Eat. @ Fat Boy Thai Kitchen

850 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn ph (03) 9818 7728

We stumbled across Fat Boy Thai Kitchen one day when we went for ramen at Hakata Gensuke but they were undergoing renovations.  The kids thought the name was hilarious and so we gave this place a try, and so happy to report that it was actually a really nice meal without any hype.

We started off with the fish cakes ($8.9).  Nothing fancy, but a tasty morsel of fish cake with a great sauce.

The crying tiger ($11.9) was a portion of marinated scotch fillet grilled medium.  Another tasty starter.

We couldn't go past the sticky pork ribs ($21.9) on the chef's recommendation in the menu.  These were fabulous, fall off the bone tender, with an amazing caramelised sauce with a touch of chilli.  The broccoli provided the healthy antidote.

We always order mussaman beef curry ($16.9) when we have Thai and that night was no exception.  The beef was tender and the sauce was perfect.  The kids loved this as it's not as spicy as the other curries, and it goes a long way with a nice bowl of jasmine rice.

Lastly we tried the red duck curry ($18.9).  You can't see much in the photo but here's some very nice pieces of roast duck in a delicious red sauce.  I always like the lychees in red curries as it gives a nice sharp contrast to the spicy curry.

We've been back a couple of times since the first time we stumbled across Fat Boy.  The service has always been courteous and efficient.  The upstairs area lets us come along with in bigger groups with friends and family and the lack of hype means we can go for a good feed of Thai food without too much planning or trouble.  Keep up the good work!

Eat. @ Jinda Thai

1-7 Ferguson Street, Richmond 3067 ph (03) 9419 5899

I was a super lucky girl this year for my birthday, as I got taken out to quite a few dinners (I guess everyone knows my love for trying new places to eat!)  "The Gym Girls" suggested Jinda Thai for our dinner, which was fantastic as I'd been hanging out to try this much talked about Thai restaurant in Richmond.  I'm the type of person that goes to the gym only for exercise classes (because I need someone to yell at me and be too embarrassed to just walk -out mid-class) and I mostly just zone out and run around doing my jumping jacks and not saying anything.  So it's extra cool that I now have "gym friends" and ones that seem to love eating out as much as me at that!

We started with a round of Cha Yen - Thai milk teas ($3).  I'd never try this before, and it's interesting how different Asian Cuisines all offer a slightly different version of this drink.  I really like my tea, it's quite a strong tea and not too sweet nor milky.

We couldn't come to a Thai restaurant and not have Pad Thai!  We ordered ours with prawns ($14.9).  This was really delicious and fragrant, not too salty, with a little bit of sweet.

We ordered a small serve of the Boat Noodles ($6) to try as we've heard that this is is quite  a famous dish.   It was pleasant but not something I must have to have every time.

The Fried Soft Shell Crab  ($15.9) was super yummy though.  Good sized pieces with that lovely and slightly spicy dressing which I really liked as I find that this dish can be quite heavy without a good sauce.

The Barramundi with the Green Apple Salad ($19.9) was equally delicious, again the tangyines of the salad gave the dish a good balance in both texture and taste.  

My order for the night was the Red Curry Duck (($15.9) which is what I like to gauge a Thai restaurant by.  Fortunately this didn't disappoint and was wonderful with some fragrant rice.  Like all Thai curries a little goes a long way when eaten with rice, and this was a pretty decently sized serve.

Emily was keen to try the Pineapple Fried Rice with the combination seafood ($14.90) and this was a pretty big serve with a curried fried rice.  I liked the rice although by this stage I was getting really full and knew I NEEDED to save room for my birthday cake!!!

Of course I had to have the famous Crepe Cake ($8.5 served with ice-cream).  We shared 3 pieces between the four of us and tried 3 different flavours : Pandan, Coconut, and Thai Milk Tea.  Whilst Emily liked the pandan, Nancy, May and I all liked the Coconut.  I like the Thai Milk Tea one also, but the delicate coconut flavour was just that more-ish!

After the dinner we wandered into the Thai Grocery Store next door and did a spot of shopping.  Yep, we can shop anywhere anytime!  To our delight we found the lovely crepe cake (which I found out later were made by Tata Bakery) in little take-away packs for $6.5, so Hubby got a piece to try that night!  I have been back quite a few times since to buy more but they are so popular they are often out of stock.  Please feel free to tweet me if you're there and find the cakes in stock!

I finished off the night with some lovely Koko Black chocolates that Nancy, May and Emily had given me.  Thanks Girls for a lovely birthday dinner out!  I look forward to taking Hubby and the kids back to try out other dishes at Jinda Thai and have not doubt this will be a fast favourite of ours.  I suggest booking ahead as we have so far not been able to get a table at short notice!  

Eat. @ Chin Chin

125 Flinders Lane, Melbourne CBD 3000 ph (03) 8663 2000

Hubby and I finally made it to the infamous Double Chin for dinner a few weeks ago.  It was a week after Valentine's Day, which we always celebrate late as we tend to like to avoid the the pressure of eating out on those "celebrated" days.  I've wanted to eat at Chin Chin for ages but have always been a bit apprehensive of risking a massive queue on our ever so rare date nights.  This year we organised babysitting early and headed to the city ahead of the White Night event.  I'm happy to report that we got there at 5:10pm, didn't have a wait and were seated at the bar for drinks and din dins by 5:15pm!

Their menu is quite extensive and there were lots of dishes of different sizes to share.  I contemplated the choices whist sipping on my mocktail of pineapple and coconut.

We ordered lots of little dishes to share, starting with the School Prawns ($14) with nahm prik pla gapi, herbs and crudites.  This was a much bigger serving than we expected and by the end of our meal we still had some left! 

The Chin Chin Pork "Roll Ups" ($19) were next, with red braised suckling pig which you self-wrap in pancakes, slaw and asian herbs.  An interesting and tasty twist to the "wrap and eat" dish which again was quite a big serve for 2 considering the price.

Next up, the most beautiful Tom Kha ($15) I've had.  The coconut, galangal, mushrooms and tahail basil soup had a really fragrant chilli oil, I could not get enough of this soup!

Then we had the Wok Fried Salt and Pepper Squid ($14), mostly because the couple next to us were having it and it looked fabulous, and it did not disappoint!

The Son in Law Eggs ($8) here are quite famous, served with an addictive chilli jam.  There were 3 eggs which is quite a decent sized serve.  The slightly crunchy skin gave way to a still runny centre, and the chilli jam gives it the spicy zing to counter the heaviness of the twice-cooked eggs.

Not having that many date nights, we *ahem* quite possibly over ordered and under estimated the size of the dishes!   The last dish we had was the Caramelised Sticky Pork with sour herb salad and chilli vinegar ($26)  This was perfectly paired with some steamed jasmine rice ($3) and I wish I could've eaten more!  Alas as much as I wanted to order dessert I literally had to roll off my barstool by this stage.  Next time!

Our dinner at Chin Chin did not disappoint and we were happy that our meal lived up to the hype from this now famous Melbourne hot spot.  The service was efficient and friendly, and as busy as the place was, we weren't at any stage made to feel rushed or ignored.  As we were arriving we saw a few young families with young children leaving after an early dinner, and I look forward to bringing our bunch of kidlets for a meal now that Bubs is older and much easier to handle at meal times!

Toilets - yes, and pretty awesome for the background "music" in the form of an instructional tutorial on learning to speak ?Thai ?Vietnamese.  I'm not sure but it did give me a giggle as I thought about patrons learning a new language as they peed!