CHEDI - NEWTOWN, SYDNEY

Chedi
74 King St
Newtown, Sydney

Chedi has been here for ten years - but if you think its stayed the same - think again. It has recently been completely redone - changed from a very casual uni student haunt to a more sophisticated but still relaxed restaurant. It oozes charm both inside and in its lovely leafy courtyard at the rear.


Inside it looks like a showroom lounge - nicely themed and very elegant.

Once you are seated, a picture is taken of your group as a memento of your evening - a nice touch!

Chedi is innovative Thai cuisine at its best. Whilst you can still get many typical Thai dishes there are also imaginative dishes that take it to a higher culinary level.

To start with, each person is given a lovely parcel of nibbles - beautifully wrapped and looking almost to good to open.

Chedi goes to a lot of trouble with little extras - and it also delivers on the quality of its food as well!

Our first dish was a beautifully fresh and vibrant scallop salad.

It consisted of plump juicy scallops, pickled watermelon, fresh shallots, chilli seeds, plain vinegar and castor sugar.

It had a spectacular look and smell to it - and tasted just as good!

We then moved on to chicken wings - but not your typical deep fried fare.

These were stuffed chicken wings filled with a combination of mixed mushrooms and layered in a mound of sticky rice.

Wow - these were again lovely and tasted as good as it looked.

We then moved on to the summer rolls - filled with prawns, mango, noodles and mint and bathed in a sweet vinaigrette dressing with scattered cashews garnishing the plate.

This was so light and so tropically fresh.

It again looked fantastic with a great mix of bright colours.

Our next dish was the stir fried crispy pork belly with chilli and basil.

A huge mound of delicious food arrived! The crispy pork belly was amazing and the combined flavours of the whole dish were great.

The broccoli mixed in added further colour and flavour. This dish was a real winner - if you love pork belly it's a must!

The most impressive dish of the night was next - the presentation of this was simply amazing! It was whole snapper in a thick sweet chilli based sauce. The fish carcass was curved around the plate with all its meat removed and piled high in the middle. We did not find a single bone either.

This dish looked so impressive and tasted fantastic. We'd rush back for this dish alone - and we could have it time and time again.

Our final main course was the soft shell crab with mango salad.

Wow - it was great!

We had an enormous mound of light, crisp, tender and moist inside food piled high in a bowl made from banana leaves.

We could again eat this over and over again!

We finished with fresh mango with sticky rice that had been cooked in coconut milk.

Mlady loves mango so we were off to a good start but it also came with a side serving of mango ice cream - double winner!

It was a fresh and refreshing end to a lovely meal.

Every meal at Chedi had unique flavours. They were all fresh and all melted in your mouth. It was one of the best Thai meals we have had and we thoroughly recommend dining here! The decor was also lovely and the service was attentive and charming.

Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Chedi. Also special thanks to Kwan from Chedi for arranging our visit and for looking after us so well on our visit.