Home, Thai restaurant, Sydney

Sydney is overflowing with Thai restaurants. Almost every suburb would have a local Thai restaurant. Most of these restaurants make use of name puns. But one place took a more simple approach and named itself "Home".

Home is a Thai restaurant located on Sussex Street (right across the cinema car park), Sydney.  The setting is casual and contemporary. Speaking about being contemporary, the wait staff here takes your order using an iPad. So cool right?

Home serves good value and authentic Thai cuisine. Maybe the reason behind the name is to give reference to the dishes and drinks. Staying true to how they are prepared back "home", in Thailand.

Here are some dishes that I have tried so far:

Sai Groog Isan

The sai groog isan ($11.50) is a homemade Thai sausage. It is very garlicky and a little bit peppery in taste.

Chicken Pad Thai

The chicken Pad Thai ($11.90) is something I often order at Thai restaurants. This is one of my favourite versions of this classic Thai dish.

Pad pik khing 

If you love pork and don't mind a spicy dish, then try the Pad pik khing ($14.90). This is my absolute favourite Home dish! It is stir-fried crispy pork belly with chili, lime leaf, green bean and pik khing sauce. The pik khing (also known as prik khing - chilli pepper & ginger curry paste) sauce has a very mild spicy hit and is slightly sweet. To some taste buds, the curry paste/sauce could be too spicy. It's the crispiness of the pork crackling and combination of the curry paste that makes this dish sublime and standout.

Gang Dang Ped

The gang dang ped ($13.50) - roast duck curry is for the lovers of spicy red curry. The duck is well cooked and the milky red curry is superb.

Thai iced tea (Iced milk tea, Thai-style)

You cannot go wrong with authentic Thai dishes that are nicely priced and very pleasing to the taste buds. My Home Thai experience was very yummy for my tummy! How's yours?

Home Thai

2/299-305 Sussex Street

Sydney NSW 2000

(02) 9261 5058

www.homethai.com.au

Operating hours:

Lunch: 11:00am to 5:00pm

Dinner: 5:00pm to 10:30pm

Holy Basil - Laos and Thai Cuisine

"Holy awesome Laotian/Thai food Batman! Holy Basil food, sure is good!" is what Robin would have told the Dark Knight if a Holy Basil restaurant existed in Gotham City. Luckily for the citizens of Western Sydney, Holy Basil does exist! In the busy strip of Canley Vale Road, Canley Heights.

I've been hearing and reading about this place from a lot of food blogs in the last few months. The fried ice cream here is amongst the most popular dishes ordered. Mrs Ramen Raff and I thought to ourselves, "Hey, let's check this place out!” so, we did visit Holy Basil, two weeks in a row!

The first visit was pretty awesome. It was lunchtime on our rostered day off work and there was no queue (Note that this joint does get packed and a queue eventually builds up). The decor was contemporary with a Southeast Asian (Laos/Thai) type theme. We sat down and having reviewed the menu days ahead, we knew what we wanted. We ordered marinated quails, red duck curry and the black harbour.

Red curry roast duck

The red curry roast duck ($17.90) had a generous serving of succulent pieces of roast duck meat. We picked medium spicy for the red curry sauce (a choice of mild, medium and hot was offered). We still found medium to be on the mild side but the sauce was overall very good.

Marinated quail

The marinated quails ($10) are amazing crispy fried pieces of joy. The skin was so crispy and the spicy dipping sauce that it came with takes the dish to another level of awesomeness. The quail doesn't have to be dipped in the sauce, as the fried quail is good on its own.

Black harbour

 The black harbour ($13.90) was an excellent dessert to end our lunch with. The vanilla ice cream with sweetened sticky black rice are partners in crime guilty of being dangerously delicious.

Lychee drink

We decided to visit Holy Basil once more on Sunday lunchtime to try the masaman beef and fried ice cream.

Beef masaman curry

The beef Masaman curry ($16.90) was as good as I expected it to be. The twist of using tamarind separates this from the usual Thai version. Same thick consistency but the taste is a bit lighter. The beef was so tender that it was effortless to pull it apart.

Fried ice cream

The fried ice cream ($13.90) is the "amazesome" item at Holy Basil in my opinion. The best fried ice cream I’ve ever had. The filo pastry & ice cream tastes like sweetened butter caramel popcorn!

Holy Basil now has a branch in the CBD inside the Shark Hotel on Liverpool Street, Sydney. I really want to go back soon even just for the fried ice cream. I found a new “happy place” in Holy Basil. Our lunch at Holy Basil was yummy for our tummies! How's yours?

Holy Basil – Canley Heights 233A Canley Vale Rd Canley Heights NSW 2166 Phone: 9727 7585 www.holybasil.com.au Lunch 12pm to 3pm Dinner 5pm to 10pm Sun- Wed 5pm-11pm Thu-Sat

Hi Thai - Sydney Olympic Park

Where does a hungry Shinobi go for lunch in Sydney Olympic Park? A hungry Shinobi goes to Hi Thai of course!

Raff as Kakashi

If y'all are wondering who that hungry Ninja is, it is none other than your friendly food blogger Ramen Raff! A few weeks ago, my Shinobi friends Ichigo Jay, Naruto Neil and I went to Sydney's Supanova 2011 event. It’s an annual event dedicated to Japanese anime, comic books, sci-fi, and video games.  

Team Sailor Moon



Catwoman and Kakashi



Kakashi and Bruce Lee

Naruto and Kakashi

I decided to rock up as my favourite Japanese anime character, Kakashi Hatake (from the Naruto manga). The event was full of dedicated Cosplayers like myself. I was in my element and had my "geek on!". I even felt like a celebrity. Every few minutes, someone would stop this Shinobi to take a photo with me.  As awesome as the event was, there comes a time when a Ninja gets hungry. So, we decided to leave Supanova for a while and go to Hi Thai  for lunch. It  is across the Olympic Park Station  located within the strip of restaurants and cafes. Hi Thai had a modern and laid back feel to it. Perfect for casual dining.

Prawn roll

Pad Thai

Roast duck curry

Roast duck curry was my favourite Thai curry dish and Hi Thai cooks it just the way I like it. A thick red curry consistency with a bit of bite to it's spiciness. I love the combination of red creamy curry, roast duck and lychee. 

Fried ice cream

I ended lunch with a huge serving of deep fried ice cream. I said huge because it's a bigger serving than what I'm used to. It wasn't just big in size, but it also tasted nice. It was crunchy on the outside with vanilla ice cream goodness inside. After eating the fried ice cream, I was a satisfied and full Ninja.

If you are after good casual Thai dining around the Sydney Olympic Park area, check out Hi Thai. My lunch at Hi Thai was very yummy for my tummy! How's yours?  

Hi Thai

6 Dawn Fraser Avenue

Sydney Olympic Park NSW 2127

(02) 9764 3888

Monday to Friday: 9am-9pm
Weekends: 11am-9pm