Mama Ree Thai Street Food — Restaurant in Christchurch

I ate at Mama Ree's Thai Street Food today. I had the Pad Prik Khing with moo Grub (crispy pork belly). It was incredibly delicious with a perfect balance of the curry paste, aeromatic herbs, and clarified coconut milk. The moo grub was done in what I would call a Taiwanese style with the pork belly minus the crackling, trading the top crackle for absolutely perfect medium cooked inside and a wonderfully crispy surface on all the outside. My friend Dan ordered a thai beef salad that had perfect vegetables and a glorious dressing. My wife had Pad Thai, and even though that is a more standard dish, they took the effort to make it exactly right, with huge perfect prawns and literally every detail right. As for my dish, and for the literal first time in Christchurch, when I asked for "Thai hot" and got actual Thai hot. Most places they look at me and assume I can't handle it - but I've lived in Thailand before and love Thai street food. (Do note that Pad Prik Khing is a medium spice dish in Thailand, so I can't confirm whether they would do "Thai Hot" for something as savage as pork spine soup. I've eaten a raw Carolina Reaper in one bite before, and even I can't finish a bowl of pork...

I wasn't convinced by the look of this restaurant from the outside, but since it was close to where I was staying, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did. The food was really, really great. I asked for seafood suggestions and ended up having noodles and prawns. Best part is that they actually made it really spicy, which I really enjoyed. In my experience, restaurants tend not to do this because customers may complain about it being too spicy. I also had roti and satay sauce, and it was so good. Staff were really friendly. The only reason that I did not give 5 stars for atmosphere is because I made the mistake of seating too close to the main entrance and it was really cold when opened. My suggestion is to seat further away from the main door....

Not as good as we'd hoped. The staff were great, but the food was underwhelming and overpriced for what it is.

The fresh spring rolls were lacking flavour (more coriander, seasoning) and the sesame dipping sauce would be better replaced with nam jim or something, even sweet chilli. The mains were nice, although the Tom Yum portion size was too small, as was the roti. $10 for one roti with an oddly flavoured peanut dipping sauce.. ridiculous. Two roti for that price would've be closer to being acceptable.

Glad we tried it but there are many better Thai options in/around the city with better flavours and better portions for the same or lesser cost, including actual...