Tom Toon — Restaurant in Melbourne

Casual restaurant with a unique range of traditional dishes from the Northeastern region of Thailand- Isan. Love coming here for the classic staples of fresh papaya salad, grilled meat, fried seafood and herbal soup curry.

🍲 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐛 𝐌𝐨 𝐃𝐢𝐧 - prawn & glass noodles claypot ($21.9) 🍃 𝐊𝐚𝐞𝐧𝐠 𝐎𝐦 - pork soft bone ($21.9) 🦐 𝐒𝐨𝐦 𝐓𝐮𝐦 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐒𝐨𝐝 (𝐌𝐢𝐥𝐝) - raw prawns ($24.9) 🍚 𝐒𝐚𝐢 𝐊𝐫𝐨𝐤 𝐈𝐬𝐚𝐧 - Traditional fermented sausage with pork and rice ($11) 🥢 𝐁𝐞𝐞𝐟 𝐍𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐩 (Boat noodles) ($16-19) 🥢 𝐓𝐡𝐚𝐢 𝐒𝐮𝐤𝐢𝐲𝐚𝐤𝐢 ($15-20)

Isan food is known for its bold, sour and spicy flavours and that umami of fermented fish sauce and shrimp paste. Som tum (green papaya salad) and larb (spicy meat salad) are staples in this region.

Isan soups are mainly spicy hot/sour - Kaeng Om is a fresh and spicy water-based soup/curry. The aromatic broth has a fiery kick tamed by a hint of sweetness and sourness from with lemongrass, galangal, lime leaves and onion. It is packed with pork soft bones and vegetables including Thai eggplants, the essential dill added in at the end of the cook to provide a pop of freshness. For something non-spicy, the claypot bean thread noodles with fried garlic, ginger and onion is a good option.

You can choose from two bases for the fresh and spicy Som Tum (green papaya)! Thai base is mixed with dried shrimp, peanut, tomato, chilli, fish sauce, lime and palm sugar. While Pla Ra base replaces the dried shrimp with salted crab and pickled mud fish (Pla Ra), resulting in much more umami and pungent flavours.

Boat noodles have a rich broth topped with soft chunks of your preferred protein. Sukiyaki Hang is stir fried vermicelli with Kang Kung (water spinach), egg, Chinese cabbage, and a homemade sweet chilli sauce.

We are undoubtedly spoilt for choice with Thai food in Melb, but Tom Toon offers some less...

We went for an end of semester dinner, there was 15 of us. The service was very fast(as in taking orders & bringing out food- we had booked ahead so was seated immediately) & friendly. We got a group photo taken & you could feel the care from our server as he directed us so that everyone was visible. He went above & beyond.

I shared amongst a smaller group of 5, we ordered:

Duck curry $21.9 Green curry $19.90 Rad na noodle $21.90 Tom yum soup &19.90 Khor moo yang $19.90 Thai sukiyaki $17.90 2x coconut rice $4.90 1x sticky rice $3.9 Thai milk tea x2 $5.9 Thai pink milk $5.9 Total $152.80

I found the pink milk to be too sweet for me (but was my friends drink & she enjoyed it) i ordered the thai milk tea which was super yum- i also liked that it came with crushed ice instead of big cubes (my preference)

Food wise, the khor moo yang was definitely my favourite (grilled pork neck) it was absolutely delicious & i dipped it in the sauce + wrapped it in lettuce. Ill 100% be back for that.

Our server wrapped the container in gladwrap for us so it wouldnt spill 🥹🤍 & was constantly joking with us making it very comfortable. I also found the decore to be very vibey- i really enjoy eating at this establishment.

We took a bit long wrapping up & stayed passed their close (sorry !!) & they werent mean or rushing us out (sorry again)

I found the restaurant to be pretty affordable & with big servings plus tasty. Would definitely...

I had a sneaking suspicion that this would be a 5 star meal even before the food came, and I was eventually proven right. Maybe it was the rustic Thai restaurant atmosphere. Maybe it was the fact that they had 2 full menu pages of different somtum (papaya salad) dishes.

Whatever it was, I highly rate the quick weekday dinner I had here. Every dish we had was spot on. The tomyum noodle was very heartwarming and came with generous portions. It was clear that TomToon did not take any shortcuts in making their soup base - it erred a little on the sweet side and could be more spicy, but was distinctly fragrant.

It’s been a while since we fought over a fried rice dish but TomToon’s version was so so delicious! Even if you have finished all the protein and vege, you would still savour every spoonful of rice. The crispy pork was not the best, but at least it was crispy + fatty and generally a joy to finish.

At the end of the meal, I noticed how many Thai customers there were in the restaurant. Prices were quite reasonable too ($18pp for a starter and 2 mains). service was also especially warm. Thank you for transporting me back to Bangkok...