Thai Riffic Randwick

46 Parouse Road
Randwick
NSW 2031

BYO

We'd been to Thai Riffic in Randwick a few years ago when visiting the in-laws and decided to try it again on a Saturday while staying down the road in Coogee. It was pretty packed when we got there with our BYO beers from around the corner.

We kicked off by sharing the tofu satay, which was fresh out of the fryer and super hot. The exterior chewy rather than crisp, with a tender and soft interior. The satay sauce was suitably peanutty.

The veggie and tofu green curry was good without being exceptional.

The better half had the Chicken Pad Thai which came with some unusually large slices of meat and more veggies than I'd normally expect.

The bill for our food came in came in around $45. The service was OK given how busy it was. Our table did have a whiff of having been cleaned with dirty water which was a bit off putting. Overall the experience wasn't amazing and I don't think we will be rushing back.

Star of Siam, Port Douglas

1/12 Macrossan Street
Port Douglas
QLD 4877

With its wide open doors and windows, eating 'inside' at  the Star of Siam doesn't feel to enclosed, in fact you still feel close to the action on Macrossan Street.

Inside there is a definite Thai them to the decor, from the pitched roof of the bar to the chair backs.

The menu offers several classic Thai dishes, plus some less common ones and house specialities.

We shared the fish cakes as an entree, which turned out to be a good plan as they were the largest Thai style examples I'd seen, the texture and flavour didn't suffer either.

The veggie and tofu green curry lived up to our expectations with a good kick of spiciness and  the other expected flavours.

The Banana fish or baked barramundi arrived wrapped in the leaf it had been cooked in.

 

Inside the whole fish was topped with picked garlic, coriander, sliced ginger, and a slightly odd mix of vegetables. The selection of mostly green veggies, along with the wrapping didn't show off or enhance the barramundi but underneath the fish was nicely cooked, however not much different to how we oven cook it at home.

The roti was thinner and crisper than expected, and not so good at soaking up the curry, but still enjoyable.

The meal came to $69 including corkage, it's BYO alcohol only. The service was fairly good although it slowed down a little as it got busier while we were there. Perhaps it would be best to stick to some of the more familiar dishes if dining at the Star of Siam, as the ones we had were good and I'd happily have again.

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Canton Cafe, Kingsland

477 New North Rd
Kingsland
Auckland 1021

Some local friends suggested Canton Cafe as a good place to get together for dinner for seven of us. We arrived and secured our large round table in the already busy establishment and arranged our BYO drinks, apparently this is less common in NZ than "Aussie" as the locals call it. The decor was fairly basic and the table cloths were plastic - a very practical choice! We ordered several dishes to share between the table, after being warned each portion would be on the large size.

The first to arrive was the (half) Peking Duck which was still a good size to share between us all, and came along with plenty of pancakes, which seemed to be more like mini tortillas but good all the same. The duck as tender and flavoursome and it disappeared quickly as we all tucked in.

The chicken with ginger and spring onion filled the hot plate and contained generous amounts of well prepared poultry.

The locals insisted on ordering the special black chilli king prawns and they were black and also tasty, spicy, without destroying the prawn flavour.

Salt and pepper squid featured big pieces of pieces of crisply coated cephalopod.

I only tried a bit of the pork and prawn fried rice, but it was very popular.

The Chinese vegetables with garlic contained a mix of bok choy, choy sum,beans, snow peas and broccoli and provided a slightly healthier component to the meal.

The service was efficient and to the point, not too much fussing around with pleasantries, but focused on delivering food to the many busy tables! The bill came to $25 each and it's a great spot to get together with a group of diners for a lively meal.

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Lentil as Anything St Kilda

41 Blessington Street,
St Kilda,
Vic, 3182

We'd eaten at Lentil as Anything in St Kilda three or four years ago and more recently at the now more local Lentil as Anything Footscray. I'd remembered the meal fondly, especially as it was my first pay as you feel meal, and the whole experience went well. We've found the Footscray branch to be bigger and a little less personal with its serve yourself buffet style.

So we were in the area and decided to test if our memories were right. Things are certainly more cosy in St Kilda, with a couple of tables outside and 8 or so inside, and most of these were full on a Saturday evening. We squeezed into a spot at the back and perused the menu. A chai latte arrived which we wanted but hadn't ordered while we perused the menu. There were lentil and potato burgers on offer as well as a range of vegetarian curries, and we went for two of these.

The eggplant curry had a spicy coconut based sauce and featured beautifully cooked chunks of aubergine which melted in the mouth, but stayed together on the plate.

The chickpea curry had a similar flavour and came with a more generous serve of veggies, unfortunately these were a little harder than we would have liked, and could have been cooked a bit more maybe.

Both dishes were served with rice, some salad leaves and a slice of toast, we'd thought we might have had a naan or roti on our last visit, but we may have been mistaken.

The service was friendly if a little hap-hazard, but that is part of the charm of Lentil as Anything. Being pay as you like we felt we paid a fair amount. Overall the cosy St Kilda style Lentil pretty lived up to my memories...




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Narai Thai

214 St Georges Rd 
Northcote, 3070

Narai Thai sits on St Georges road in Northcote, not far from Croxton station, we have friends who live near by who are regulars, it was our second visit. Inside the bare brick walls dominate the room with a few Thai touches...

