Latest news with #Thaitown
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Put your face in a hot pot': This no-frills Thai diner is your new BYO winter spot
Anyway, given I'm wearing hiking socks and sheepskin slippers while writing this, and just googled 'Is it OK to plug a heater into a double adapter' (AI Overviews says 'No'), perhaps the best Thaitown recommendation I can give you for the next three months is Khao Kang Maruay on Ultimo Road opposite Market City. Opened by Vin and Nararat Carromprath in 2020, the modest BYO-only restaurant specialises in Isan-style cooking from Thailand's north-east, but the broad menu (it just keeps going, one laminated, photo-filled page after another) provides plenty of opportunities to dive headfirst into toms, gaengs and yums from all corners of the country. It's the hot pots that I'm most enthralled with right now, though, particularly a winter special of beef braised in broth howling with spice and freshened with herbs. A lucky dip of tripe, tendon, spleen and springy beef balls means each spoonful is a different adventure. I'm also very much about the jaew-hon, a traditional Isan soup powered by pork bones and supercharged with lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime. It comes to the table in a little pot on a gas burner, accompanied by a raw meat smorgasbord of prawns, liver, beef, pork, chicken and squid to dunk and cook. There's also a ferocious amount of cabbage, basil and glass noodles to add, plus a potent dipping sauce (nam jim jaew) underlined by roasted and ground sticky rice. Uncompromising Thai pings brain receptors in a way that no other cuisine can, although Sichuan comes close. Both are highwire acts balancing spicy, salty and sweet, but Thai – especially Isan, with its sour, complex, fermented funk – wriggles into the medulla in a way that has you thinking about papaya salad, seemingly for no reason, on the way to work. The som tums are good here, too, but in keeping with the winter angle of this review, I can more earnestly recommend the comfort-pain paradox of the lime-zapped larb; a cuttlefish kra pow stir-fry of holy basil and ruthless slips of chilli; and the Isan-style sai krok (fermented pork sausage) fragrant with garlic. The pork boat-noodle soup pulses with ancient spice and blood. Assorted, coconut-forward desserts bring you back down to earth.
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Put your face in a hot pot': This no-frills Thai diner is your new go-to winter spot
Anyway, given I'm wearing hiking socks and sheepskin slippers while writing this, and just googled 'Is it OK to plug a heater into a double adapter' (AI Overviews says 'No'), perhaps the best Thaitown recommendation I can give you for the next three months is Khao Kang Maruay on Ultimo Road opposite Market City. Opened by Vin and Nararat Carromprath in 2020, the modest BYO-only restaurant specialises in Isan-style cooking from Thailand's north-east, but the broad menu (it just keeps going, one laminated, photo-filled page after another) provides plenty of opportunities to dive headfirst into toms, gaengs and yums from all corners of the country. It's the hot pots that I'm most enthralled with right now, though, particularly a winter special of beef braised in broth howling with spice and freshened with herbs. A lucky dip of tripe, tendon, spleen and springy beef balls means each spoonful is a different adventure. I'm also very much about the jaew-hon, a traditional Isan soup powered by pork bones and supercharged with lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime. It comes to the table in a little pot on a gas burner, accompanied by a raw meat smorgasbord of prawns, liver, beef, pork, chicken and squid to dunk and cook. There's also a ferocious amount of cabbage, basil and glass noodles to add, plus a potent dipping sauce (nam jim jaew) underlined by roasted and ground sticky rice. Uncompromising Thai pings brain receptors in a way that no other cuisine can, although Sichuan comes close. Both are highwire acts balancing spicy, salty and sweet, but Thai – especially Isan, with its sour, complex, fermented funk – wriggles into the medulla in a way that has you thinking about papaya salad, seemingly for no reason, on the way to work. The som tums are good here, too, but in keeping with the winter angle of this review, I can more earnestly recommend the comfort-pain paradox of the lime-zapped larb; a cuttlefish kra pow stir-fry of holy basil and ruthless slips of chilli; and the Isan-style sai krok (fermented pork sausage) fragrant with garlic. The pork boat-noodle soup pulses with ancient spice and blood. Assorted, coconut-forward desserts bring you back down to earth.
The Age
2 days ago
- The Age
‘Put your face in a hot pot': This no-frills Thai diner is your new go-to winter spot
Anyway, given I'm wearing hiking socks and sheepskin slippers while writing this, and just googled 'Is it OK to plug a heater into a double adapter' (AI Overviews says 'No'), perhaps the best Thaitown recommendation I can give you for the next three months is Khao Kang Maruay on Ultimo Road opposite Market City. Opened by Vin and Nararat Carromprath in 2020, the modest BYO-only restaurant specialises in Isan-style cooking from Thailand's north-east, but the broad menu (it just keeps going, one laminated, photo-filled page after another) provides plenty of opportunities to dive headfirst into toms, gaengs and yums from all corners of the country. It's the hot pots that I'm most enthralled with right now, though, particularly a winter special of beef braised in broth howling with spice and freshened with herbs. A lucky dip of tripe, tendon, spleen and springy beef balls means each spoonful is a different adventure. I'm also very much about the jaew-hon, a traditional Isan soup powered by pork bones and supercharged with lemongrass, galangal and makrut lime. It comes to the table in a little pot on a gas burner, accompanied by a raw meat smorgasbord of prawns, liver, beef, pork, chicken and squid to dunk and cook. There's also a ferocious amount of cabbage, basil and glass noodles to add, plus a potent dipping sauce (nam jim jaew) underlined by roasted and ground sticky rice. Uncompromising Thai pings brain receptors in a way that no other cuisine can, although Sichuan comes close. Both are highwire acts balancing spicy, salty and sweet, but Thai – especially Isan, with its sour, complex, fermented funk – wriggles into the medulla in a way that has you thinking about papaya salad, seemingly for no reason, on the way to work. The som tums are good here, too, but in keeping with the winter angle of this review, I can more earnestly recommend the comfort-pain paradox of the lime-zapped larb; a cuttlefish kra pow stir-fry of holy basil and ruthless slips of chilli; and the Isan-style sai krok (fermented pork sausage) fragrant with garlic. The pork boat-noodle soup pulses with ancient spice and blood. Assorted, coconut-forward desserts bring you back down to earth.
