CHAT THAI - Haymarket

Chat Thai

20 Campbell Street, Haymarket NSW 2000

(02) 9211 1808

Sir and M’Lady dined at in Campbell St Haymarket at one of the many (and growing) Chat Thai restaurants and came away full and content. The restaurant was busy – as it always is on a Friday or Saturday evening. We arrived at 6:15pm as planned because we were seeing Love Never Dies at the Capitol Theatre (literally across the road) at 8pm. There was already a queue out the door and people waiting on the stools just inside. They keep a list at the door so get your name on it quickly to speed things up! We had a reservation but still had to wait a few minutes.

Chat Tai is crowded, the tables are close together, it’s bustling, noisy and busy. It’s basically like you’d expect a good street food place to be – and great fun. As long as you can accept all these things you’re in for a great meal – and we mean great. You also get to know a lot more about the people on the tables around you – because they are close. On one side we learned that her family are all mostly Hungarian criminals and her friends are happy to let her do all the talking (or maybe have given up trying). On the other side he seemed to be on a first date and was pleasantly surprised to find out she had a decent appetite in spite of a good figure!

M’Lady liked the sound of the fresh spring rolls – a combination of mild seafood in light uncooked pastry covered in a thick sweet gooey sauce. They were amazing. We coupled this with the traditional satay chicken skewers – soft, juicy and smothered in thick satay sauce.

The mains were just as nice. Chilli prawns with kaffir lime leaves, followed by penang curry beef – with plenty of sauce to scoop onto the rice. The prawns were limited to four, but they were big ones at least and the sauce was tasty with plenty of fresh chillies in it to add or leave depending on your tastes.

Sir was hungry that day so finished with fresh mango cheek on sticky rice. The mango was tasty and the rice was sticky, slightly crunchy and went well.

Chat Thai provide great food and solid service (the table water was topped up regularly). It’s crowded and busy but if you can handle this it’s well worth the visit – you won’t be disappointed.

As a bonus Chat Thai is also BYO although we were tired so we bought some soft drinks tonight so we could enjoy Love Never Dies (which we did).

Our meal, consisting of two entrees, two main courses, rice for two, one dessert and two soft drinks was only about $75 - so it's good value too!