Yok Yor Thai Food Factory, Haymarket

The initial plan for this post was meant to just be a photolog (where I just put up a couple of photos with minimal words, for reasons like the lack of memory or information). The reason for that was because I either lost some photos, hence wasn't able to write a detailed entry on my visit to the restaurant, or I was too hungry I actually forgot to snap some photos which will eventually lead to the former excuse. But thankfully, I managed to grab some photos off my dinner partner-in-crime, which explains why some photos are different in colour and filters (I tend to only use filters only when photos come from a phone rather than a proper camera). So, lucky me will actually get to put my memory to good use!

The restaurant in topic today is Yok Yor Thai Food Factory in Haymarket. I walked past Yok Yor countless of times, but it's always a wrong timing when I do. They are located on Castlereagh Street, which is away from the usual Thai street (aka Pitt Street). Whenever I do walk past Yok Yor, it's always the after-dinner walk that leads me there, or late in the night when having supper really isn't an option. Also, Thai food is always a challenge for me. I can't take too spicy food that kills all my taste buds because I'll end up with a sore throat and swollen lips. Sexy much? Yok Yor has a really interesting concept of a food factory, the people working in there are in overalls and it's very much like a construction site! They reminded me of the minions in the movie Despicable Me, how cute.

We needed some drinks to start with, so we ordered Thai milk tea and Thai black coffee. Both drinks are at $3 each, which is the cheapest I've ever had. I liked how the milk tea isn't too sweet with too much condensed milk in it, and surprisingly I liked their black coffee too! I'm not an espresso person, so anything black is not my taste. But their coffee, oh my, it's not too bitter and there is this sweetness within its bitterness. Is there a recipe to make this? I totally need to get my hands on them, yum! The drinks also came in handy with an impeding spicy experience, read on!

The entree we picked was the gai hor bai teuy ($6.20 for 4 pieces). They are fried marinated chicken wrapped in pandan leaves, which wasn't quite I imagined it to be. Think Cantonese style glutinous rice wrapped in pandan leaves, that is what I thought it'd be. However, this was a good pick. The chicken was so well marinated - no dryness in the meat, juice flowing out with each bite you take.. Hahaha, I reckon calling it juice is very adequate because it's not sauce and it's flowing out of the chicken! You can actually eat the pandan leave if you like. I've tried both - the first try without the leave, the second piece with the leave on. I prefer the chicken without the leave though, just because barbecued leaves are a tad difficult to tear/bite apart. 

Because of my slight obsession with boat noodles, we had to order the pork kuay teaw rua ($4.90 for small bowl).  It is a traditional rice noodle soup in brown both - the broth contains cinnamon, star anise and occasionally pork blood. There are meatballs, vegetables and pork lard in this boat noodle soup, which is awesome. For $4.90, I can't really complain about anything except that it was way too spicy for me. I could sense the flavours in the soup broth, which was really fragrant, but I could hardly taste much of it. That was a major disappointment, but I would recommend it if you could go past the spice level. 

Another challenge was posed. Being huge fans of pad prik khing, we needed to try Yok Yor's version to see if this could fight against our favourite at Satang Thai. Pad prik khing ($14.50) - which was pork belly tossed in red curry paste, green bean and lime leaves. We have had PPKs in other Thai restaurants, some do it well but was served with raw green beans while some were way too spicy. This was it. Yok Yor's PPK was way too spicy that even K couldn't take more! We packed the remainder home and tried to cook it with heaps of sugar, but that didn't help at all. So, try it at your own risk! Otherwise, I remember the green beans were cooked and the pork belly was crisp. Nothing to fuss about except that I can't even rate it because I couldn't taste it at all. 

We made a right decision in ordering their goong ob woonsend ($14.50), which was glass noodles tossed in soy sauce with braised king prawn in a hot pot. This was absolutely delicious, given that we had some major trauma done to our taste buds in the previous dishes. Having said that, the glass noodles were a tad too soggy and wet that they stick together, so they end up in clumps. Otherwise, the wok taste is sufficient and it was flavourful (finally something we can taste well!). The prawns were a little tough but still juicy though. Not a must-try, but I reckon it's worth trying!

