Thai Tide Restaurant | Melbourne CBD — Restaurant in Melbourne

My experience at Thai Tide was okay with the place and service but a bit disappointing of how elevated the dishes with portion and price that I personally think it wasn't worth it. I was disappointed to pay that price with not quite a full stomach. I get that they want to elevate and make it to be like Thai tapas.

Thai Tide does have a very unique menus selected from all parts of Thailand 🇹🇭 As I am Thai and proud. I will get into the food quite detailed.

When I was looking at the menu and saw different dishes that you don't usually find in Thai restaurants, I was surprised. We ordered a few dishes from Southern Thailand. I am from the South, so I definitely know what I'm talking about.

Miangkam, the entree on leaf, it's our favorite dish, and it's very hard to find here. It tasted good, but $6 a bite, quite pricey, I would say.

One dish in particular interested me, grilled Squid/Calamari from Ko Samui 🏝 As Ko Samui born and raised, I never knew that grilled squid is considered to be our local dish. Of course, you would expect seafood when you go to an island. So I was curious and asked one of the waiters. I told him that I am from Ko Samui and had no idea this dish is from my hometown.

He, then, admitted to me that they just put that name to make the dish more interesting 🤔 to be honest, it was quite chewy. Another dish is grilled chicken skewer, it tasted like Chinese BBQ pork. I assumed they use the same marinate which is different than what they told me that they aimed for ... which is a street chicken skewers on charcoal where you usually see with papaya salad food cart.

They also told me that the texture might be a but wierd for grilled chicken as they boiled it 50-70% cooked to save time and finish it off on grilled when ordered. So, I was also disappointed.

Pork belly, 24 hours stewed, which I don't think it's 24 hours and this dish is also from the South. I found it too fatty. I know it's pork belly but the peice with less fat would make the dish better as we can't finsih the whole dish even though it was small because it was too fatty and gives you oily taste in the mouth.

For dessert, Thai custard, I noticed the sponge texture so I asked if they made it themselves which I admire the effort. They said they're still trying to make the texture right.

This is my experience on Valentine's day. Thank you for...

After being closed for a good half of the year, Thai Tide has just reopened with a whole new menu focused on traditional regional Thai dishes from around the country. The waiter explained the menu is inspired by everyday foods that he would eat at home with his family.

We started with half a dozen of their appellation oysters with burnt Thai chilli jam [$6ea]. Each oyster was a mouthful of flavour with lots of textures and a good spice kick! Yum! Next, were recommended favourites from the waiter - 1) Raw prawns with herbs and Thai spices [$18], 2) "Mah Kwan" spiced caramelised crispy chicken [$15], and 3) Barramundi with red curry, beaten egg in banana leaf [$12]. The raw prawns were fresh, and all the spices gave it such great flavour! It was pretty spicy though! The crispy chicken was cooked to perfection - super juicy and tasty. The barramundi was an interesting and unique dish! A very subtle barramundi taste and had a familiar Thai flavour that I couldn't put my finger on.

Onto the mains! The squid [$32] was my favourite! It was so simple - just a clean, fresh and natural squid taste. It reminded me of the fresh fish in Asia that's just grilled as is and doesn't need any seasoning. Delicious! We also got the 24hr stewed pork belly [$28] - super tender and very flavourful. The blue swimmer crab meat "Kai Jeow" (omelette) [$15] tasted very homey! All of this was complimented with pretty blue butterfly pea-coloured rice.

Finally, desserts!! The first dessert was green mango with chilli shrimp dip [$7]. I mean, it doesn't get more homey and traditional than this! However, the highlight of my night was the palm sugar egg custard cake with coconut ice cream [$12]! The best dessert I've had in a while! A must order! ✨ Perfect egg custard cake topped with palm sugar beautifully torched to a nice crisp and paired with coconut ice cream 🤤🤤

This spot isn't your usual red duck curry or pad thai Thai restaurant. Thai Tide shows off Thai regional cuisine, paired with a range of Australian organic natural wines!

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Today’s Thai Tide is no same old, no Thai Tide of the past. In the year that it was away due to pandemic pressures, Thai Tide 2.0 had wiped its slate clean of old favourites. In their place: lesser known dishes from regional Thailand.

The concept, as summed up by host James Tanatit, “This is what we will cook for you if we invited you to our homes. You won’t find Pad Thai or Tom Yum at home.” So take Omm, made of Ant’s eggs, a dish you will find on dining tables in E-sarn homes. Or Mah Kwan, a spiced caramelised chicken, which is what locals from Naan will cook and eat at home.

It is a bold move, one that would no doubt leave some old customers feeling disappointed. But since Thai Tide’s renditions of familiar classics are some of our favourites around Melbourne, there was no reason to doubt that Chef Nutchanun Thongsawat’s regional foray would be any less palatable.

First up, Ant’s eggs. Springy like fish roe, looking like giant grains of rice, at Thai Tide this delicacy from the region of E-sarn absorbed all the complex flavours of a braise with yanang leaves, mushrooms, dill, chilli and lime. Somewhat like eating sheep’s brains; there is no taste to ant’s eggs in itself, you savour them for the texture.

Surviving our episode of Fear Factor at Thai Tide to live and tell the tale, we relaxed our mental faculties to enjoy other dishes.

Smaller portion sizes were happy news for our stomach, allowing us to feast on more variety. Hits at our table included citrusy spicy caramelised chicken from Naan, tender stewed beef cheek in cumin coconut curry from the South, crispy whitebait from Phangnga (this vanished from our table in no time), and mackerel cutlet in palm sugar and fish sauce from Central. Triple cooked crunchy pork bellies from Phuket could have been better if they were more tender.

The wine list was all natural. This made for some enjoyable table wines, but they lacked complexity. A BYO policy, we think, would be a very welcome addition.

New beginning, new concept, new adventure. Thai Tide, our waiting was not in vain. It’s great to...