Thatcher's Gourmet Popcorn

Update Review, March 2023

It had been many years since I last had Thatcher's popcorn, a SF brand (although now only virtual, they closed their stores during Covid).  When I last had it, I appreciated the quality of the popcorn, large, fluffy, well popped kernels, but didn't find the flavors all that compelling.  However, when someone brought some giant party bags into my office ... of course I couldn't resist a re-visit!

I tried both flavors available, both savory ones, and my overall review is the same: great quality popcorn, flavors aren't amazing though.

Parmesan & Herbs.

"Take this combination: air popped popcorn, parmesan cheese, garlic, Italian herbs and corn oil. A la italiano upscale flavor!!!"

The parmesan & herb I had tried before, and found fairly subtle and boring then.

My impression this time was more favorable - I did detect the cheese and herbs reasonably well.  The pieces were well coated, and I again really loved the large size kernels.  A nice savory popcorn that didn't feel too decadent, didn't leave you with cheese laden fingers, and had a nice herb mix.  Still a touch boring, but well made, and nice for something light.  ***+.

White Cheddar Cheese.

"This is so Cheddary and flavorful it's hard to believe it's healthy! Try eating only one of these! "

Next I moved on to another cheesy option, classic white cheddar.  These pieces had a stronger cheese element, stronger flavor overall.  Fairly one note, just, cheddar, but if you are in the mood for cheesy, but not overly heavy, popcorn, this was another well made flavor.  I liked it less than the more interesting parmesan & herbs though.  ***.

They also make a white cheddar with truffle that could be more interesting, and a bright orange cheddar version as well.

Original Review, September 2019

Another day, another snack food manufacturer to try, featuring one of my favorites: popcorn.

Thatcher's Gourmet Popcorn is actually local to me, based in San Francisco.  It is a cute success story, a local business that started in 1983, did well, and fairly quickly expanded into having multiple shops and a warehouse.  Now, they are an international distributor of popcorn.

"Thatcher's Gourmet Popcorn is made the old-fashioned way, using small batches to ensure optimum coating for each and every kernel."

I was drawn in by the flavor ranges, like many companies in this space, they feature both sweet and savory.  I won't enumerate them all, but in addition to the classics, there are interesting savory flavors like Sriracha, Jalapeno, and White Cheddar Flavor, and fun sweet creations like Birthday Cake, Cinnamon Toast, and Tiramisu.

I was able to try one sweet and one savory.  Neither flavor actually was all that successful, but, I think the popcorn itself was really well made.

Uni-Korn.

"This new and spectacular flavor blends blueberry, vanilla, blackberry and strawberry to create a fruity flavor that's out of this world."

I went for the flashiest, most decadent, most Insta-worthy flavor of all: Uni-Korn.

It promised 4 fruity flavors (ok, 3 fruity flavors plus vanilla), but, um ... what it was was just extreme sweet.  I know I picked a sweet one but this was ... something else.

To give the positive points though, the kernels were large, fresh, well popped, and extremely well coated.  The popcorn element was good.

Uni-Korn: Close Up.

At first glance, it looked like only a trio of colors (pink, white, blue), but it turned out to be all 4 as described, with two shades of pink.

If I had to guess to match colors, the white was vanilla, the blue was blueberry, the darker pink blackberry, and the lighter pink strawberry?  But honestly, it doesn't matter, as the flavors were not distinct.

It just tasted like sugar.  Too much sugar.  I love sweet but this was ... just not interesting, and honestly, I didn't taste any distinct flavors, no matter how many pieces I had (and yes, I kept trying to like it, on multiple days, but ... it just really wasn't distinct, and was so very cloyingly sweet!)

Parmesan & Herbs.

"Excellent Parmesan cheese taste mixed with herbs will deliver the best savory taste!"

Next I went savory.  A cheesy version, but rather than the more common cheddar, this was parmesan.  With herbs.

The popcorn kernels again had a great pedigree.  Large, well popped, uh, fluffy, if that is a thing.  They were reasonably well coated with the powdered parmesan and some visible flecks of herbs.

The flavor was not very intense though - not particularly cheesy, not particularly herby.  Subtle.  A lighter styles popcorn, fine, but not particularly compelling.  But again, well made popcorn itself.

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Pie Tin, Newtown

Update Review, March 2023

Pi Day.  One of the most glorious days of the year in my mind.  And this year, I happened to be in Sydney for Pi Day.  I'll admit I was a bit sad about this - in the US, my office always goes all out, with savory pies and sweet pies galore, and I always treat my team to something too.  This year, I was at the whim of my Australian colleagues.

The good news?  One of them ordered from Pie Tin in Newtown, where I'd visited many years ago (for both savory and sweet pies), and ... they had extra.  I didn't take a photo of the whole pies as there was a crowd, but I at least grabbed a shot of my kinda mushed plate.  This was my first Pie Tin pie in 8 years!

I really enjoyed my pies, and I'll gladly go back to Pie Tin another time, this was far more successful than my previous visit.

Pie Carnage: Cherry Pie and Chocolate, Strawberry, & Cream Pie.

Cherry Pie

"Traditional American Style cherry pie baked in a sweetened pastry."

I honestly thought that my co-workers kept misspeaking when they talked about the cherry pie.  The deep, dark blue color, and small size of the fruit, certainly looked like *blueberry* to me, and I know Pie Tin makes a blueberry pie.  But after multiple people referred to it as cherry, I got curious.  I'll admit, that for a moment, I even wondered if in Australia just had a different word for blueberries, that happened to be a common other word for Americans ("cherry"), and I somehow hadn't noticed before (like pumpkin ...).

But one bite in, and I was sure they were correct.  Ok, this *was* cherry pie, just totally unlike any cherry pie I had seen, or had, before (even though dubbed "American style" on the menu).

The pie was a double crust pie, full crust on top.  The crust was fine, not particularly amazing, but far better than generic.  Reasonably sweet and buttery.  The filling was, well, cherries.  Small cherries.  Super dark cherries.  But, yup, cherries.  There was some fruit goo too, but nothing like what I think of as "American style" cherry pie, with the cloying sweet very red cherry pie filling from a can.  It tasted like ... cherries.  Not too sweet, no odd spicing.  

Overall, a perfectly good cherry pie, even if with every bite my eyes said "blueberry!".  Best warm and a la mode of course.  ***+.

Chocolate, Strawberry & Cream Pie:  

"Maple soaked strawberries baked in soft centered Belgian chocolate brownie topped with sweetened cream and strawberries".

Next up, the chocolate, strawberry, & cream pie.

This was really, really good.  The crust was thick, crumbly, and sweet, a pressed crumb style.  Above that was a soft chocolate layer, and a thin fruity gel layer, and then the fresh whipped cream and berries.  

The layers all worked in harmony.  The fruity elements and chocolate didn't conflict, and managed to accent each other even more.  There was great texture from the crust, softness from the chocolate layer, creaminess from the whipped cream.  It ate well, and even though it was pretty decadent, I couldn't stop eating it. 

A true joy, and I'd gladly get it again.

****+.

Original review, March 2015

Pies, glorious pies.

In Australia, pie isn't just for dessert.  And no, they don't break the "rules", rather, savory pies are a thing.  In fact, they are more common that sweet pies.  For the uninitiated, savory pies are like individual pot pies, with all sorts of fillings.  They are sold all over the place, generally as a fast food-like item, and even grocery stores are loaded with them, fresh or frozen.  Traditionally they are served topped with mashed potatoes, mushy peas, and gravy, and folks tend to add tomato sauce (ketchup) too.

While I don't necessarily care for most savory pie fillings, I do love flaky pie crust, so I'm generally game to check out a pie place if others are so inclined.  Particularly when the pie place is not only known for their savory pies, but also for their sweet pie selection.  You know me and desserts.  I'll "suffer" through any main course to get to dessert at the end!