By the end of our spicy trauma, we needed a really light dessert to comfort our taste buds so we decided on their Thai tea ice cream with sweet potato ($5.90). This ice cream is made from Thai milk tea, which was truly comforting on my raging tummies. It was light, not to sweet, which was exactly like how their Thai milk tea tastes like! The addition of sweet potato was a tad weird to me, but it creates a slight crunchy texture to the ice cream which is a nice touch. It's like having bubble tea with pearls ;) 

Home Cafe (Chinatown), Sydney

Happy August, everyone! August is a month of celebration for me because my birthday falls in this month (yay to good food!) and so are the birthdays of my sister A and my brother E (psst, we share the same birthday). I'm hoping this month will be filled with more happiness and less worries and gloominess.

Anyway, back to the review!

When renovations were going on last year, we got excited when they spotted the Home Thai logo on the outer wall! You know, the one with yellow diamond and the word "home" in it. We got excited because 1) it was something familiar, 2) it should most likely be a place with heaps of good food and 3) could it be something different from the usual Home Thai restaurants?

So finally, we managed to bring ourselves to Home Cafe after feeling really hungry and not knowing what to eat. It was no doubt that they were managed by the same group/owners, given the menu, the food and of course, the name. Home Cafe is a two-level restaurant, with an interesting concept to it. They have the rustic sort of furnishing which I love, so it felt really cosy and chill. We were then given the menu, which were essentially the same stuff offered by Home Thai restaurants - we were kinda disappointed.

We had lunch at around slightly after 3, so it wasn't crowded at all. Though we were disapopinted with the menu, we went ahead with our order because we were just so hungry and it didn't take too long for our thai milk tea and thai iced coffee to be served.

We ordered two mains and one entree to share! Sorry this photo is a little warped, I reckon I was trying out the panorama function on my phone :/

For entree, we ordered the duck spring roll ($9.90 for 6 pieces), which was roast duck wrapped with pickled cucumber, pickled carrots, cabbage, coriander, sweet basil and mint and they were served with black bean sauce. 

I remember seeing this on the menu at Home Thai Sussex St, but never got the chance to order it because everything else looked better. The duck rolls were refreshing with the inclusion of mint, but otherwise this was slightly disappointing. It was a tad dry and it would score so much better if they added the black bean sauce in the roll instead, rather than smearing it across the plate. 

One of the mains we had was pad thai woon sen ($9.90) - wok tossed vermicelli with soft tofu, egg, pickled radish, garlic chives, bean sprouts, chilli powder, tamarind sauce, palm sugar and fish sauce. I chose the option to have vegetables since we ordered a duck roll and beef curry. I eat very little spice and this killed way too much taste buds than I ever liked. I didn't think it was this spicy when I ordered it, but I can't fault them either. I should have placed a special order for one without chilli powder, my bad. But otherwise, it wasn't too bad a dish if not for the spiciness. Even K who take spicy food pretty well couldn't take it either. So, the both of us can't really say much about this noodles at all. 

The other main we shared was Masamun beef curry with rice ($13.90) - slow cooked beef with Masamun curry paste, coconut milk, tomato, onions, peanuts, topped with fried onions. We had this a couple of times at the main Home Thai branch, so you can say it is a safe choice. The curry is sweet with a tingling spiciness in it, which isn't too overwhelming for me. Despite the small portion, we had difficulty finishing it since we ordered too much food again, but this curry was the best decision in our meal. 

I honestly didn't think the menu will be same for this cafe-style Home Thai. I've read a little about it on Urbanspoon and it seems like they do coffees pretty well. Apparently, they have a wine bar concept coming up, so I'll be sure to wait for that to happen before I visit Home Thai again. 

Home Café (Wine Bar) (website/urbanspoon)

Corner Liverpool Street and Dixon Lane
Sydney NSW 2000

Lee La Thai Restaurant, Sydney

I am guessing Lee La Thai Restaurant is a new kid in town. I've seen that spot change hands many times, from sushi place, to korean, to now Lee La Thai. We've walked past a couple of times; there was once I spotted 15% off dinner which sounds pretty enticing. Not knowing where to head for lunch one day, we decided to drop by Lee La Thai to have a look at the menu and alas, we caved in. They were having weekday lunch menu going for $8 (chicken, pork or beef) and $10 (seafood), but the funny thing was that we went on a Saturday. Nevertheless, Lee La Thai serves pretty good Thai food! I would totally head back when I'm having Thai food cravings.

