Doytao Thai
543 King St
Newtown
I was glad we booked because this place has a steady stream of people going in - or trying to - on a Saturday night. Its deceptively big though as it stretches back quite a bit and seats more than it initially appears to. They must be doing well because its become a chain now - so we were keen to sample their goodies.
We decided to start with a tried and true dish - the chicken satay skewers. This comes in a serving of four and is described in the menu as tender brochettes of grilled chicken marinated in 12 different spices, served with peanut sauce. They were actually smothered in peanut sauce - but as we love the sauce it was a bonus. The chicken was indeed tender and the sauce was nice too. This cost $8.50.
We then moved on to another favourite money bags. They advertise these as "Created in Thai Royal Palace kitchens, these crispy fried pastry consists of a soft filling of chicken minced, prawns, chestnuts and corn served with sweet chili sauce". They were nice - but probably not the nicest money bags we've ever had. The sauce was good. They also cost $8.50.
Our final entree was the prawn cakes. We are used to fish cakes and love them so the idea of prawn cakes was appealing. They were described as prawn mince with Thai herbs served with sweet chili sauce, topped with crushed peanuts. They were nice -but a bit bland. The pureed prawns may have been better if kept in chunks. This was still ok though - and cost $8.50.
After starting with three entrees we decided to only have one main course - so a curry seemed obvious. We chose the Panaeng beef with Thai curry paste in coconut milk, lime leaves and vegetables topped with crushed peanuts. It was a really good sized serving too and there was plenty of everything - including their delicious curry sauce. This dish only cost $14.50 which was excellent value for the quality and quantity.
Of course we also had steamed jasmine rice - which cost under $3 per person.
Doytao Thai is good. The food is high quality and the quantities and prices are very reasonable. We enjoyed it and would go back.
