Fabulous Food – A true but cheeky tale

By Franz Scheurer

I have always been fascinated by collective nouns. From a ‘parliament of owls’ to a ‘slither of snakes’ the collective noun is wonderfully descriptive and can be immensely entertaining. Why am I telling you this? Mainly because I joined a ‘critique of food writers’ last night for dinner and instead of turning into a ‘gaggle of gluttons’ (bad food) we were lucky and ended up a ‘gobble of gourmands’ (terrific food).

Pat chose the restaurant, a tiny establishment, laminex tables, paper serviettes, noisy and choc-a-bloc full, located in… ah, more about that later.

We had been warned about the authenticity of the food, spicy, fiery and non-compromising, so I took along a Paringa Estate Pinot Gris 2003 and a Marc Brédif Vouvray 1985, both wines with a fair amount of residual sweetness, hoping that they would stand up to the chilli heat. What all of us, (except Pat, of course) were not expecting, though, was food in perfect balance. Yes, it was hot and spicy, but also salty and sweet. Not since the sad closure of Darley Street Thai have any of us eaten Thai food of such freshness, texture and balance.

A ‘ballet of waitresses’ brought out the starters, a ‘Mieng Kuay Teaw’ (sliced pork, bean sprouts, fresh chillies and mint, wrapped in rice paper), ‘Grilled Marinated Pork’, (tiny skewers of meat, heavily marinated, served with a tangy-hot dipping sauce), ‘Steamed Fish Balls’ (soft, gooey, gelatinous morsels), ‘Stuffed Chicken Wings’ (deep-fried with an aromatic pork stuffing, crisp and satisfying, served with a far-above-average chilli sauce) and the absolutely stunning ‘Fish Cake’ (a mountain of well-seasoned whole white bait, mixed with the more standard, hand-worked fishcake mixture, deep-fried to shreds and shards giving the dish an incredible texture without losing the essence).

This was followed by a ‘procession of main courses’: ‘Nam Khao Tod’, (crisp rice and sausage salad, fiery hot and my favourite dish of the night), ‘Hoy Tod’ (pan-fried mussel omelette with bean sprouts and chilli, Roberta and Pat’s favourite dish), ‘Yum Pla Krob’ (salad of Thai herb and crispy fish), ‘Pla Tod Ka Min’ (deep-fried marinated sand whiting with turmeric, salt and pepper, probably too crisp and ‘overcooked’ for most Westerners), ‘Ka Nom Jeen Gang Tai Pla’ (rice vermicelli served with a sour curry of bamboo, apple-eggplant and snake beans, fermented probably with ox bile, Matthew’s favourite), ‘Larb of Chicken’ (very salty minced chicken), ‘Som Dtam’ (an incredibly hot but cleansing green papaya salad), and finally my and Corin’s favourite main, the ‘Red Curry of Prawns’, (red chilli curry with pumpkin and green bean, multi-layered, beautifully balanced between hot, sour, salty and sweet with an incredible richness), all accompanied by lots of steamed rice.

I suggest ordering a young coconut drink in case the very liberal use of scuds and tiny, roasted dried red chillies is overwhelming. The flavours are incredible, the textures sublime, to the extent where you totally forget your surrounding, immersed soley and wholly in the action of shovelling food into your gob going ohhh and ahhh.

Service is efficient, with a smile and they can open a wine bottle with a stubborn cork without any worries. If you need to visit the bathroom you have to visit the establishment next door and share the bathroom with a ‘grub of backpackers’.

Value for money is incredibly good with average entreés around $6.50, mains around $12.50. This is seriously good Thai food, cooked by a ‘giggle of lady cooks’ (who incidentally eat the same food as the patrons at the end of the night) and I reckon they’ve just scored a ‘rave of restaurant reviewers’ as regulars.

Score: Best Thai

Where is it?

Well, that’s the catch… I am not going to tell you. It’s too good to have it so full that we can’t get in…

Just kidding:

The Restaurant’s name is: Spice I Am

90 Wentworth Ave

Cnr Campbell Street and Elizabeth Street

Sydney NSW 2010

Tel.: 02 9280 0928