I don't think there's anything in particular I would recommend because we didn't have exotic dishes, but here's an overview of what we had.

On my first visit, some spring rolls as entree. It came the last and was piping hot, so I'm guessing they made it on the spot.

Also, some roasted pork with rice. 

Pad see ew, which was delicious but also average. 

Pad woon sen, which was nice except that the chicken pieces were really dry on the inside. 

On my second visit, 

I ordered a serve of pork blood noodle soup! I'm an extreme fan of it, not that I love pork blood, but I like the intensity of flavours within the soup. Of course, whenever I think about the blood within the soup broth, I get these shivers down my spine. But heck, just don't think about it!

We also had lad nah crispy noodle ($8.90), which wasn't what I expected. There wasn't enough of the gravy to go around and the dish looks really sad. If only there were a bit more colours, like with carrots and onions.. Maybe for this price, I shouldn't really complain at all. 

Pad thai which didn't quite look like pad thai. 

We always enjoyed our meals at Lee La Thai Restaurant because finally, there isn't the expensive price tag to Thai food in the city! Yay :D Although the dishes don't look appetizing and one of the wait staff was kinda pushy and really curious (she seems to be always listening in our conversations), you can't quite go wrong with the price for authentic Thai food. Thumbs up and will return :) 

Lee La Thai Restaurant

Shop 2, 86 Liverpool Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Opening hours: Mon-Sun 11am-11pm. 

Senyai (Thai Restaurant), Sydney

When it comes to having authentic Thai food in Sydney, there are heaps of options around. On the side of Pitt Street closer to Central Station, you'll find many Thai restaurants, even an indoor market named "Chatuchak" aka JJ Markets. Chatuchak is a street market found in Bangkok and it's interesting how they brought that concept into a shop space. Unfortunately, things in there aren't as cheap as what the original Chatuchak offers.

Senyai is a Thai restaurant that isn't on the usual Pitt Street in the city. It's found in Regent Place, which is a little shopping centre filled with gems (retail, food and even services). The spot where Senyai is sitting right now was empty for the longest time. When we saw that renovations were going on last year, we were pretty excited, especially how it was so retro looking with wooden windows and tables!

They served water in these tiny metal cups with handles. #oldschool

We also ordered a cup of Thai milk tea ($4) because it's an extremely handy measure to whether we would visit the restaurant again. The verdict is.. Meh, we had better ones. The tea was just full of sweetness, which is usual for Thai milk tea, but too much milk makes a bland tea taste. So basically, we were just taking in heaps of sugar.. too much sugar.

Their BBQ chicken ($16) sounded really promising - char grilled marinated chicken with Thai herbs and spices served with tamarind sauce mixed salad. Sounds really yummy? Sadly, not. The chicken was really dry on the inside and there wasn't much marinate to taste.

The tamarind sauce did save the chicken a little, just because the chicken was way too dry. The char-grilled skin wasn't impressive as well. And a few pieces of lettuce and there you have it, the mixed salad. We were disappointed. 

You probably can't go wrong with pad thai ($16), so we picked that as well. The serving was small and there wasn't much flavour in it ie it was bland. I've never had pad thai that made me felt so sad before. #achievementunlocked. 

And the plates that they served were all slightly chipped, it can be a health hazard isn't it? I guess most restaurants would continue to serve using chipped bowls and plates to save costs, but they probably should keep those that are only chipped at the bottom rather than the sides. 

On a separate menu, we had their pork noodle soup, which was essentially vermicelli in a soup broth containing pork blood. I'm not exactly hooked onto having this dish but I always feel this urge to order it each time I spot them on the menu. For the price that we paid this for (I think it was around $5 or $6), I would think this is pretty worth. I saw many patrons having this, so I guess it's a favourite among everyone. 

The broth was really thick, but there wasn't enough noodles in it. The pork crackles were crisp and yummy when soaked into the both, but I'm starting to think I can do without it.

Also on the separate specials menu, we ordered a pork dish which I can't remember the name of it now. But I remember we weren't particularly impressed, so it was a #wrongdecision made again. The skin of the meat was so thick and the portion was really tiny. I recall it's about $16-$18, which is pricey.. 