So when a couple co-workers joined us in Sydney, on their very first night, we made a voyage all the way to Newtown, to a pie place I had read about: Pie Tin.  Pie Tin carries about 25 types of savory pie and more than 30 sweet pies.  ZOMG.

Sadly, I think we liked the savory pies more than the sweet ones, but I think that was largely due to the choices available that day.  I won't venture back to Newtown just to get more pie, but if I was in the area, I'd certainly swing back in.

Communal Table.

Pie Tin is not a fancy place.  Most seating is at a large communal table in the center of the room.  There are a few small tables on the side as well.  Silverware (sporks!), water, and condiments are self-service.  Orders are taken at a register, you are given a number, and a few minutes later your number is called, and you must get up to fetch it.  Pies are served on metal plates.  Not fancy, but who needs fancy for pies?

Savory Pies.

The savory pies are all displayed in a case near the register, and are then warmed up once you order.

The pies available change daily, an on our visit, for savories, we had the choice of classic beef mince,  slow roasted smokey beef brisket & mushrooms, slow roasted southern style shredded pork with apple and bbq sauce, chunky steak and stout, chermoula mutton with eggplant and red capsicum, butter chicken with green beans, sweet roasted duck with cointreau and maple flavoured syrup, and even two vegetarian selections, cauliflower & zucchini with cheesy white sauce or lentil with sundried tomato pesto.  There was also a lamb roll with spinach and pine nuts and vegetarian roll.

Individual pies are $5.90 - $8.90, or available as a meal for $11.50 - $14.50, with up to two sides.  The sides to pick from are classic mash and gravy, mushy peas, chips, baked beans, coleslaw, potato salad, leaf salad, and greek salad.  For an extra $1, you could pick sweet potato fries.

After ordering, we were given a number, and went to take a seat.

Sweet Pies.

Of course, I stopped to admire the sweet pies.  I was actually a bit disappointed, as I had read the menu online in advance, and even though I knew they wouldn't have all 30 varieties listed, I hoped some of my top picks would be there.  Alas, no brown butter pecan, pumpkin, apple and mixed berry, lemon brûlée, passionfruit cream pie, mixed nut and caramel, or, the one I really wanted, banoffee, were available.  In fact, all were in tart shells, rather than flaky pie crusts, and most had chocolate crumb crusts.

The selection was almost all chocolate based, and since Ojan and I try to avoid chocolate in the evenings, this was a bit unfortunate.  The only non-chocolate choices were coconut cream (which Ojan doesn't like) or whipped lime (which I don't like), so, we knew there would have to be chocolate involved, if we wanted sweet pie, and, obviously, we did.

The pies were all a sight to behold, and I'm glad we had time while waiting for our savory pies for me to drool over the sweet pies.  If I had visited just for sweet pies, I would have been an annoying person standing there gaping rather than ordering.  This gave me plenty of time to select.  And then change my mind.  And select again :)

Many of the pies were candy inspired such as Snicker's, Mars bar, or Maltesers pies.  Others were cookie inspired, such as Oreo or Tim Tam.  Others were just pure decadence, like the chocolate peanut butter, gooey caramel & chocolate ganache, ‘noelines’ triple chocolate, maple soaked strawberries with belgian chocolate, and baked banana & belgian chocolate.

The blackforest meringue pie was the most eye-catching, with a layer of meringue that was about 3 times taller than the pie itself.

Slices range from $7.90 - $10.90, with a dollop of cream for an extra $0.50 or scoop of ice cream for $1.

Slow Roasted Southern Style Shredded Pork with Apple & BBQ Sauce, Mushy Peas with Gravy, Coleslaw. ~12.50.

Ojan and I decided to split a meal, since we knew we wanted room for sweet pies.  I let Ojan pick the pie flavor, since I didn't care much about the savory.  He went for the pulled pork.

The pie was served nice and hot.  I'm impressed with how well heated it was, given that it didn't take long.  There was a generous amount of pulled pork inside, slathered in a not too sweet bbq-style sauce, and ... slices of apple.  The apple was a bit strange, but I liked it, as the slices were tender and warm, and with the crust, it was almost like eating apple pie.  Which really is what I wanted anyway.   The crust was quite good.  It was thick, flaky, and buttery.  Ojan wasn't into the crust, and I wasn't into the filling, so we made a good team.

For sides, I really wanted the coleslaw, since I love slaw.  Ojan thought it didn't look very good, but I insisted, and I'm glad I did.  It was creamy, super flavorful, and crunchy.  Sure, perhaps a bit overdressed, it certainly wasn't healthy, but come on, we were there eating pies for all courses, healthy was given up long ago.  I did notice that many patrons ordered the simple green leaf salad, perhaps a wiser choice.

Ojan picked the mushy peas.  I didn't like them, as they reminded me of split peas.  He really liked them though.  The gravy was tasty on top, and I dipped my crust in it.

Overall, neither Ojan nor I loved our pie selection, but both of us agreed that it was a really well made pie.  The sides were a bigger hit.

As I mentioned, they only had sporks, so no knives even, and it is encouraged that you just eat the pie with your hands.  I had a fun time observing different techniques.  One kid sat down next to us, removed the pie top completely, and placed it under his pie, eating it along with the bottom crust.  Another woman took of her pie top and discarded it.  She ate the filling out of her pie, and discarded the entire bottom crust too.  Yet another took off the top, and broke the pieces off one by one and dunked them into the filling.  I had no idea there were so many ways to eat a pie!

Anyway, the serving size was quite large when you added sides, and the price was quite reasonable.  Two people can easily split a meal if you intend to get dessert, which, how can you not?

Cauliflower & Zucchini with Cheesy White Sauce, Chips. ~11.50.

Our vegetarian dining companion was happy to have not one, not two, but three choices!  I think he expected one token vegetarian offering.  I didn't try a bite, but he seemed quite happy with his choice, and in particular, like me, he really liked the flaky crust.  The fries, er, chips, looked pretty basic.

Another companion got the sweet roasted duck with cointreau and maple flavoured syrup, along with mashed potato, mushy peas, and gravy.  He really liked his, and commented that the balance of duck to sauce was perfect.

Hot Chocolate. $4.

Finally, it was time for dessert!  Back up to the register we went.

To go along with his pie, Ojan also ordered a hot chocolate.  It looked quite pretty, but he said it tasted like it came from a powdered mix.  We appreciated that it was served with a little marshmallow on the side, but he only took a few sips.  We later saw these exact same marshmallow show up at several other places, so they must be a local thing? Notable to us in that they are a totally different shape than we are used to for marshmallows.  Ojan tried to give the hot chocolate to the others, and they all agreed that it wasn't very good.

Not worth the $4.

Decaf Long Black. $4.

Since I knew we were about to get a bunch of sweet pie, I decided to order a decaf coffee to have something bitter.  Just like I try not to have chocolate in the evening I certainly try not to have coffee, even decaf, but, black coffee and pie just go together so well.  I couldn't resist.  And since I was having chocolate anyway, who cared right?  I was already breaking all the "rules".

The coffee comes from Double Roasters of Marrickville, and was really, really good.  Definitely one of the best decaf I had in Sydney.  No funk, no strange sweetness, just complex and really quite good.  And indeed, definitely the right thing to go with my sweet, sweet pie.

A regular coffee is $3.50, decaf an extra $0.50.  This is normal for Sydney prices.

Black Forest Meringue Pie. ~$7.90.

As I mentioned, none of the pies I really wanted were available.  My biggest disappointment was that none had pastry crusts.  I liked the flaky pastry dough so much in the savory pie, and was looking forward to more.  Alas, tart shells were the only option.

My first choice was the black forest meringue pie, partially based on looks alone.  Seriously.  Look at that meringue!  And it was the soft, sweet, fluffy style of meringue, not the hard type of meringue used in pavlova that is more common in Australia.

We did not add a dollop of cream, nor a scoop of ice cream, even though it was offered.  While I love both those items, and normally always serve my pie with one, if not both, I'm not sure how how either would possibly go with the pie.

