Ever wondered if that dodgy looking Asian takeaway place near your house is any good? It could be authentic and a fantastic hidden gem you will never discover, or it will be an MSG filled grease hole, that you regret you tried. Sadly I've had the experience of the MSG bastardized hole too many times!

Saipon is the dodgy looking Thai takeaway/restaurant near our place. We had driven past a few times wondering if it was any good.

It was a cold, wintery, rainy night. I had an epic headache, and we had no food to cook. After a quick trip to the shops to pick up Hamsley's new specks, I really felt like Thai food. That night was the night we tried Saipon (obviously… it's what the title of the post is!)

We pulled up infront, and there was a Westerner at the counter…. could this be a bad sign? We checked the menu in the window and it had the dishes we wanted to order. Hamsley said we could try somewhere else if I wasn't happy with how it looked, but I saw Thai people cooking in the kitchen, so I had faith.

As we waited for our food to be cooked, a few orders were picked up. Thai music played through the micro stereo, and a fake aquarium added to the typical cheap Asian decor. I love at places like this. And the quirky sign that hung in the window made me feel transported back to somewhere in Asia.

Our food was ready and we took it home…. with a free bag of prawn crackers! Gotta love free prawn crackers.. I don't care where you come from!


Apart from the slices of onion that are far from authentic, it was a great pad thai! I squeezed some lime into it for a bit more moisture and sourness.


We also got a large coconut rice for $4.00
When pouring into the bowl, it was a bit runny and watery compared to other panning curries I've had. It did smell good though. Teamed nicely with the coconut rice, this curry was packed full of chilli but tasted just like any other panang curry I've loved.

There was alot of food, we are having the leftovers tonight!
I'm SO glad we have a good Thai place near us! It will be handy on those cbf nights, and the fact that it is so close to home makes it even more appealing!



We followed it up with the new delice flavours from Lindt since I had a coupon.


To be honest we weren't that impressed. The olive oil one had a funny taste, even when teamed with a white chocolate filling. And the salted caramel just seemed way too salty, but it was my preferred of the two flavours. I'll stick to passionfruit for now, until I can get to Zumbo!

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Living out of home means I'm trying more recipes from my ever growing cookbook collection.
I had been struck down with the plague/man flu for most of last week, and didn't really give much thought to dinner. I knew I had chicken mince in the freezer, and I did buy it a few weeks ago for this particular recipe. So I knew it was time for "operation Asian burgers" when Hamsley requested I make them!


I served it without the ribbons of cucumber as me and cucumber don't really get along. I think the cucumber would have been nice and refreshing, balancing out the flavours a bit more.
The sauce is quite rich, maybe it's the simple of ingredient of peanut butter included int the sauce that makes it rather rich in flavour.
The pattie is packed full of flavour, and we still really enjoyed the burgers. These would be great at a summer BBQ with a couple of ice cold beers or ciders!

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Have you noticed there haven't been any restaurant reviews on here as of late? I hadn't until I saw my Urbanspoon ranking slowly go down the leaderboard. I've been spending more time in the kitchen so there hasn't been a need to eat out. But on special occasions, it is is nice to go out for dinner.

Hamsley and I had a bit of a task of where to have dinner, with lots of places either closed on Monday nights for dinner or still closed for the Christmas / New Year break. Finally we decided on a Thai place not too far away and called to book. They were closed but were due to reopen on the day we wished to dine. I left a message making a booking and my call was promptly returned on the Monday to confirm my reservation.

Although they were piping hot out of the kitchen, they were delicious. A great way to start the meal and leave us wanting more.


The pad thai was not overly sweet like you get with some pad thais. I was a bit disappointed that it wasn't served with the traditional wedge of lemon or lime, but easily over looking that, it was a fantastic pad thai.

Presented beautifully, and packed full of flavour. We usually order this curry with chicken, but since that wasn't an option we went for lamb. The meat was deliciously tender, with the vegetables still having a nice crunch to them. Coconut rice went perfectly with the curry.

Service was fantastic, our waitress never too far away to offer her assistance. I will return for sure, or just grab some take away on the way home. There is a duck curry on the menu I'm really wanting to try.

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It's another meatball curry!
I ❤ meatballs.
I ❤ curry.
I found another recipe to combine the two, and this time it has a Thai twist.

So simple to make, so tasty. I amazed myself with how delicious these were.
It just proves, you don't need to have pasta in a napoli sauce to enjoy a good, old fashioned ball of meat!

Red Curry with Meatballs

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 red capsicum, thinly sliced
2-3 tablspoons Thai red curry paste
400ml can coconut milk
1 long red and 1 long green chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced, plus extra to serve
3 spring onions, thinly sliced, plus extra to serve
1 lemongrass stem (pale part only), finely chopped
Juice f 2 limes, plus wedges to serve
1/2 cup (60g) almond meal
Steamed rice, to serve

Meatballs
500g lean beef mince
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, finely chopped
1 lemongrass stem (pale part only), finely chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped coriander, plus extra to serve
2 tablespoons finely grated ginger
Grated zest and juice of 1 lime
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

1. For the meatballs, place all ingredients in a large bowl, season, then use your hands to mix together until will combined. With slightly wet hands, form into about 20 walnut size balls. Chill for 15 minutes.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large, deep frypan over medium heat. Cook the meatballs, in 2 batches, for 10-12 minutes until browned and cooked through. Remove. Set aside.

