Thainatown, Haymarket

Thainatown's a really basic Thai eatery which, as its name suggests, is in close proximity to Chinatown (although further east along Goulburn Street than the main strip of pubs and restaurants near World Square). With white tiled flooring and garish lighting, my friends and I felt a prick of dubiousness, but we ruthlessly squelched these misgivings and ventured inside. Please excuse the photo quality - taken with phone camera.

Chrysanthemum tea (~$3.00)

I ordered the crying tiger, expecting a plate of chargrilled steak with an accompanying spicy sauce. What I received was a pretty underwhelming plate of slightly grey, limp beef strips. There was no sauce - looking back in hindsight, I think we were expected to scoop sauce from the little metal bowls on each table. The beef was tasteless and not particularly enjoyable to bite into. I guess I got my money's worth, though, because there was a LOT of beef on that plate.

Crying Tiger (~$11.00)

The sticky rice was a large bowl's (2 - 3 rice bowls?) worth of rice, steaming hot inside a woven bamboo basket. They made it pretty well and it tasted great with the ingredients of the tom yum soup.

Sticky rice (~$3.00)

The tom yum soup stock was flavourful (albeit a bit sweeter than expected and not spicy). It had strong flavours of lemongrass and cooked coriander, while mushrooms and prawns made up the majority of solids.

Prawn Tom Yum soup (~$9.00)

My overall feelings are torn. It's certainly value for money because what the crying tiger lacked in flavour, it made up for in portions, and vice versa for the tom yum soup. I just don't think I'll be trying much meat here next time.

Thanon Khaosan, Haymarket

A few weeks ago, I finally took up one of Spidey's suggestions and dropped into Thanon Khaosan (the place with the tuk tuk and takeaway desserts). Thankfully it had a few free tables even though (because?) it was 7pm on a weeknight.

The wall of Thai number plates and hanging bird cages provided fodder for smalltalk while awaiting the arrival of our food.

For our entree, we had the tod man goong (prawn cakes). I commenced eating immediately, while the Boy considered them to be foreign objects and suspiciously prodded one. Fried and chewy, they were like an oilier version of the Chinese fish cakes that we normally have with noodles. The light plum sauce added a welcome sweetness. Unfortunately, they were a tad dense and soggy, lacking the crispiness that I'd so been looking forward to.

Prawn cakes (4 pieces) ($8.90)

The red curry chicken was pretty standard - creamy and rich with bamboo shoots, broccoli and carrots. It was a little bit spicier than what you would find in the average Thai restaurant in Sydney.

Chicken red curry ($14.90)

The neah yang, or marinated BBQ beef with tamarind sauce, had a sweet yet smoky flavour. Most of the meat was tender enough, but 1 in 4 pieces were too nervy to eat.

Neah yang ($13.90)

The fried rice was pretty addicting. Possibly because of the bits of pork belly. And the chilli-basil that the rice was fried in. Basil is yum. Kind of oily, but it meant the rice was moist.

Khao san fried rice ($14.90)

We asked if we could add the takeaway desserts to our bill, but were soundly rejected - we had to go to the front, select our desserts, and pay then and there. This was a small feat because I'm uncoordinated and can't juggle a wallet, money and plates :(

Desserts we had were as follows:

• Coconut and red bean with a bottom layer of glutinous rice
• Coconut cream on sago
• Coconut cream and pandan

They reminded me of my mum's nyonya kueh. Though ever the loyal daughter, I still hold that her kueh is better :P The coconut cream components were by far the sweet parts of the desserts, while the layers that they were paired up with were more bland to balance off the sugar. The Boy's favourite was the coconut and sago, while mine was the coconut and red bean combination.

Overall, a satisfying meal, though probably not the best Thai I've had.

$2.00 each