Anyway, the pie.  Sadly, it looked far more impressive than it tasted.

The crust was a thick, hard, chocolate crumb crust.  It was fine, but not the style of crust I like.  Above that was sweet chocolate pudding, with a few cherries in it.  I was pretty disappointed with the scarcity of the cherries, and would have really liked more.  Isn't that what black forest is all about?  And ... the meringue.  I did like the meringue, don't get me wrong, it was fluffy, it was sweet, but wow, there was actually just too much.  Impressive, yes, but not what we wanted.  I think this pie would have been better as just the bottom layers topped with some whipped cream.  Don't get me wrong, I love meringue, but it would go better with a different type of pie.  The topping just didn't match the base very well.

One of my dining companions doesn't really like dessert, so he took only one bite.  The other took one or two bites, and quickly moved on.  Ojan managed perhaps three.  And then, there was me.  And this massive, massive slice of pie.  I didn't like it very much, but they were all clearly not going to eat it.  How can you possibly let pie go to waste?  So, I took one for the team.  And kept eating.  And eating.  And eating.  Now that I see the photo, I realize why I felt so sick afterwards.  That was a massive, massive slice of pie, and I can't believe I took it down, fairly singlehandedly.  Or, stated more accurately, I guess I can believe that it took ME down.  Doh.  It actually makes my stomach hurt just thinking about this again!

This pie was better to look at that to eat, but the price was reasonable for the massive size.  Warning: do not attempt to get a slice by yourself!

Mississippi Mud Pie (fudgy chocolate, caramel, and pecans). ~$7.90.

But you didn't think that we possibly just got ONE slice of pie, right?  Not with me involved!  Our other dining companion selected this one, Mississippi Mud Pie.  We again declined cream or ice cream.

It had the same chocolate tart crust as the black forest, which I again didn't really like.  On top of that was thick caramel, with a few nuts in it.  I found that layer to be fairly sweet and one dimensional, but appreciated the nuts.  On top was a layer that looked like it might be cream cheese frosting, but was just thick sweet icing.

I liked this pie even less than the other, as it was really, really too sweet for me.  I know, I know, I love sweet things, but, they need balance.  The others claimed this pie was less sweet than the blackforest, but I think they are crazy.  It was also another case of the topping not quite matching the rest of the pie.  Why did it have the sweet frosting on top of the already sweet caramel?  Also, it wasn't really a Mississippi Mud pie ... isn't that normally a chocolate pie, topped with whipped cream?

Once again, the diner who doesn't care for dessert took one bite.  The person who ordered this pie took a few bites.  Ojan took one or two.  So yet again, another huge slice of pie, that I didn't really like, left for me to deal with.  I'm so bad at throwing out food.  Did I mention that I felt awful when I left Pie Tin?

I liked this one the least, yet ate most of it too.  Doh.  I actually think it would have been better with ice cream to cut the sweetness, which I said to my dining companions, who all thought I was even crazier for suggesting adding a sweet thing to it, but honestly, I think it would have helped.

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International Smoke

International Smoke is an interesting restaurant mini-chain, with one location in San Francisco (and another in Vegas).  One of the biggest names in the restaurant scene, Micheal Mina, is behind it, along with Ayesha Curry ... who folks may know from her acting gigs, her cookbooks, or, just via her connection to her husband, Steph Curry (for non-sportsball folks, he's a big deal in the sportsball world).  A rather odd pairing, but, both big names, and thus, the place got attention when it opened.

"Inspired by Curry and Mina’s shared love of global travels and international cooking techniques, International Smoke ignites a new spark of flavor and creativity focused on woodfired steaks, seafood, ribs, and vegetarian entrees to create flavorful dishes that are craveable worldwide. Located in San Francisco, Del Mar and Las Vegas, International Smoke is the epicenter of flavor for the community delivering a fresh take on enticing world cuisine as only Mina and Curry can. Let’s get saucy!"

International Smoke also has a notorious location in San Francisco, at the ground level of the high end Millennium Tower ... yes, the sinking tower.  It also happens to be just a few blocks from my house.  Put all that together, and, hey, I was interested to see what the fuss was all about.  Because underneath all the surface level "fame", the food actually gets decent reviews.  Even during the earlier stages of the pandemic, International Smoke lived on, pivoting to a take out model, which, yeah, bbq does work well for.

Takeout During Construction.

I still have not visited the dining room myself, but rather opted for delivery, when I had a little bit of leftover bbq at home, and wanted to complete my meal.  I ordered using Door Dash, and my order was quickly confirmed.  Everything came well packaged, it is clear they really have mastered takeout.  Since then, I've ordered a few more times, always to round out some leftovers I had at home.  I've still yet to try the ribs or mac and cheese, both things I really like, but get mixed reviews.  One of these days ...

Side note: Stuck doing a lot of takeout and delivery these days? Want to try some free food and new pickup or delivery services?  Here are some codes for free money!

• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Door Dash ($15 off, $5 each of your first 3 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Caviar ($20 off, $10 off your first 2 orders) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Ritual ($6 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Delivery.com ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Grub Hub ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Seamless ($10 off) [ Delivery or pickup ]
• Allset ($5 off) [ Pickup only ]
• Nextdish: ($10 off your first order) [ Delivery only ]
• Uber Eats ($20 off - use code eats-lejw5 at checkout) [ Pickup or delivery ]

Bottled Cocktails

For delivery, International Smoke offers up 3 cocktails: a classic negroni, a play on an Old Fashioned, and one slightly more interesting one, the "Oaxacan Standoff".   I've tried them all.

Oaxacan Standoff. $17.

"Ilegal Joven Mezcal, Aperol, lime, passion fruit falernum, Firewater bitters."

I actually often order negronis or old fashioneds as my cocktail of choice, but I decided to venture out and get this, thinking the mezcal smokey flavors would pair well with my bbq.

The drink came in a nicely sealed container, in an additional plastic bag to make sure it didn't spill.  I poured it over ice, and served it in a proper cocktail glass.

The drink was good - it had strong, smoky components that I was hoping for, and although it was a touch sweet from the passion fruit, it was well balanced with the bitters.  Overall, a nice drink, and it did indeed pair well with bbq.  Above average, and interesting, cocktail.

The portion was a standard cocktail, so while slightly pricey, that is the price of a nice cocktail at a higher end restaurant in SF.

****.

ISSF Old Fashioned. $19.

"Redemption Rye, Amontillado Sherry, lemon, POM, orange marmalade." -- Door Dash Menu.

"Bacon-washed old forester bourbon, smoked maple angostura, cherry & vanilla bitters." -- Packaging and their online menu.

The next time I ordered, I went for the old fashioned, just to mix it up.  Well, this was a bit confusing.  I ordered my cocktail on Door Dash, and it was called the "ISSF Old Fashioned", which I took to mean the "International Smoke San Francisco Old Fashioned".  The description said it would have rye, sherry, lemon, and orange marmalade, certainly an interesting play on an old fashioned.  But the drink I received, while labelled "International Smoke Old Fashioned" said it was bourbon, angostura, cherry, and vanilla bitters.  Those, um, are pretty different cocktails.  The online menu for International Smoke on their own website matched the bottle description.  It certainly had a cherry in it, and it certainly had bitters, so, I believe those were right, the Door Dash menu wrong.

It was also odd that the container was only half full, or even, less than half.  Did ... my Dasher drink half before it came to me?  Did the restaurant short me?  Or, was the container just bigger than they needed for a standard drink?  I wasn't sure, but it certainly wasn't the most satisfying delivery experience, packaging-wise.

As for the cocktail ... eh.  It seemed pretty out of balance, too heavy in the bitters.  I didn't taste the smoked maple, nor the vanilla, really, just bitters, and what turned out to be bourbon that I didn't like very much either.  I didn't like this very much, and wouldn't get it again.  Also, they need to update their Door Dash menu!  **.

