Sailors Thai

By Franz Scheurer

When David Thompson lived in Australia his restaurants, Darley Street Thai and Sailors Thai, were unquestionably on top of the Thai food scene and presented an incredible eating experience. With David’s closure of Darley Street Thai and his move to London to open Nahm at the Halkin Hotel, his role at Sailors became a supervisory one from afar, and Sailors slowly lost its edge and, eventually, its SMH Good Food Guide hats. The chef of many years left and at the same time, thankfully, David spared some time from his hectic schedule and returned to Sydney to rethink the menu, adjust, tweak, teach and perfect the new dishes with the new chef. Add one of Sydney’s best ‘front of house’ men, Colin Nelson, who left est. to join the team at Sailors and the restaurant suddenly works as a team and fires on all cylinders.

Start with the ‘smoked golden char, hand milked caviar, peanuts, chilli and lime with palm sugar dressing’ served on betel leaves or the ‘egg net with chicken and caramelised coconut’ for an extraordinary flavour hit. The smokiness of the tea-smoked char is wonderful and the texture of the egg net sublime and, although sweet, in perfect balance. The ‘crispy fish and sweet pork salad with green mango and red chilli dressing’ is an old Sailors standard always worth ordering, but the ‘roast duck and pickled lime salad with toasted sesame seeds’ was so brilliant that I cornered Colin and asked if he was hiding David in the kitchen, expecting him to appear at any minute, just after spiking my green beans with a scud. Alas, he is still abroad. The ‘spicy relish of pork and green tomatoes served with poached vegetables and crisp pork skin’ was both confronting and very satisfying (and somehow some perfectly seared livers made it onto the same plate; always an ideal bribe for my taste buds). Often a simple green curry separates the boys from the men and Sailors ‘green curry of chicken, Thai eggplants and fresh bamboo shoots’ is certainly a man’s dish (except that it was the lady at the table who ate most of it!). The only slight disappointment of the night were the ‘deep fried quails, garlic and peppercorns with red chilli and tamarind sauce’. I have had this ancient dish a number of times (although usually with scallops) and this version was nowhere near as powerful as what I am used to and, to my taste, needed more salt to be in balance. The daily special of soft shell crabs, presented simply deep-fried with a sweet/sour dipping sauce made up for it, though. It is rare that I like the greens as much as the rest of the meal, but the ‘stir fried asparagus and sugar snap peas’ were fabulous. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly textured and hallelujah, the asparagus were peeled!

A dessert sampler including ‘white sticky rice with fresh mango’, ‘banana pudding with fresh shredded coconut’ and ‘tapioca and young coconut pudding flavoured with pandanus leaves’ was attractive and tasty; I especially liked the use of salt in the banana pudding. Most amazingly, the tasting menu only costs $70 per head. Now that is value!

The wine list, as usual at Sailors, was appropriate to the food, and they offer a great choice of premium wines by the glass. With both Peter Boyer and Colin Nelson on the floor, service couldn’t be better and the whole restaurant oozes confidence and that ‘je ne sais quoi’ that makes the difference. Great job, guys, and welcome back to the top!

Score: 7.5/10

For more information or bookings:

Sailors Thai

106 George Street

The Rocks NSW 2000

Tel.: 02 9251 2466