came steaming hot and hugely piled on my plate. The menu promised "Thai rice noodles pan-fried with chicken, together with king prawn, egg...." for a mere $9.90. And "king prawn", in the singular, it was! It was still delicious and very filling.

Chicken pad thai - $9.90

Then came the Barbeque chicken salad ($14.90) that two of my friends ordered. A refreshingly fresh and filling salad with a sweet type of dressing and very yum was kind of the description I got from my friends. The fact that one of my friends who tends to be on a strict chicken and chips diet (and doesn't have the word vegetable in his dictionary) found the salad apetising must be saying something!

Barbeque Chicken Salad - $14.90

And lastly, the 'Pad num plik paow' (aka chicken stir fry in chilli jam sauce - $10.90) arrived, also steaming hot. The comment I got regarding this dish was, 'kind of like sweet chilli, but not actually sweet-chilli sauce', which I thought made sense given that chilli = chilli, and jam = sweet and hence, chilli jam must = sweet chilli.

Pad num plik paow - $10.90

In all, not a bad place to chill and chat after a horrendously boring and long day at uni.

Ratings:
Food - 7/10
Service - 5/10
Ambiance - 6/10
Value for money - 7/10
Overall - 25/40

Tanaphorn Thai
510 Anzac Parade
Kingsford, NSW, 2032
Tel: 9663 5277