Classic Negroni. $16.

"Botanist Gin, Campari, Allesio di Torino Vermouth, orange essence." -- Their Website

"Henrick's Gin, Campari, Punt e mes." -- The packaging

The next time I ordered, I went for the classic negroni, which, much like the old fashioned, had a different description on the label compared to what I actually ordered (different gin, etc).  And just like the old fashioned, it came only half full, which just looked odd (again, did the Dasher drink half?).  Perhaps it is the supply chain, etc, but having bottles that aren't the right size for orders isn't a good look.

Anyway, the negroni was absolutely fine.  Once I served over ice, a well balanced drink.  No qualms with this, just, well, a classic negroni.  ***+.

Small Plates

To go along with your steak/seafood/ribs, International Smoke has a handful of sides, such as the signature duck fat fries, a couple seasonal vegetable offerings (sometimes crispy brussels sprouts, sometimes creamed corn, etc), and some other carbs (garlic noodles, fried rice).  They also have a selection of "small plates", many of which seem like classic appetizers (wings, hamachi crudo, soup, etc), but others that really seem more like, well, sides.  I'm not sure why cornbread is considered a small plate and not a side?  

Anyway, these small plates are generally the more interesting items on the menu to me.

Ayesha's Fresh Baked Cornbread. $7.

"Thai red curry butter."

If people have heard of International Smoke, they most likely know of it as the place with Ayesha's cornbread.  Yes, they know about it being a Micheal Mina establishment, known for the bbq, etc, but, the cornbread, bearing her name, is definitely the most talked about dish.  It has been on the menu since the start, and is their #1 most selling, most liked item.  I obviously had to get it.

The cornbread doesn't take a classic shape, instead, it comes as large muffins (sans muffin wrappers).  It was good cornbread.  Not dry, nice grit to it, lightly sweet, crispy top.  Each half seemed to have one slice of chili pepper in it as well.  But, just one.  Barely noticeable.  Better than your average cornbread, no question, but I wouldn't say it was that special.

Of course, it is the curry butter than draws people in.  At the restaurant, they come served with tons of curry butter draped over them.  I was glad that it came on the side for takeout, so I could add as much as I wanted.  The curry butter was fascinating - it did have some slight curry flavor, but not as much as I was expecting.  I also expected some heat to it, but it was pretty mild.  The consistency was also not what I expected, as it wasn't really like any butter I've ever had before, more like a thick sauce.  I've never once thought of pairing curry, butter, and cornbread, but, it does kinda work.  

Overall, this was certainly good, and certainly different, but not mind-blowing, and not something I'd go out of my way for.  It did pair quite nicely with my leftover ribs ... although the curry butter and bbq ribs was a bit of an odd pairing, which I think would be true at the restaurant too, as all the ribs have traditional sauces.

The portion of two large muffins, with plenty of curry butter, was great for $7.  ***+.

Whole Roasted Cauliflower. $19.

"Golden raisins, tehina sauce, pistachio, fried shallots, pomegranate."

Ok, this was an odd order for me, but, when you look at reviews for International Smoke, this is a dish that gets all the accolades.  People have mixed feelings on the ribs, on the mac and cheese, on just about everything else, but, literally, very review praises the cauliflower, and it is frequently called out as the surprise hit of the meal.  And I do like cauliflower, so, even if I was weary of the tehina sauce and pomegranate, not ingredients I'm a huge fan of, I still was excited for it.

It ... wasn't really what I was expecting, and wasn't very good.  First, I did think it would be a "whole roasted cauliflower", served as a big hunk, much like RT Rotisserie, but it was broken into florets.   This is fine, easier to eat anyway.  Second, I thought it would be, well, roasted.  Charred, smoky.  It seemed flash fried instead.  It was slightly crispy and fairly oily.  It was also strangely under cooked, and still too crisp (and I like it crisp, not soggy!) in many places, but mushy in others.  So the cauliflower itself?  Yeah, not great.

It was drizzled with the tahina sauce, which, well, tasted a bit like tahini, basically like a thin layer of hummus covering it.  A fine pairing, and if you like those flavors, likely a good one.  The fried shallots were soft and soggy, likely just a poor experience because of delivery, as they'd been steamed inside the takeout container basically.  I never found pistachio.  The pomegranate wasn't particularly ripe, and was fairly bitter, but did add nice pops of texture.  The wining element was surprisingly the golden raisins, juicy and plump, and the sweetness worked well with the rest of the dish.

I can see how this dish *could* be good, particularly if you like mediteranean flavors.  But it really didn't seem to be well prepared, didn't match my expectations, and didn't hold up great for delivery.  I wouldn't get it again. **+.

Pickled Ketchup. $1.

International Smoke lets you order any of their sauces, including the truffle Caesar they use on the salad, the curry butter from the corn muffins, etc.  And this, a fascinating sounding "pickled" ketchup that comes with the duck fat fries.  It sounded interesting, so I threw it on to one order.

The ketchup was ... fine.  I can't say I tasted anything particularly pickled about it, although maybe it was a touch more acidic than usual?  No chunks of pickle nor anything like that.  It also was slightly watery.  Basically, um, ketchup.  ***.

Dessert

For takeout, International Smoke has offered up 4 items for dessert, for as long as I've been paying attention to the place: their signature Basque style smoked cheesecake, a trendy crepe cake, and brownies and cookies.  The crepe cake and cheesecake have their toppings change seasonally (e.g. strawberries in the summer, peaches in the fall, apples in winter, etc).  If you dine in, they have a few other options.

I haven't tried the cookies or brownies, but the others really were a great find for delivery high end desserts.  I'll admit, I'm often tempted to just order a cocktail and dessert as a DoubleDash add on when I'm ordering something else on Door Dash.

"Smoked" Cheesecake. $12.

"Citrus strawberries, sesame crunch."

Sometime a while ago, I remember reading rave reviews about International Smoke's "Smoked" cheesecake.  It looked to me perhaps a bit like a basque cheesecake?  But people really, truly seemed to adore it.  And thus, when I was craving cheesecake a few weeks later, it immediately came to mind.

The cheesecake was a large slice, certainly big enough to share, given that it was quite rich.  It wasn't quite as dense as a New York style cheesecake, but wasn't anywhere near as light and airy as a Japanese cheesecake, nor other basque cheesecake I've had.  I expected it to be considerably lighter, more souffle-like, and even slightly gooey inside, as those are the signature hallmarks of basque cheesecake ... I thought?  The consistency was great though, just more classic cheesecake style. The flavor to the cheesecake itself was fairly plain, not particularly cream cheesy, not vanilla, just, almost like a standard creme brulee base.  

It did have the burnt top, which added a slight smoky flavor to it, and deeply caramelized notes.  The smoky notes from my cocktail were a rather perfect pairing.  While not exactly what I was expecting from a basque cheesecake, it was a very good cheesecake, and the caramelized top adds an element you don't find normally with cheesecake.

The online menu said it would come with "citrus strawberries", but, the seasons had changed, and mine had poached peaches on the side.  Interestingly, when I looked a few days later, on the menu at International Smoke in person (I was walking by), it called it "Basque" not "Smoked", and listed "Poached Tenbrink Peaches", so, clearly, they seemed to have realized that while the "Smoked" name was on-brand with the restaurant, more diners would be familiar with "Basque", particularly, as, um, even Cheesecake Factory carries one now.  I did have to look up "Tenbrink" though, and found that it is the name of a local farm.  Anyway, the peaches were, um, really not good.  Three slices, and, I understand that they were local, but they tasted like canned peaches, just soaked in something odd.  The liquid they were submerged in was sweet, but not cloying, but also just tasted ... odd.  I am not sure what spices or other elements were in there, but I didn't care for it at all.  At all.  I was very glad it was on the side, even more glad I tried it first, and, I even did try more with the cheesecake, just in case it magically transformed when properly paired, but, wow, did not like.  Luckily, I had fresh strawberries on hand, and those went well with it.

