As suggested by Chrys, we decided to join in the latest craze in town at Chat Thai, a chain of Thai restaurants in and around Sydney. Having just celebrated their 20th anniversary last month, Chat Thai currently has four branches located right in the middle of Sydney at Galleries Victoria, Haymarket, Randwick and Manly.
Apparently, the name “Chat Thai” simply means “Thai Nation”. But in English, the name would have meant “to converse in a familiar and informal manner” (in Thai??). Anyway, this is exactly what Chat Thai is all about since it offers a casual and relaxed dining experience coupled with authentic Thai food.
Trying to avoid the long queues, we visited the Haymarket branch just after lunch hour but we still had to queue for a seat. And guess what? The queue actually got longer as dinner time approaches. I guess, being the latest craze in town, long queues are generally expected.
After browsing through their fancy menus, it seems that Chat Thai is just another typical Thai restaurant in town that serves general Thai food, but with a lower price range. I suppose, this price factor is a major contributor to their popularity.
For lunch, we decided to try their Pad Siew (pronounced pad see ew), which is basically a stir fried noodle dish, where thick rice noodles are fried together with Chinese broccoli and eggs in dark soy sauce …
… and Sukho Thai, a noodle soup dish with thin rice noodles in spicy chicken stock, fish paste dumplings, dried shrimps and pork loin. Peanuts and finely sliced green beans were also added as decorations.
As for dessert, we decided to give their coconut ice cream a try, which consists of a large scoop of coconut sorbet topped with peanuts, palm seeds and red beans.
All in all, I think the chefs did a good job with our meal, except for the pad siew that was a bit too oily and the red beans in the ice cream that was not soft enough. Other than that, I would recommend this place if you don’t mind the long queues, noisy environment, and crowded space.
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