Considering how rare it is that I'm not at work on a Monday night, it seemed a good idea to take the opportunity and eat out. The other reason for the excitement is that Canberra is one of the few places that actively entices you to spend your hard earned meal entertainment tax-free dollars during the week by offering 2-for-1 deals around town.
The quiet Civic centre drizzled with rain and made the streets seem even emptier than they already were. Thai food was on the agenda and I couldn't wait for a hot bowl of tom kha to warm me up.
Unfortunately this Thai restaurant didn't have soup on the menu. It could be that they only do it as part of their winter menu, but considering the South East of Australia can have summer or autumn days that are cold, raining and miserable, I would have thought it would be a staple. Additionally the constant humid heat of Thailand certainly doesn't detract from soups and incredible chilli dishes.
Anyway there was still a good variety of dishes that seemed tempting.
- Sweet corn fritters - exceptional flavours with a delicious dipping sauce to match;
- Fish cakes - nice fish pieces rather than the smooth paste that is more common and a delicious dipping sauce to match;
- Special salad of Chiang Mai sausage, herbs and fried rice croutons - a strange dish that was made up for by the herbs;
- Special of deep fried softshell crab on green papaya salad - one of the most flavoursome softshell crabs I've eaten topping a well constructed salad.
There was probably a distinct lack of (heat) hot food selected, although the curries on the menu are all quite standard sounding. Nonetheless I'd come back to try the laab gai, crispy fish salad or a curry. On a Monday or a Tuesday that is.