I did like the sesame tuille on top, and think it would be great to have more sesame notes - perhaps some in the crust?  I also really wanted whipped cream with it, just to balance it out a bit.

Overall, the cheesecake was very good, but, wow, those peaches.  Perhaps the strawberries the previous version were more successful?  Definitely an above average cheesecake, but not quite as raveworthy as reviews seemed to suggest.  **** cheesecake, * peaches, so ***+ overall, given how easy it is to discard those peaches.

Stacked Key Lime Crepe Cake. $10.

"Fresh raspberries, coconut crème anglaise."

Ok, this this was a very, very odd order on my part.  If you've read my blog for a while, you know I don't generally like citrus dessert, particularly lemon and line ones.  You may also know that I don't find crepes to be that great, much like choux pastry, the eggy nature just doesn't do it for me.  And yet one night, I was really, really, really craving this crepe cake, having seen it on the menu before, and suddenly, I needed it.

Why?  Well, I was in Houston the week before, and ate some glorious desserts (great pecan pie and ok chocolate cream pie from Goode Company Seafood, great Italian creme cake and decent red velvet cake and ok banana pudding from Truth Barbecue, fantastic creme brulee from Brasserie du Parc, and great cheesecake from Fleming's Prime), and I sorta intended to get a key lime pie while I was there, as it was on menus everywhere, and I figured if I'd like key lime pie anywhere, it would be in the south where it was done right.  But other desserts always took precedent, and thus, no key lime pie was had.

I returned to SF, and kinda kept craving key lime.  And so one evening, when I couldn't get the thought of key lime out of my head, AND I had resisted ordering some excellent sounding crepe cakes earlier that weekend from Sweet Glory (they have a taro one, pandan, mango, even durian!), it just came together to needing this key lime crepe cake, stat.

And thus, I ordered up a cocktail and dessert, and set about to wait an agonizing 45 minutes for Door Dash to satisfy me.

I was pleased when the cake arrived, as it was a decent size slice, had plenty of whipped cream on top, and had a nice pool of creme angalise around it.  The garnishes looked fresh.  I tentatively took a bite.  I was further pleased, but, it wasn't quite what I expected.

The bottom 60% of the slice is the crepe layers, very dense, quite firm.  It ate much heavier than I was expecting.  The taste was lightly key lime, but there was a much more dominant flavor that I also wasn't expecting: crème fraîche.  It had a fantastic tang, not a tart tang like key lime, but, an almost buttermilk like tang, but, stronger.  I think it really was crème fraîche, although I would have expected that to be listed on the menu?  I quite liked the flavor, more than I would have liked a strong key lime taste I suspect.  So, the base, a dense, tangy thing.  I wasn't quite sure how I felt about the very dense and heavy base, somehow I thought the layers would be more delicate, the creme between them making it eat lighter.  I think this was my first ever crepe cake ...

The top 40% was whipped cream, thick, rich, fresh tasting whipped cream.  It balanced the heavier and tangier base well, but it could have used more, or a lighter style, to really combat how heavy it was.  All around it was coconut crème anglaise, that didn't taste particularly of coconut, but was a lightly sweet thinner cream sauce, and it was nice to drag the crepe cake through.  I'll never complain about crème anglaise.

Finally, the toasted coconut shards on top were crisp and seemed to have been applied just prior to delivery, which I appreciated.  No soggy coconut here.  The raspberries were fresh and ripe.  I added more berries (blackberries and blueberries) and really liked the fruit and tangy crepe cake pairing.

Overall, this wasn't quite what I was expecting, and I'm still not sure if crepe cakes are supposed to be this dense, and I don't think I'd get it again, but, it was enjoyable, and I'm glad I got it. ***+.

Read More...

Chat Thai, Sydney

Update Review, March 2023

Chat Thai is a go-to for casual, reliable Thai cuisine in Sydney, with a slew of locations, and related spin-offs (like Samosorn Thai, which I've reviewed before).  I've been there many times.

This year, I didn't actually make it to Chat Thai while I was in Sydney, but I did at least get one dessert to go, not a real reflection of the interesting dishes they serve though.

Sticky Rice and Mango. $15.90.

"ข้าวเหนียวมะม่วง Fresh cut local mango with sweet sticky rice, coconut cream and crisp mung bean." 

It wasn't mango season, but I still was craving good mango, and even out of season mango in Australia is better than what we get in the US.  Since I ordered takeout, the dish was nicely packaged with the coconut cream in a dressing style condiment container on the side.

The mango portion was a full half a mango, as you can see, perfectly ripe and juicy.  Very good, not amazing, but better than what I normally get.  The sticky rice was nicely done, lightly sticky, a bit sweet, slightly al dente, as I like it.  Again, not amazing, but pretty good.  The coconut cream was standard.  There was a tiny sprinkle of mung beans on top of the coconut cream container.

Overall, this was pretty average for Sydney, not particularly special, but slightly above average for the US.  ***+.

Update Review, Chinese New Year Taste Tournament

I mostly visit for the desserts, although I've had a full dinner there before several times, as you may recall from my original review.  This tasting however was a bit different, rather than at the restaurant itself, it was at the Chinese New Year "Taste Tournament" hosted in The Galleries, featuring a slew of local restaurants, all offering up little bites.

Som Tim Phu Khim.

"Green papaya salad with peanuts and dried shrimps: spicy, salty and slightly sweet with softshell crab."

Chat Thai's offering was classic papaya salad.

Papaya salad is something I used to always order from Thai restaurants, as it was novel to me when first discovered it, and I think I also appreciated having something fairly fresh alongside all the heavier curries.  But at some point it lost its excitement to me, and I kinda stopped caring about it.  I stopped going out of my way to order papaya salad.

This was, well, papaya salad.  Fresh, crisp, juicy green papaya shreds, peanuts, lackluster cherry tomatoes, and little dried shrimps that were entirely too fishy for my tastes.  The juices though were good, and I went back and asked for extra, which made mine crazy flavor, and, crazy spicy.

The soft shell crab was hidden under here, and it was ... ok.  No longer crispy since covered in papaya salad.  The batter was good though.  I don't tend to really like softies anyway though.

Overall, a pretty standard papaya salad, great flavors in the sauce, but otherwise kinda boring.

Update Review, December 2016 Visits

Blogger ate my update post.

Yes, for real.  I came to publish this update review, with a lovely post I wrote in December when I visited Chat Thai several times, and ... my laptop crashed.  When it restarted, I discovered that Blogger lost my draft update to my published post, because, that is how it works for published posts ... there is no saving until you publish again.

I don't still have my notes from December, and there is no way to recover the content.  I'm a grumpy girl, but I do at least have the photos, and some vague memories.

As you know, when I visit Sydney, I love to indulge in Thai desserts, and Chat Thai is one of my common destinations, due to the multiple locations, ease of takeout, and multitude of dessert options.  You can read my previous posts to learn more.

When I visited in December, I visited the Thaitown and the Westfield locations each once.  I think the magic of Chat Thai is finally wearing off though, either that, or I just picked the wrong items.

Coconut Ice Cream. $8.

"Young coconut ice-cream with sweet sticky rice topped with candied palm seeds and roasted peanuts."

One hot, sticky night, I headed to Chat Thai (to the Thaitown location) seeking out a cold, icy, unique thai dessert.  And somehow I ended up leaving with ice cream.  I mean, yes, I love ice cream, but I definitely meant to get something more interesting.  I don't really recall what made me pick this instead.

The ice cream itself was unremarkable.  Yes, coconut flavored, but it was icy and not very creamy.  As it melted, it seemed too rich, like a pile of coconut cream, with a unsettling mouthfeel.  The serving was generous, two large scoops, but, since I didn't care for it, this was not a selling point.

