Tuesday night saw our first dine in meal since the Covid pandemic hit our shores back in early March and it was to Thai Thae at Hurstville that we decided to pay a visit for our 7th Anniversary of our Thai Wedding in Chiangmai back in 2013. Of course we had to eat Thai food.
This local place has a great range of dishes which includes the usual suspects but then takes it to another level with plenty of interesting dishes to keep you coming back. I wrote a review for this restaurant a few years ago on my old semi retired blog and said it was great then. Back then the menu seemed a little limited but now the menu has expanded quite a bit and I can't wait to get back and give it another try.
So, on to our meal. Initially we were thinking 2 mains and an entree but then decided that if we grabbed a green papaya salad we could try two others mains no worries at all. So that is what we did.
Thai food is traditionally eaten as shared dishes amongst the group of people eating. Basically all the food to be eaten is put on the table and each person has a plate of rice and eats by taking small amounts (around two spoonfuls) of each dish one at a time and eating with the rice . In Thai dishes are described as gup Khaao or in English "with rice", and used almost to flavour your rice. This view is obviously a little challenging for Europeans and probably others as well, but could be thought of in a similar way to the way Italians think of flavouring pasta with sauces which are far less saucy that those used by those of us eating pasta in other parts of the world.
Maybe I need to get back on track. We ordered three great dishes. Som Dtum or Green Papaya Salad which was good, though I asked for medium heat and found the spiciness a little less than I like. Next time I'll need to ask for hot. If Som Dtum is new to you, make sure you give it a try. It is a salad made up of shredded green papaya which is pounded up with a wooden pestle with garlic, chilli, palm sugar and more to give a spicy, sweet and salty salad.
We also had the Deep Fried Tilapia with garlic. Thai fish is fried whole, no batter, just deep fried I think, in a wok until cooked through, then topped with enough fried garlic to cover the fish almost completely. You would think this would be too garlicky but the garlic is mellowed by the frying and extremely delicious. It was on this occasion. It is also served with a house made sauce to dip your fish in after you pull the flesh away from the bones. Give it a try, it is great and has the added bonus of attracting table envy from nearby patrons.
And our final dish we picked from the Chef suggestions portion of the menu called Kai Look keuy. You will notice that the menu item is written in transliterated Thai and is therefore fairly unhelpful to non Thai speakers. Kai is egg and the rest, well your guess is as good as mine. The description underneath the item on the menu though drew me in and I had to give it a try. I was not disappointed. That description said "Medium boiled eggs and deep fried and crispy pork topped with sweet and sour tamarind sauce" The sentence structure may not have won you an English prize in High School but the plate of food was a winner. Eggs boiled and then deep fried served on a bed of crispy pork belly mouthfuls swimming in a sweet and sticky tamarind sauce. Yes you are right, this is not something you GP wants you eating daily, though you would keep him busy if you did, but it was absolutely yum.
This was a great meal at a very affordable price and comes highly recommended by this happy eater. Great to be back out eating after lock-down and hope everyone behaves so we can continue to eat out more and more. Until next time , Happy Eating!!!
Thai Thae Restaurant - Shop 1, 33 MacMahon Street, Hurstville, NSW
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