Newtown Thai — Restaurant in Sydney

What to order: • Boat Noodle (the stock in this aromatic soup noodle is rich and heady and complex) • Gai Yang (grilled chicken has been lovingly handled. Still moist and juicy with the right amount of char; the home-made dipping sauce had been seasoned just right) • Som Tum (papaya salad is a staple in Thai street food; the secret is always in the balance of bright acidity to the base notes of salted dried prawns and fragrant • Pad Thai - this isn’t your typical Pad Thai you’re used to. It’s not fried noodles. Traditional Pad Thai is made by adding a sauce to the noodles in a wok with very little oil. It’s very tasty and delicious with notes of sour, sweet and salty all at once. A great example of Thai’s love of different flavours combined. • Crab Fried Rice - what appears to be a straight forward simple dish is elevated here to elegantly delicious. Well cooked, seasoned perfectly and not oily.

What we missed: • We were too late for the amazing noodle dish Khao Soi. This is a laksa-like dish that is miles ahead of anything you’ve tasted. We’ve tried this dish in a few restaurants but really believe that Nat’s version will probably be pretty amazing if her Boat Noodles are anything to go by. • When we return we will bring our appetites, friends in tow and an open mind to ordering whatever we see on the menu. Nat is one of the owner/chefs at Newtown Thai.

Not only is Nat extremely personable, the more you speak with her, the more you realise how passionate she is about bringing real Thai Street Food to Sydney.

Most people who did not grow up outside of Sydney or Australia probably don't realise how serious Asians can be about their street food.

I grew up in Malaysia and moved here over 15 years ago. Although I’ve come to call Sydney my home and while I love Australia for everything this great land offers the new migrant, the thing I crave for is the food. Every day I still miss the kind of treks or odysseys me and my office colleagues would have. We would have lively discussions, even debates when deciding what we would have for lunch together.

We'd all squash into a car (days and years before COVID obviously) and drive to a specific location. Maybe we'd save this trip for a slow day at work. Or perhaps on Friday where the boss is in a good mood. Better still... if we could convince the manager to get in on the lunch action... it would be an epic trip.

Arriving at our location, the outsider, foreigner or non Malaysian might initially be surprised (even disturbed) at our food destination.

Our Holy Grail food destination might be a shack next to a river. Or a little stall by a highway. A collection of stalls shielded by weathered lawn umbrellas. In short, we could drive all the way to a ‘dump’.

Let me tell you, I’d been surprised by the quality of food at these unusual venues more than 50 times in my life. Each place offered something special, rare and tasty. The chef working there often has been only making this one dish for decades. I bring all this up because Newtown Thai is such a place in Sydney (and world). It may not look like some chandelier gold trimmed beauty but it has something precious; amazing food.

The food here is astonishingly delicious; prepared by someone who knows how to cook and how to bring out the best flavours in a stock, noodle, vegetable, sauce. This is a place for people who are serious about trying Thai Street Food.

In summary:

Newtown Thai may look like a simple eatery. It’s not. It’s really a place where a chef can express their love of their home with these patiently prepared flavour bombs in each dish.

If you love food. If Thai flavours light up your spirit. Don’t walk. Run to Newtown Thai. (Or get something delivered). Either way, this place...

this is our second time stop here to get a dinner and this is my honest review.

when we do first visit, we call stir fry eggplant, creamy tomyum soup, salt and pepper squid and honestly that was so good 11/10✨✨✨

but today when we visit here, i’m kinda disappointed cuz they dont do the eggplant things and creamy tomyum soup which the reason we back is to call that dish. but anyway we call other dish: stir fry basil with chicken and crispy pork with green bean and i call the salt and pepper squid again.

i think they change the menus cuz not a lot of option to call. and the things is everthing is kinda spicy, i do love spicy food but my partner is not really enjoy it. and note for the stir fry basil with chicken is just (6/10), but the stir fry crispy pork with grean bean is worth it to try (10/10).

just a reminder: please drink a lot of water after eat from here cuz too tasty and spicy (if not u guys can get sore throat)

and for the service is (9,5/10), for the guy waiter (you did a great job) i know you kinda struggling when you take order and explain things but when you smile it help a lot, thanks for serving us today. dont give up and do ur best🙇🏻‍♀️

definitely will back...

The family and I (6 in total) dined here one warm summer evening. We were seated on the table closest to the road which was a little noisy keeping our dinner conversations down to a minimum as it didn't feel like an intimate space.

The staff were attentive and friendly, looking after the younger members of our party well. We ordered entrees and mains, all of which was tasty though a little on the small side for our hungry pack.

We had to order additional food to ensure we all left full, something Ive never had to do before in a Thai restaurant. The prices are reasonable enough here, with our dinner bill coming to $36 per head without dessert and only a couple of glasses of wine for the whole table.

I hear that they do a great lunch special which I would like to come back to try, but if you are planning on coming for dinner ask for a table as far from the street as possible if you plan on doing...