The sticky rice was fine, I loved the candied palm seeds (although there were only two), and the roasted peanut crumble was a nice topping, but, given that the ice cream was the main component, and it was lackluster, this didn't turn out to be a very satisfying option.  I regretted my choice.

Khao Nieaw Daam Bieak. $6.90.

"A sweet and slightly salty black sticky rice and coconut cream pudding with taro and young coconut flesh."

My last night in Sydney I swung by the Westfield location after I finished packing my bags.  My plan was to reward myself for getting my packing done with a thai dessert.  I went back to the Khao Nieaw Daam Bieak, which I had had before, since I knew I liked it, and I didn't want to take a risk this time.

It wasn't as successful this time.  The majority of the container was rice.  There was only a thin layer of coconut cream on top.  I really remembered the coconut cream layer as more substantial before.  The cream also wasn't nearly as salty this time, which was something I was actually looking forward to, now that I knew to expect it.

I did still love all the mix-ins, but, overall, this left me a bit disappointed.  I still finished the entire (large) container in < 5 minutes, all by myself though, so, clearly, I didn't dislike it *that* much!

Update Review, May 2015 Visit

If you didn't read my original Chat Thai post, I suggest you start there, and then return to this update, since I'm skipping the background on Chat Thai this time around.  See "Original Review, January/February 2015 visit" below.

On my recent visit to Sydney, I only managed to swing by Chat Thai once for dessert!  This was a big contrast to my previous trip, where I managed to visit a couple times each week.  Mostly this was due to the fact that I was there a much shorter time, but, also, the magic of Chat Thai desserts had finally worn off.  I was still fascinated by them of course, but, as I made my way down the list of crazy options, they were less and less delicious.

khao dtom nahm woon. $6.10.

"Steamed triangles of pandan infused glutinous rice, herbal jelly and jackfruit in syrup with rice."

Well, this was yet another Chat Thai dish that totally confused me.

First, I expected the foundation to be sticky rice.  Since it said pandan infused, I thought it might be perhaps green.  I also expected it to come in, well, triangles.  I most certainly wasn't expecting a soup based dessert!

Once I dug in, I did indeed discover two triangles of sticky rice, hiding under all the other components.  The rice triangles looked like regular white rice to me, and I didn't taste any pandan.  The rice triangles weren't particularly interesting, besides that they were, well, triangles.

Following along the description is herbal jelly, which I think was the black cubes.  These had a nice texture, very, uh, jelly like, but not a ton of flavor.

The final element listed in the description is jackfruit.  I think the orange flesh pieces were the jackfruit, which I did actually like quite a bit.

My favorite items however were the white cubes, and I honestly have no idea what they were.  Sweet, but not as sweet as a lychee, so perhaps it was longan?  I really have no idea.

The syrup was really sweet.  Ojan described it perfectly when he said it was like the syrup that comes in the little containers of canned fruit.  Kinda sickly sweet.

And ... that was it.  Where was the promised "with rice" anyway?

Overall, this was fascinating in that it was all new items , but, I didn't actually like it very much.  I extracted the jackfruit and the white cubes, but, the jelly, the glutinous rice triangles, and the sweet syrup just weren't for me.  One of my least favorite desserts from Chat Thai.

Original Review, January/February 2015 Visits

You've heard me mention this several times already, but I recently went on a trip to Sydney.  This was my forth visit to Sydney, totaling almost 6 months, so, I've sorta learned the ropes by now.  And the one thing I've really learned: don't bother with fine dining, and focus instead on the cuisine Sydney does best.  Thai food ranks highly on that list, which is particularly great, as I've still yet to find thai cuisine in San Francisco that I really like.

Chat Thai is a small chain in Sydney, with a main location in thai town, a full sit down location inside the Westfield mall, and a small quick casual version in the Galeries.  They also have locations in Manly and Randwick.  Chat Thai is a rather cute success story, family run, started in 1989.  They are a Sydney institution with staying power.  25 years in the restaurant industry is no joke, and all locations are well rated.

Chat Thai was on my radar from the start of this trip, as I had somehow never visited on previous trips, and I knew it was supposed to be amazing.  I made up for it this trip, visiting the main thai town location once for a full meal, once to pick up dessert, and stopping by the Westfield location more times than I can count.

Why?  Well, uh, they have an insane dessert menu.  You know me and dessert, and, in particular, I love to explore new and unique desserts.  Chat Thai offers that in spades.  The dessert menu at the thai town location has no fewer than 32 options!  The Westfield food court one has a more reasonable 11 options, and I was determined to try almost every single one.  Plus, as I mentioned, I stayed a the Westin and the Sheraton on the Park, so I was always only a block or two away.

Takeaway Desserts @ Westfield Location

My first visit was prompted by a very unsatisfying meal in the Westfield food court at Din Tai Fung.  The food court has some great options, like Snag Stand with its incredible fries and Bécasse bakery, but as you read in my review, Din Tai Fung was not a great option.  I was grumpy, and wanted something tasty, and remembered the Chat Thai location upstairs, not actually part of the food court.

Dessert Station at Westfield.

The Westfield location features an open dessert kitchen right in front.  I loved watching the preparation here.  Past this area is the full restaurant, with sit down table service.  Quite literally on every visit there was a long line of folks waiting to be seated.  I guess having a full service dining option, particularly one open late, is valued in the mall.  I can't comment on that though, as I never dined in.

I choose to always get my food as takeaway, which was very easy, a register to order takeaway is located right at the front.  I wasn't alone, the takeaway business seemed nearly as bustling as the table service.  Since I was always ordering only desserts, they were ready in just a couple minutes, super fast and efficient.  They made my habit far too easy.

As I mentioned, the Westfield location had the more modest dessert menu featuring 11 choices, which totally overwhelmed me on the first visit.  I honestly wanted them all, and watching the dessert kitchen prep made it even harder.  Everything looked, and sounded, amazing.  Luckily, I was staying nearby, and just made it a point to stop in for more dessert nearly every night.  Uh, I did it for you.  For "research".

Khao Nieaw Daam Bieak. $6.90.

 "A sweet and slightly salty black sticky rice and coconut cream pudding with taro and young coconut flesh"

As I mentioned, I was totally overwhelmed with choices.  I wasn't familiar with most of the desserts, besides simple mango and sticky rice, but I knew that I loved all the ingredients listed.  For my first adventure, I finally just picked one that included a bunch of components I knew I liked: black sticky rice.  Coconut cream.  Taro.  Young coconut.  I had no idea what I was ordering really .... "sweet and slightly salty"?  That sounded good.  And I obviously love puddings.

It was, hands down, the strangest dessert I've ever consumed.  Certainly the strangest food I consumed on this trip, or even in recent memory.  I was fascinated by it.  And I think I really did enjoy it.  But a spoonful of this was like a treasure hunt.  So unexpected!

To start, yes, there was black sticky rice.  It had a tiny bit of chew to it and was what I expected, although, I can't say I've ever had sticky rice inside a pudding before, normally it is served as a little mound.  On top was a layer of coconut cream that was, well, as promised, sweet and salty.  I love the mix of sweet and salty in desserts, a la salted caramel or fleur de sel on my chocolate, but this was certainly a bit odd.  Not bad, but odd.  The fascinating flavor combination kept me going back for more and more.

But that is far from all.  Inside the rice ... now that is where things got interesting.

Beans? Young Coconut Flesh?

First, there were shiny brown oval shapes that looked a lot like beans, but they didn't taste like beans, and beans weren't included in the description.  I think these must have been the young coconut flesh?

Young Coconut Flesh?

But then there were also some thin strips that seemed more likely to be the coconut.  I honestly don't know what these were.

I don't have a photo, but there were also cubes of taro, a bit softer than the other two shapes I've described so far.  I love taro, so this was a hit.

Corn?!!

And then ... there was an unmistakable taste of corn.  After a few bites, I was certain.  Yes, there was corn in here, although the description certainly didn't mention corn!