We went with the fish cakes for entrée, which came with spicy dipping sauce, otherwise these lived up to the usual standard.

The curry puffs had delicate pastry and a flavoursome filling.

The roti was a bit different to the Malaysian style, smaller and less flaky, but nice all the same.

I went for a spicy chicken mussaman curry which was good but didn't have enough of the ginger, onion and peanut flavours I love. the veggies and chicken were all well cooked.

The green curry was also tasty, but perhaps also lacked a few flavours...

Narai Thai certainly has a pleasant atmosphere, with friendly service and is reasonably priced... I'm probably just a bit hard to please with Thai food, having visited Thailand a few times, taken a cookery course there, and practising fairly regularly at home! Not a bad option and the bill was around $30 a head, although we did BYO, from a handy bottle shop next door!




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Thai Style

455 Church St
Richmond, Vic

We visited Thai Style with a largish group of friends, some of whom had been along before. It is cosy inside, and we filled up an area of the restaurant. The menu covered many thai favourites.

We shared the a fwe of the mixed entree 'B' platters, with fish cakes, spring rolls, satay skewers, curry puffs. I tried the fish cakes and chicken satay skewers which were both good.

 

There were some more tod mun Pla (fish cakes) in the selection of mains ordered.

 

The Green Curry chicken was apparently good, I tend not to order it as I enjoy making it how I like it!

 

The Phad Gra Prow (Chicken) Stir fried chilli paste with mushrooms beans & sweet basil leaves looked good, and got a good wrap.

 

The Gang Massamun Gai Curry with chicken, peanuts potatoes wasn't bad, but was a little light on peanuts, and had pineapple in it, something I'd never experienced before, either in Thailand, a Thai restaurant or even a recipe! As I'm not a fan of pineapple other than on it's own, I wasn't a huge fan of this innovation.

I also tried the Pad Thai which was full of great flavours, but unfortunately the noodles were just slightly underdone. The service was friendly although slightly disorganised, and unfortunately one of the main courses didn't arrive. The bill came to $25 a head, including the odd beer, the wine drink was BYO'd.

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Angaan Again

559 Barkly St
West Footscray, 3012

We were back at Aangan on Christmas Eve, and sat out in the courtyard again, as with our previous visit.

We shared the Tandoori Mushrooms to start, which were more spicy than I've had elsewhere, but very good all the same!

We went for the Goan fish curry, Daal Makhani and Baigan Bhartha (Roasted eggplant, mashed & tossed with onions & Tomatoes) along with rice and roti. They were all good, well spiced and left us very satisfied.

As always the atmosphere was great with a mixed group of diners. The service was a little slow at times, but it was busy.




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Camy Shanghai Dumpling

25 Tattersalls Lane
Melbourne
3000

I'd read about the service at Camy Shanghai Dumplings before going for lunch. We got there fairly early 12.15 on a Monday, and got a table quickly, but it did fill up as we were there. Ordering took a little while and the waiter taking the order seemed like he'd never seen the menu before, it's one thing to have trouble with the language, another not to know what the restaurant serves!

I ordered the prawn and spinach dumplings in the chicken broth, and Mr Hatch went for the beef dumplings, we both went for the 12 dumpling option.

Both of our meals were incorrectly described when handed to us, but we managed to work out they were for us - it was quite easy to tell which were mine, as they had a distinct green tinge.

I'm not sure if I actually got the prawn and spinach dumplings, there were also spinach dumplings on the menu, and I couldn't detect any prawn! The bill also indicated I'd been mis-heard...

The dumplings were nice, but could have been prawnier! The broth was pleasant too.
We had to find our own tea and plastic kids cups to have it in too, but overall the meal was great value at about $12.50 for both of us! I'll have to go back for the prawn and spinach dumplings.

Update 4/2011:

Back again on a Sunday lunch time and started with spring rolls which were crunchy fresh and tasty.

Mushrooms and vegetables dumplings in chicken stock, with a distinct nutty mushroom flavour coming through.

The steamed beef dumplings were also apparently good...

 The service in general seemed better and more under control, all our dishes came straight to us in a reasonable time.




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Cafe Lalibela

91 Irving St
Footscray, 3011

We've eaten at Cafe Lalibela occasionally, but not that often, as M isn't a big fan of the injera bread on which everything is served. We decided to give it another go, and we do like the restaurant atmosphere, on of the nicest vibes in Footscray, whether we've been 2 or on a table of 15...


I'd tried Ethiopian food once before I had visited Lalibela, and have tried one other restaurant serving food from this part of Africa, so it is hard for me to say how authentic it is... The menu starts with a description of the cuisine and how it is presented and eaten.

We ordered the mix of vegetarian dishes and a lamb curry, as can be seen these were served on the injera bread. We ate it with our hands following the tradition (and because you don't get any cutlery). Both the meat and vegie curry's were tasty in a distinctive way. Grabbing the food with the injera bread is a great way to eat in my opinion, but once the bread starts to get soggy and cools it can put people off.

Cafe Lalibela is a great place to eat, and pretty keenly priced, our meal came to $31 including corkage, there are good imported Ethiopian beers on offer too.






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