Overall, our experience at Senyai was okay, but we probably won't return even though we live so close to it. I believe our pennies will be better spent elsewhere.

Senyai (website/urbanspoon review)

486 Kent Street
Sydney, NSW 2000

Thanon Khaosan, Haymarket

Tucked away on a relatively quiet but busy Pitt Street, this new kid is comparable to the bigger ones around the area. On the outside of the restaurant, you were welcomed by the desserts that they offer, somewhat like pushcart style and it instantly brings you into the atmosphere of Thailand (or particularly Bangkok since I've been there before). Metal tins, metal pushcarts with all sorts of sticky rice, coconut desserts on display, the ambience really sets you back.

This restaurant is a relatively small one with about 50 seatings maybe? What caught most people was the tuk-tuk (or rickshaw) at the front of the restaurant. I really like how they set up the restaurant, from the decor to the furniture, except for the dark lighting which made photos a little too dull.

As with most (perhaps all?) Thai restaurants, technology is fully utilized for writing down our orders. The waitress got our order on the iPhone, while other restaurants use an iPad (not that it really bothers me which gadget or method they use to take down orders). Daily specials and desserts are written on the blackboard to the right of the restaurant, very old-school and different from the other Thai restaurants. Watch out for the blackboard to catch the specials, anyway!

Char Nom Yen - Thai milk tea ($3.90). The tea was a little too sweet, but this is exactly the characteristic of Thai milk teas. At this price of $3.90, you can't really find such a sweet deal elsewhere and you won't be able to go wrong with this.

Char Nom Yen ($3.90)

We had just one entrée - Tod Man Goong - Minced prawns marinated in Thai herbs & white pepper, deep fried & served with plum sauce ($8.90 for 4 pieces). The prawn cakes were crisp on the outside, steaming on the inside and the plum sauce was delish! I reckon the plum sauce goes well with any fried food, so the combination was perfect!

Tod Man Goong ($8.90)

Our must-order dish in every Thai restaurant is not Pad Thai, Pad See Ew or Pad Kee Mao, it is Pad Prik Khing (or Pad Pik Khing). It is crispy pork belly with the pad prik khing curry paste, served with some greens on the side. We couldn't figure which on the menu is the one we wanted because Pad Prik Khing seem to be the curry paste sauce without the pork belly. So we asked the waitress and ordered the dish we wanted.

Ka Na Moo Krob with Pad Prik Khing - Crispy pork belly stir fried with Chinese broccoli and fresh chili ($14.90). One thing I look out for in this dish is the accompanying greens. I realised some Thai restaurants don't cook their greens well and they are served semi-cooked (ie. hard). I don't particularly enjoy my greens when they are not well cooked but I wouldn't mark the dish down because of their poorly done greens.

The greens in this dish were cooked, but the pork belly was not as fantastic. The crisp in the fried skin was a little soggy because of the sauce, but nonetheless it was a good dish. It was slightly too spicy for me, but I reckon this "mild" spiciness shouldn't be too difficult to handle (we finished the dish!).

Ka Na Moo Krob with Pad Prik Khing ($14.90)

Ped Nam Buoy - Roasted duck served with stir fried shitake mushroom ($25.90). A slightly more expensive dish in the restaurant. We just had to give this a try because of the shitake mushrooms (major cravings for mushrooms!), and of course, the duck. We usually only have roasted duck in Cantonese Asian restaurants, but in a Thai restaurant - this is a first. Lucky for us, it was a good decision. The duck was a little tough and they came in huge chunks, but the sauce for it was really yummy! It's similar to the plum sauce with the entrée but a lot thicker and sweeter. The mushrooms were really juicy and the greens, well, just greens. Just beware that the duck was a little tough, there was much difficulty cutting it into smaller pieces, perhaps wasn't defrosted in time? Nevertheless, will have it again! 

Will definitely be back!! 

Thanon Khaosan

413 Pitt Street

Haymarket NSW 2000
Website

Chat Thai

Been there, done that thrice!
22 April 2010. 05 June 2010. 27 July 2010.