My suspicions were confirmed when I looked at the Haymarket location menu, where there is a dish called saaku bieak, "a sweet and slightly salty sago and coconut cream pudding with taro, corn and strips of fresh young coconut flesh".  This sounded very similar to my dish, except with sago instead of rice, and obviously, the addition of corn.  They seemed to have combined these dishes?

So yes, sweet and salty, rice and cream, taro, coconut, unidentified fruits, and corn.  So.  Strange.

I think I really liked it.  There were many textures at play: chewy rice, soft taro, firm young coconut, firmer corn, creamy coconut milk.  There were many flavors, some sweet, some salty.  Every moment I was eating this was a surprise.  That alone was worth something!

Update Review, 2016: I order this again, and, having my expectations set better, I enjoyed it even more.  It wasn't insanely sweet like many Thai desserts due to the salt, and I really did love all the textures at play.  I'd certainly get it again.

Lodt Chong Nahm Kati. $7.

"Pandan and palm sugar noodles, black glutinous rice, and taro in coconut milk with ice."

After the success of my first dessert at Chat Thai, I returned again, this time with Ojan.  I told him I'd try basically anything on the menu, and let him pick.  I have no idea why he went for this one, as it didn't sound like something he'd like, but then again, neither of us had any clue what to expect.  How do noodles, rice, milk, and ice go together?  I think he was just curious about the pandan.

I'll admit, I think we were both very surprised by what was handed over.

The top layer was shaved ice.  The base was coconut milk.  But just like the previous dish, it is what lay inside that was the most interesting ...

Pandan Noodles.

This time, what I discovered inside did indeed match the description.  One corner held the same black sticky rice that I had in the previous dessert, which I again enjoyed.  Another had cubes of taro, not too mushy, but for some reason I didn't really like them in here.  And I love taro, and liked it in the previous dessert.

The majority of the container was filled with the green pandan noodles, all clumped together.  They were soft, and had an interesting flavor, which I guess was pandan.  I know pandan mostly as a color, not a distinct flavor.

Just like the previous dessert, I found this fascinating.  I liked the sweet soupy coconut milk..  I liked the sticky rice.  I almost liked the pandan noodles.  But the ice ... I really wasn't into that.  If it was a hot summer day I could see it being very refreshing, but sitting inside a mall food court, it wasn't quite what I wanted.

Overall, I'm glad I tried it, but it isn't something I'd get again.

The $7 price was fine.

Tup Tim Grob. $8.

"Tapioca coated water chestnuts in an aromatic syrup with fresh coconut milk and young coconut flesh."

Another day, another adventure trying a dessert at Chat Thai!  This time, I almost went for the mango and sticky rice, but I wanted to be more adventurous.  I certainly had never had a "tapioca coated water chestnut", so that sounded interesting.  Plus, a soup-like item sounded very comforting and fit my mood well.

Like most of the other desserts from Chat Thai, there were components inside that were not listed on the menu.  In this case, I believe it was a few slices of jackfruit.  I don't know jackfruit well enough to say for sure, but since other items on the menu include jackfruit, I'm going to make a reasonable guess.  There weren't many, but I enjoyed the fruit, a bit firm, and pleasantly sweet.  I wished there were more.

But everything else ... I didn't care for.  The young coconut flesh wasn't very tasty.  And the tapioca coated water chestnuts ... quite strange.  I mean, I expected strange, and ate quite a few of them hoping they would grow on me, but they didn't.  There was something nice about having a crispy crunchy thing in the middle of a soft ball, and I like water chestnuts, but this just didn't quite work.

The sweet coconut milk syrup was tasty, although a bit sweet to just eat on its own, not that that stopped me.  I eagerly drank up all the syrup.

This was my least favorite dessert, but, I'm still glad I tried it.

Dinner @ Thai Town Location

I also visited the main location in thai town with Ojan for dinner once, and swung by several other times to just grab more desserts.

The thai town restaurant has long lines, at all times of day, which, I remembered when we got there, is exactly why I hadn't ever actually visited on previous trips to Sydney.

They have a fairly efficient system in place though.  A paper sign up sheet is located at the front, with numbers next to each slot, that you rip off once you've added your name.  Number in hand, you join the massive crowds on the sidewalk, and wait.   I used this time to browse the extensive menu, and plan what we were going to order.  I mentioned that the dessert menu had 32 items, but that is a drop in the bucket compared with the main menu, with about 20 appetizers, 12 salads, and 50 main dishes, ranging from curries, to stir fries, to noodles, to rice.  Just reading through the menu was time consuming, let alone deciding what to order.

Dessert Kitchen.

Even once I'd poured over the menu, I didn't mind the continued wait for a table, as I was enthralled watching the dessert kitchen, located at the front of the restaurant, in full view of the sidewalk.  It was a full sized kitchen, with two cooks, working constantly to pump out assorted desserts.  The dessert menu has nearly 40 items, and it is obvious that they are all ordered frequently.  I saw many people swing through just to pick up desserts to go, just like I had done at the Westfield location.

Interior.

The restaurant is actually fairly small inside.  It is two stories, but neither story has many tables.   In  the far back is the main kitchen, before that is a drink station, and, as I mentioned in front is a dedicated dessert kitchen.

The whole place is just constantly busy.

Service was not the most attentive, but it got the job done.  It really was just too crowded and bustling for them to care much about you, but they did deliver dishes hot and fresh immediately when they were ready, and took our order promptly.

Dtum Taardt (small). $13.90.

"Family style som dtum with condiments."

After several days in a row of really heavy food, and fried food that day at lunch, I just wanted something light, and papaya salad sounded perfect.  The menu had 6 varieties of classic papaya salad on it, including a sweeter version with peanuts and dried shrimp, a sweet one with pickled crab, a spicy one with pickled crab, and even one with fermented fish.  We had settled on one from the main menu, but when we were seated, a specials menu was presented, that had an additional, really fun looking papaya salad on it.  At last minute, I decided we should get that instead, even though I had no idea what the "condiments" would be, or what "family style" really meant.  At some level, I still don't.  I have no idea if this is an authentic dish or serving style.

The salad came in two sizes, large or small.  The small said it served 1-2 people, the large ($24.90), 2 - 4 people.  Since there were only 2 of us, and we were planning to get other things, we ordered the small.  I thought a mistake had been made when this platter arrived.  This serves 1-2 people?  Who are these people?  Perhaps 2 people could finish this if they ordered nothing else, but a single person certainly couldn't hope to put a dent in it.

Anyway.  Once we got over our shock, and wondered how on earth we'd finish this salad, our appetizer, our noodle dish, and planned dessert, we dug in.

In the center was the basic som dtum, with shredded green papaya, green beans, cherry tomatoes, peanuts, dried shrimp, and chili.

Around the edges were the "condiments", and this is where things got interesting.  Some I could identify, like bean sprouts, hard boiled egg, rice noodles, raw green cabbage, and blanched choy sum.  Then there was something pickled, or perhaps fermented?  And a meat substance, perhaps sausage? And strips of ... chicken? Tofu?  I honestly had no idea.  And roasted peanuts, which seemed like overkill since the salad in the middle already had plentiful peanuts.  And finally, some kind of chips.  Shrimp chips?

Anyway, yes, it was fun to try all the components and mix them together, but neither Ojan nor I really cared for it.  The base papaya salad was fine, but not particularly interesting in any way, other than the fact that I hated the tiny dried shrimps.

As for the mix-ins, some made sense to me, and the cabbage and bean sprouts were fresh and crisp enough.  The blanched choy sum was really plain on its own, but added an interesting juicy component to the salad.  I know some versions of papaya salad have noodles, so I understand how the rice noodles might be good to some people, but I didn't really want them in my salad.

The hard boiled egg just seemed strange.  You couldn't "mix" it in, as it was served in halves.  It was fine, but just an egg.  I really didn't like the yellowish pickled thing I couldn't identify, the taste was too strong for me.  I described it as fermented, but Ojan thought it was just pickled.  Neither of us had any clue what it actually was though.

