Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Sydney Sojourne: Home Thai Restaurant

A number of years ago, we did a cooking class in Vietnam. One of the most eye-opening things, for me, was steaming our own rice sheets, made from a batter of soaked and blended white rice, which we then sliced up into rice noodles for phở.

At the Home Thai Restaurant in Sydney, this same method is used to make wrappers for dumplings and fresh rolls. You can watch the chefs at work through the big front window while you wait in the queue outside.

Making fresh rice flour wrappers.

Don't forget to leave your name and take a number, or you could be looking at the open kitchen for a long time!

Paper-based queuing system.

Although I was not terribly hungry, I made sure to order a noodle roll entree called keuw tiew lod, a vegetarian dish filled with bean sprouts, hard tofu, shiitake mushrooms and garlic chives. There was a picture of it on the menu with a blue wrapper, so I asked for the same. Although there was no mention of the blue option in the menu, I worked out afterwards that they would have added an extract of the butterfly pea flower. Despite the vibrant colouring, I don't think there was any flavour difference from the white version—it was just a beautful fresh rice noodle roll with some tasty accompaniments.

Keuw tiew lod.

One of the dishes that we use for benchmarking Thai food is the pad thai. This one did not disappoint, with great presentation and flavour. I've never been even remotely tempted to stir in the white sugar, but chopped peanuts do add a nice fragrance and crunch.

Pad thai.

Unfortunately (or fortunately for my waistline), they did not have their pumpkin custard special dessert available, so I made my way to the counter to pay, taking another good look at the kitchen activities long the way. (FYI: there's a 2 AUD surcharge for paying by credit card.)

Another view of the bustling open kitchen.

Home Thai doesn't really remind me of home - we have never gone to the effort of steaming our own rice wrappers. It is, however, a popular little restaurant for good reason, and I would love to return for more.

Queue outside Home.

Restaurant Details

Home Thai Restaurant
Shop 1 - 2, 299 Sussex Street, Sydney, Australia
+61 (0)2 9261 5058

Opening hours:
Mondays to Sundays 11am - 11pm

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Auckland Diner's Diary: August 2015

Central City Eats


City Fringe Openings


International Flavours


Beautiful Baking


Asian Cakes and Tea


Coming


Events

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