Chat Thai Haymarket
20 Campbell Street
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Australia

Tucked away from the main busy road, Chat Thai is definitely within walking distance from Central Station. It's just across Capitol Square, with a Thai grocer next to it if anyone has cravings for Thai snacks.

Definitely one place I'll bring my friends to if they visit. My secondary school (aka high school in OZ) friend brought two of us there, raving about the really awesome Thai cuisine this restaurant has. Apart from the usual Thai lunches I often do at Newtown last year, I haven't really had Thai food anywhere outside of Newtown. But I must say, I'll definitely go to Chat Thai if I ever need a Thai fix :D (The following photos aren't in sequence of the dates that I've been to Chat Thai, they're in order of deco of the restaurant, the main dishes and desserts!). The entire restaurant had a rustic feel, with stone walls, high ceilings and dim lights. Pardon the photos, some are taken under really dim conditions.

The logo on the menu, but I have no idea what it reads. It could be the restaurant's name in Thai language, maybe? I might check with my friend who's doing Thai in uni! :)

This was the first main on my first visit. It was spicy chicken dish, and I was super apprehensive about trying because I can't take spicy food. It's sad that I can't, because I know I'm missing out on heaps of yummy dishes and cuisines around, but I'll keep trying anyway! I remembered this chicken was really spicy, I had to dunk down like two cups of water (the cups are really mini though). But it was still good, tender and yums!

This was beef curry with potatoes. It wasn't too spicy, or at least something that my tongue can take. But the beef was a little too tough that we didn't bother finishing the dish because it got really tiring. It's like, chewing and chewing but it never breaks. Maybe it was too rich in collagen, haha, but we just left it anyway.

I had this dish twice out of my three visits, need I say more? I remember it's called emerald duck, healthy greens with tender duck meat. We cleared the plate each time!

Thai spring rolls, which I'm craving for right now.

I can't make out what are the stuffings, but there're chicken, crabmeat and green onions. It had this special sauce that drips each bite you take. I know, I'm totally salivating now :(

Green curry, it's like what most will order when they go to a Thai restaurant. The aroma was really strong, just a little too spicy for me. It was chicken with some green peas (but not the green peas that I know of -- I really couldn't make out what they are), the usual green curry that my friend really liked.

Of course, we also had tom yum soup, definitely authentic Thai cuisine. It didn't come in the usual soup bowl though, so it was more meat than soup. If I remembered correctly, it was pork meat. Definitely sour, definitely spicy but it was really appetizing!

Now, the desserts. On my first visit, my high school friend really wanted the sticky rice so badly that we ordered two different toppings -- mango and durian! I guess the sticky rice was the same, but the mango had a really strong smell and we must be lucky because it was the season for mangoes!

As for the durian sticky rice, I wished it was chilled though. The durian smell was really strong, and it totally cured me of my durian craving. Been missing the durian season and it's just so hard (and expensive) to buy durians in Sydney. The ones they've got at the Asian supermarket, Tong Li, they're frozen ones, all wrapped up and placed in the freezer. They looked miserable. So I was really insistent on having the durian sticky rice as well, it was good albeit chilled would be better!

The second time I went, we only wanted mango sticky rice but mangoes were out of season, sigh. Some people can't take the stench of durian, so take note of the mango season if you ever visit Chat Thai!

The other dessert we ordered on my 2nd visit was three flavoured dumplings. We deduced that it was coconut, pandan and taro and the base was coconut milk. I never really fancy coconut, but this dessert was warm and glad we had it during winter!

There were hidden pieces of coconut strips too!

Conclusion: Definitely a must visit even though not many people would wanna have Thai cuisine in Australia, I know it's kinda ironic. The service wasn't really awesome, probably because the restaurant is always packed and there's always a line. It gets pretty noisy after a while, and you might be prompted by the staff if you wanna order more food (that's a hint that there's a line). But good food made it up! They have fried desserts as well, which I haven't gotten a chance to try but I'll sure do when I go by again. I would definitely go into City just for this Thai restaurant.

Disclaimer: The photos were taken using three different cameras on the three different visit. Pardon the lightings, as always. Wouldn't be doing any more bling ratings, don't think it's being fair, but I'll definitely be very neutral in my opinions and hope y'all are enjoying have an eye treat! Comment if you like! x