The mystery meats were the real strange bits.  I think the redder one was a fresh pork sausage?  It was kinda fleshy and not very cooked.  We both decided it must be ground meat of some sort, although it clearly had other things mixed in.  The other looked like firm tofu at first, but I think it might have been a chicken loaf?  The chips we weren't ever able to identify, I thought I tasted something a bit fishy.

Anyway, interesting? Sure. Overwhelming, definitely.  A good value, as a regular papaya salad is $13, and this ridiculous platter was $13.90.  But not a winner, and I certainly wouldn't get it again.

Fresh Spring Rolls. $11.

"Fresh spring rolls of smoked fish sausages, chicken and crab with caramelised tamarind relish."

Next to arrive was our starter, fresh spring rolls.  These weren't quite what we were expecting either.

The wrapper of the rolls I didn't really like, it was a bit tough.  I dislike chicken, so I obviously didn't like that, but, I didn't expect to like the chicken.  They also had tofu, which I don't like, and wasn't listed on the menu.  If the menu had included both chicken and tofu, I probably would have selected something else.  The crab I was looking forward to, but it turned out to be crab stick, a disappointment for sure.  The only thing I quasi-liked was the fish sausage, but mostly only in comparison to everything else that I actively disliked.

On top of the slices of the roll was a bunch of omelet, which I also didn't want and wasn't listed on the menu.  The rolls were drenched in the tamarind sauce, which just didn't taste good.

Ojan had about one bite of this and stopped.  He didn't like it, and he knew we had way too much food still coming.  I tried more than Ojan as I was trying to see if I could pick out some bits that I'd enjoy, but failed.  I guess just not our thing?  Although honestly, if we knew it had chicken, tofu, crab stick, and omelet, we certainly wouldn't have ordered it.

$11 price was fine for yet another giant serving.  At this point, our table was full, and so were we, and we still had a noodle dish yet to arrive.  Whoops.

Thau gai noodles. $13.

"Stir fried flat rice noodles with chicken, eggs, and shallots served with sweet chili sauce."

Ojan really wanted a noodle dish, and planed to order classic pad thai.  And then, that specials menu that led us to the crazy papaya salad had a noodle dish too.  It sounded like something he'd really like, since I know he likes sweet chili sauce, and who doesn't like shallots?

So again, even though we thought we knew what we were ordering in advance, we changed our order once seated.  And ... it was another case where we were led astray.

First, we didn't quite understand the sweet chili sauce on the side, we thought the noodles would be stir fried with it.  It turns out to be good that they weren't, because the sauce was seriously spicy.  I didn't detect any "sweet" in the "sweet chili", and it was far too spicy for Ojan.

Unfortunately, that meant that he didn't use any, and the dish was quite bland without it.  Not Chat Thai's fault, as it is clearly intended to be mixed with noodles.  The noodles seemed hand cut, as they were completely inconsistent in their widths.  They were decently cooked, but I always prefer to have some crispy bits.  Delivered hot and fresh to our table, once we let them know that we were done with the other dishes.  We were a bit confused why the noodles were taking so long to arrive, when everything else had come so quickly.  The staff was being nice, trying to wait for us to finish the mound of salad and rolls still in front of us, before piling more on us.  Again, whoops.

Anyway, again, I don't know if this is an authentic dish.  Maybe I just don't like "real" thai cuisine?  The sauce on the side seemed strange.  The dish reminded me a bit of a cross between pad se ew, with the thick noodles, and pad thai, with the egg and chicken, but lacked the sauce from either dish, and lacked the add-ins like chinese broccoli from pad se ew or peanuts from pad thai, so it was just fairly boring.  I felt bad for leading Ojan astray and suggesting this.

$13 price was fine for a large portion of fresh noodles, but we wouldn't get this again.

Sticky Rice Durian. $8.

"Sticky rice steamed with sweet coconut cream and palm sugar accompanied with a durian custard and pieces of fresh durian."

And of course, the reason I love Chat Thai: Dessert!  It didn't matter that we were stuffed, and had tons of food leftover.  We didn't really like any of the savory dishes, and the dessert menu at this location is insane, with nearly 40 items on the dinner menu, plus some available only at lunch or late night.

I decided to take this opportunity to finally try durian.  I've known of durian for years, but it hasn't really been served anywhere I've been.  The durian dessert is only on the menu at the thai town location, so I knew I couldn't just pick it up easily at the closer Westfield location.  It was now or never.

I didn't quite know what to expect, besides something that many people consider foul, both in taste and smell.  I somewhat expected it to be served like classic mango with sticky rice, with a pile of sticky rice, coconut cream drizzled over, and sliced durian alongside, so I was a little surprised when a big bowl of soupy sauce arrived.

But I didn't smell anything horrible, so I dug in.

The verdict?  Well, durian is unique.  I'll say that.  I dove right in, creating a big bite with sticky rice, a large chunk of durian, and some sauce.  At first I thought it was fine.  And then the funk hit me.  Was it rotten? Sewage?  Such a strange taste.  Undeterred, I tried again, and this time, I took only a bite of fresh durian, no sauce, no rice to mask it.  I wanted to understand the durian itself better.

The texture is so strange.  Somewhat slimy.  A bit stringy.  So strange.  But it is the taste that I just don't really have words for.  It wasn't the worst thing I'd ever tasted, and I did keep trying bites of it, but I certainly have no desire to seek out durian ever again.

As for the rest of the dish, I really liked the sticky rice, and the sweet sauce of coconut cream and palm sugar.  I actually finished every single morsel of the rice, and every drop of the sauce, even though that meant getting some durian accidentally several times.  I'm just a sucker for sticky rice and sweet sauces.

I'm really glad I tried this, but I have no intention of getting it again.  Rotten-dirty-sewage-feet is just not a taste a I enjoy!

Bua Loy Kai Warn.  $5.50.

"Silky little dumplings of taro, japanese pumpkin and pandan jus, in sweet warm coconut broth with/without a poached egg."

A few days later, I was walking by in the evening, and decided I needed to pop in.  One of the most interesting sounding desserts was only available at the thai town location, and only during dinner service.  It must be something special, right?

It was a rainy night, and I was rather grumpy.  A comforting dessert was exactly what I needed.  And as I've said, I love taro and sweet sauces, and I'm fascinated by pandan.  This sounded promising.  I had no idea why I'd want a poached egg in it though, and opted for the version without.

The dessert came warm, indeed a warm comforting soup, perfect for the rainy evening.  But ... it took the cake as my least favorite dessert from Chat Thai.

The coconut broth was just overwhelmingly sweet.  I loved it in other dishes, when there was more to cut the sweetness, namely, sticky rice.  Here, there just wasn't much else, and spoonfuls of the broth really were too much on their own, even for me.

Taro, pumpkin, and pandan dumplings.

Inside the very sweet broth were little colorful dumplings.  The color was lovely, and they were soft, but they were all equally flavorless.  I wanted to taste the taro, the pumpkin, the pandan.  I tasted nothing, besides the overwhelming sweet soup of course.

There were also slices of young coconut mixed in with the dumplings.

This was the first dessert from Chat Thai that I didn't bother finish, and, we all know I'm a dessert finisher to the core.  I just couldn't find anything to like in here.

Candied Taro Chips.  $5.40.

I also grabbed a bag of taro chips near the register, since, well, taro.  I figured they'd make a great snack for later on.  I didn't realize they were candied until I went to eat one.  I was very shocked to say the least.

Even though they were candied, I expected some saltiness, but there was none.  If they were salty, I think they could have been really successful, a slightly sweet, slightly salty combination.  But instead, they were just sweet, sugar crusted chips.  Strange.  I ate a bunch, but I didn't particularly care for them, and tried, unsuccessfully, to get other friends to finish the rest.

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