@Bangkok Thai Restaurant

I never liked Thai food. Well at least I didn't think I did. Turns out what I didn't like was Thai food catered to western palates, I realised this after eating at authentic Thai restaurants - places like Chat Thai, Spice I am, House, Home etc etc. And what's even better, is having a Thai friend to take you to these places and letting them choose the dishes, cause they know what's good.

The latest Thai-guided dinner I've had was at @Bangkok located on the street level of Capital Square. There were three of us dining tonight which meant we could order three dishes to try. The first was Kha Na Moo Grob (stir fried crispy pork belly with chinese broccoli, $13.90), a very simple dish which has a nice homely feel to it. The pork has a bit of crunch and a bit of fat which makes it tasty, but the real star is the abundance of chinese broccoli. It's young and fresh, cooked perfectly so that it's still vividly green and crunchy. My biggest complaint about dishes that are a combination of meat and vegetable is that there is never enough vegetable. Not in this case, loads of vegetables.


Kha Na Moo Grob (stir fried crispy pork belly with chinese broccoli) - plenty of vegies to go round.


Dish number two is Panang Curry (choice of beef, pork or chicken in thick red curry with kaffir lime leaves, $13.90). We've chosen beef and when it arrives it's a generous pile of slices. The beef is very lean, and nearly borders on dry as a result, but the ample sauce prevents this and I actually like how lean the beef is. The sauce itself is a little middle-of-the-road. It had a nice flavour but it could have been more complex or have more oomph.


Panang Curry (choice of beef, pork or chicken in thick red curry with kaffir lime leaves) - lean but lacking a bit of oomph.


The third dish is Yum Hed Yang (grilled seasonal fresh mushroom salad, $13.90). It tastes as fresh as it looks, and it's got the flavour kick that the Panang Curry was lacking. There's sour and chilli and then flavour from the herbs and mushrooms. It's definitely the spiciest of the three, so keep this in mind if you don't eat much chilli.

By the end of this, there really wasn't much room left for dessert. "Yo dessert stomach! I need your help now!". And so it came to the rescue like it always does. One of the things that excited me most when reading the menu at @Bangkok was seeing that they've got roti! There's some savoury ones, but I only had eyes for the sweet kind today. We got the Pandanus Roti (Crispy Roti served with sweet creamy pandanus sauce, $5.90). It was thin and crispy. It also wasn't too oily which is a real plus, I am not a lover of oily food. The pandanus sauce was a little too sweet and the pandan flavour wasn't strong enough. A little less sugar and a little more pandan would have been perfect. Having said that, even just recalling the roti makes me want to eat another one. Maybe next time I'll try the Chocolate Roti (with chocolate topping) or perhaps Milo Roti (Milo powder and condensed milk). Mmm roti.....

Yum Hed Yang (grilled seasonal fresh mushroom salad) and the star of the night - Pandanus Roti.

 
What: @Bangkok Thai Restaurant
Where: Shop G11 Atrium Street Level, Capitol Square, 730-742 George St Sydney (near Campbell St entrance) 02 9211 5232
How much: All savoury dishes we ordered were $13.90 but the prices range upwards. Sweet Roti's start from $5.90