My Favourite Fruits

The talked up lunch @ Satang Thai, Haymarket + more pics from Mr L

May 17, 2010 at 12:13 pm 2 comments

I had lunch with my mate Johy today.  He’s a lucky fella because he works in Haymarket – the heart of China Town.  We used to work together in a different location and had no such lunch prospects.  I think he thanks his lucky stars he’s landed in Haymarket and he joyously told me on Skype that he’d found a great new place for us to visit.  Since we’ve eaten in a few places together, I’ve learnt to trust his tips – so I could hardly wait!

From humble beginnings…

Johy tells me that he had been visiting the little hole in the wall restaurant shown in the picture below, but was disappointed because he could seldom get a table.  He was so thrilled when the restauranteurs cottoned onto this issue and remedied the situation by opening a huge, big, upmarket version of it directly across the road. 

Both versions are called Satang Thai, and in case you’re concerned that the new one isn’t as good as the original one, the writing is on the wall to assure you that it is “original from Satang Thai”! 

Mmm… pork belly…

We’re led through the bustling ground floor of the restaurant and told to head upstairs where another waiter allows us to choose from a number of tables.  We choose one near the window and take a moment between chatting to peruse the menu. 

Johy’s dish of choice is simply called “Peanut Sauce” – he gets to choose his own meat (chicken today, thank you!) and it comes stir fried with creamy peanut sauce and vegetables.

I spend far more time talking than I do looking at the menu (I’m sure you’re surprised), but in a brief glimpse at the menu, whaddya know?  The pork belly jumps out at me!  It’s called Kana Moo Krob and is described as being “Stir-fried Chinese broccoli with crispy pork belly”.  What’s more – there’s a picture of it – were there ever any doubt that I’d be having pork belly, the picture seals the deal.

We close our menus and position them on the corner of the table to signify that we’re decided and we wish to order now.  We go back to our conversation and notice the upper floor starts to fill up.  About 15 minutes passes before someone comes to take our order – and they only do so after we’ve caught their attention.  It annoys us briefly, but once our orders are taken, we’re looking forward to lunch.

Orders taken, game is on

Though it took a while for our orders to be taken, it doesn’t seem long before they arrive.  Mine comes first.  It looks quite beautiful to a pork lover like me.  It’s really as advertised.  Simply: small, crunchy, perfect looking, bite-sized pieces of pork belly.  They laze among glossy, green, Chinese broccoli.  Moulded rice sits below the combination, and red slices of chilli sit on top.

What I love about this lunch with Johy is that he doesn’t really like pork belly.  So it’s all for me!  And though he does try one piece for good measure, it’s my destiny to crack on (pun intended) and get through the pork belly – even if I have to leave some rice and some pesky greens behind!

Johy’s lunch arrives and it’s just what he’s hoping for.  There is no measly amount of chicken on this plate – it is a good portion of chicken, coated in that favoured peanut sauce with rice.  This is just what he was after!

We finish our lunches and after some more conversation, realised we’d better get back to work!

The low down

Satang Thai is located at 20 Quay St, Haymarket (and, well, across the road from that address.) 

Opening hours: 11am – 10pm, seven days

Contact: 9212 5885

Go there for lunch.  Aside from the issue with getting our order taken, it pretty much rocked!  And it’s cheap.  Awesome.

Promised photos

I promised to include some of Mr L’s awesome Freshie sunrise photos tonight.  I’ve also added a few from our trip down to Berrima.  They’re random, but hopefully you don’t mind too much!

Entry filed under: australia, Beach, Cheap n cheerful, Dinner, Lunch, Middle of the road, Photography, Southern highlands, Swimming, sydney. Tags: australia, Berima, delicious, friends, Lunch, Southern Highlands, sumptuous, sydney.