Fat Girl Thai Kitchen: Best Thai in Bayside Melbourne — Restaurant in Melbourne

Recommended for fans of eating palm sugar with a spoon then chasing it with a shot of lime juice. That's not quite my thing, so this was a dining experience equal parts miserable, mystifying and memorable.

Thai food should be a balance of zest, spice, sweet and sour. All dishes at Fat Girl were sweet, sweet, sweet and more sweet.

The food is more expensive when you dine in (most dishes $2 more). I'm not entirely sure how they justify the additional cost, as the staff are more focused on socialising than taking orders or checking in with their customers. Not once were we asked how our meal was going and we spent an extra $10 across 5 dishes for the privilege of having to wave wait staff over at each juncture.

We ordered Fish Cakes, Satay Skewers, Tom Yum (chicken) soup with coconut rice, and Kee Mao (beef) noodles.

The chicken satay skewers were a curious dish. When I think of skewers, I imagine the skewer loaded with tender chunks of char-coaled or char-grilled chicken. Here was a unique spin on the dish - served a small pile of shallow pan-fried chicken strips resting upon a bed of supermarket bag lettuce drowned in a concoction of peanut butter and palm sugar. The dish invokes memories of experiments gone awry from pantry leftovers at 4 am on a Saturday morning.

Next came the Tom Yum soup. The soup base was overpowered by lime juice and sugar. The same tough chicken breast strips used in the "skewers" were dumped in the bowl. To understand the texture try to imagine a mixture of wet cardboard and gristle.

The coconut rice belongs on the dessert menu. It was dripping (literally) in a syrup of sugar and coconut cream.

Last came the Kee Mao noodles. Served with deep-fried basil leaves whose stems were hard and bitter, the leaves tasted slightly rancid. The beef was as tough and chewy as the miserable chicken. Consistent with the other dishes, these noodles were tossed in a sickly sweet sauce.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, now I'm off to get my insulin...

As a vegetarian, finding a restaurant that caters well to plant-based diets can sometimes be a challenge, but Fat Girl Thai Restaurant exceeds all expectations. From the moment you step in, you're greeted with a cozy, vibrant atmosphere that perfectly complements the incredible food.

The menu offers a variety of vegetarian options, and every dish is crafted with care and packed with authentic Thai flavors. The Pad Thai is hands down one of the best I’ve ever had—perfectly balanced with the right amount of sweetness, tang, and a touch of spice. The noodles are cooked to perfection, and the tofu is crispy yet tender, adding great texture.

If you're looking for something refreshing, the Larb Tofu is an absolute delight. The fresh herbs, lime, and tofu create a zesty, tangy flavor explosion, all without any meat, making it a fantastic option for vegetarians.

The Veggie Stir-Fry is another standout. It's a simple dish, yet so flavorful, with a variety of fresh vegetables cooked just right—still crisp, but infused with the wonderful flavors of Thai spices.

Fat Girl Thai Restaurant has become a go-to spot for delicious, satisfying vegetarian Thai food. Whether you're a vegetarian or just love incredible Thai cuisine, this place is a must-try! Highly...

The food is overly sweet. Ordered satay chicken is pan fried and with overly sweet peanut butter source, not charcoal or even on a skewer. Chicken Tom yum soup is too much palm sugar and the bottom half of the soup are very sour from the lime and can’t drink it at all. Chicken taste like paper from the soup because it’s way overcooked. The worse part is the coconut rice. We were waiting for 10min just to have the rice to be served with the Tom yum soup, and do not mentioned there is a long waiting gap to be served for food without any waitresses checking on us. All waitresses when they are have the time they all at the counter which we couldn’t ask them from a distance. Then when we have the rice, it was covered with coconut cream and taste sickly sweet which we can’t eat it at all. We provided the feedback to the chef and the chef only said that’s the way that supposed to be for Thai cooking. But in fact there are so many Thai restaurant in Melbourne we have tried that we never have something like this. This is the worse Thai food and experience I ever had. As we are living in the neighbourhood and want to support the business. But for this one we definitely don’t recommended...