Caysorn Thai — Restaurant in Sydney

Caysorn - Thai Southern food isn’t new. It’s been a balcony stalwart on the first floor of the Prince Centre for nearly 15 years. What’s even more remarkable than its longevity in a climate where even good restaurants close down, is across this period, it has stayed true to its owner’s vision. After migrating here in 1973, Chalio Tongsinoon, wanted to serve us the spicy and flavoursome southern Thai cuisine we were lacking. Despite being told dishes like kanom jeen (soft fermented rice noodles served with fish-based curry sauce and fresh vegetables) wouldn’t work in Sydney, six variations on this dish are still on Caysorn’s menu today.

We opt for kanom jeen nam ya kati ($17.90) where the curry sauce poured over loops of noodles is blended with flathead, coconut milk and kaffir lime. Load up on fresh and pickled vegetables at the restaurant’s salad bar to enjoy with this tasty and quite spicy dish. There’s also a DIY element to the miang goong ($26.90) with betel leaves passed separately to the mound of Thai salad. Here you’ll be dodging scud chillies in the slightly sweet mountain of crisp school prawns, lemongrass, ginger, shallots, toasted coconuts, and ground shrimp, to wrap your own. Nahm prik kapi ($24.90) is an omelette made with a leafy fern we consider an invasive plant. It’s mild and easy to eat with a small amount of spicy shrimp paste.

Super sweet floor staff did gently try to dissuade us from ordering the jungle curry with red spot whiting ($26.90). Listed on the menu with three chillies, it’s a ballistically hot collection of Thai eggplants, holy basil and fillets of whiting. There’s a reason there’s an ice cream cart in the centre of this colourful space. I resort to taking pinches of the sticky rice that came in a set ($24.90) with spongey grilled pork jowl and papaya salad (which was also hot). While this restaurant kicked my butt, I loved its unapologetic, punchy Southern Thai cuisine. They also allow BYO ($3.50/person) but good wine is probably wasted against such...

We went there last Thursday for dinner before watching a movie. The staff was very friendly and very helpful but there was a slight problem with some of the staff's English proficiency levels. Food presentation was satisfactory. We had fried dumplings for entree. They were nice. We tried them for the first time. Then we had the green curry chicken. It was OK too, but maybe on the sweeter side, probably too sweet. And then we were served a Massaman beef curry. It was a TOTAL disappointment. We love Thai food. But this dish was the worst we have ever had. We had greasy, hard leftovers, most likely cut from better pieces. They were irregularly shaped, inedible, hard, chewy pieces. We left out all the "meat" ingredients. We only ate rice with curry sauce. We would like to invite the chef or owner to any Thai restaurant in the Blacktown area, to see and taste this dish made properly. We asked the chef of our local restaurant about the secret of softening the meat. We were told that the beef used to prepare this dish must be marinated for 24 hours to be very soft. Massaman beef curry is a dish to die for at any Thai restaurant in the Blacktown area. It just melts in your mouth. It comes in the form of very regular cubes. It hardly requires chewing. The one we tried here two days ago was a disaster. We do not recommend this dish to anyone. We will definitely...

One of the best Thai restaurants in Sydney.(?) I've been trying tons of Thai restaurants in Australia. This Caysorn is the most authentic one. The others are focused on local people, so it is too sweet or salty. But this Caysorn restaurant is well balanced with flavours and every single dish I loved it. Really satisfied. However, on Friday night, I waited for almost 1 hour.. After all, it was worth waiting, maybe make a reservation on the busy weekends.. I recommend Pad Kee Mao and soft shell crab salad👍👍. (It is a bit spicy)

●●Updating my review: I went there every Fridays. on 9th of August, I went there at 6pm but I've been kicked out by staff at 6.30 pm !! After dinner, I was trying to order some dessert, but the male staff came, cleaned up our table, and removed my plate while I was still eating.. It seems like trying to kick me out and trying to get a second customer. But there was no lineup waiting people. even if they are fully booked, they should inform me at the beginning. terrible experience ! very disappointing service. maybe your restaurant cooked good food, but the service was not as good as food.. The restaurant never informed me about 30 minutes of seating time when I made a reservation.. Maybe your restaurant needs to inform the customers that you have 30 minutes of seating time. what a...