3. Wide the pan clean, then heat remaining oil over medium-low heat. Add capsicum and cook for 2-3 minutes until softened, then add curry paste and stir for a further minute until fragrant.

4. Stir in coconut milk, chilli, spring onion, lemongrass, lime juice and almond meal. Simmer for 2-3 minutes until slightly reduced and thickened.
5. Return meatballs to curry sauce, stirring gently to coat, then place over a low heat for 1-2 minutes to heat through.

6. Scatter curry with corriander, chilli and spring onion. Serve with rice and lime.

Serves 4.

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Working in the advertising business, I come across a lot of restaurant menus used for leaflet distribution. We received leaflets for Olarndo Thai quite some time ago, and it looked like a very swish place to have dinner, so I held onto the menu until there was a special occasion. The special occasion was Chinese New Year with my friends, and even though none of them are Chinese, it's a good excuse to get together. However, we agreed on Thai food so we renamed it "Thainese New Year".


Set on the trendy street in Port Melbourne, the place is well signed and has a very pleasant atmosphere. Whilst it is not too busy at 7pm, people tend to drift in later on through the night. I was getting a bit worried as there weren't many people and I had dragged all my friends out, but thankfully at the end of the meal they all agreed it was an excellent choice of restaurant. The 8 of us sat comfortably around the table provided, although we could have used a little more table space as we got a few dishes to share. I can't review everyone's dishes but I can give you an insight into what I had.

3 of us shared a mixed entree platter. The satay skewers and spring-rolls were nice, but the curry puff was extremely weird. Instead of a chunky savory filling, the filling was a reddish paste that was very sweet.

Just delicious! One of the best I've had since being in Thailand. The only problems: the lemon wedge was too small and the noodles were too long. Minor details but the taste was superb. The table ordered 2 Pad Thai and everyone had good things to say about it.

A request from one friend because he was interested to try the "roasted chilli paste" that was stated in the description. Definitely a winner, full bodied flavour, not hot but just perfect.

Very similar to a Massaman curry. The bamboo shoots resemble egg noodles. Plenty of meat to go around in the thick, creamy coconut based sauce. Very good with coconut rice or with Pad Thai (if you feel like mixing up the flavours a little).


Staff were attentive, the food was amazing, and the prices were extremely reasonable. A good selection for vegetarians, not seen on the website menu. You can BYO or order from the extensive wine list.

Olarndo Thai
321 Bay Street
Port Melbourne VIC 3207
Phone: 03 9646 2690
Web: http://www.olarndothai.com/

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It's mid-week cooking time again!
I've given up telling my mum what I'm going to be cooking as she seems to dismiss some recipes I really want to try, this being one of them. I knew she would have taken one look at it and said "Nah, pick something else"...sorry mum, I know you read this blog!

Luckily she rather liked this recipe when she tasted it!
Although following Donna Hay's recipe we ended up with way too much chicken, and I only put in half the required chilli, and it was spicy enough! I also used more noodles than it stated, as a result there wasn't enough sauce to cover them all so it was a little dry. BUT it still tasted good and I would make it again! I also only used half the onion required as I felt 2 onions would have been overkill!

Alas, Donna Hay has helped me create a flavour sensation!

Chilli Cashew Chicken Noodles
Donna Hay

200g (7oz) dried thick noodles
2 tablespoons peanut oil
2 onions, sliced into wedges
4 large red chillies, seeded and chopped
1/4 cup sugar
4 chicken breast fillets, sliced
1 red capsicum (bell pepper), sliced
3/4 cup roasted unsalted, cashews
2 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup coriander (cilantro) leaves

1. Place the noodles in a saucepan if boiling water and cook for 3 minutes or until tender. Drain.

2. Heat a wok or deep frying pan over high heat. Add the oil, onions, chillies and sugar and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Add the chicken and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes or until the chicken is golden.

4. Add the capsicum, cashews, fish sauce, soy, lemon juice, onion mixture and noodles to the pan. Cook, stirring, for a further 4 mintues or until heated through. Sprinkle with coriander.

5. Serve with chilli sauce on the side if desired.

Serves 4.

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This weekend Iron Chef David, Jason and Robert and I had a challenge: to try and make one of our favourite Thai dishes, Pad Thai.

We headed down to Doncaster Shopping Town yet again for another tea at T2. We had about 4 different recipes to choose from, so we decided to go with the one that required the least about of hard to find ingredients. After a nice cuppa tea we went on the hunt for our ingredients. We weren't too sure how well we would go with no Asian grocers in the the area.

First stop was a massive deli / green grocer / butcher, yet we couldn't find any bean sprouts or noodles. The only thing we did find was tofu.
Second stop was the Coles next door which also did not have any bean sprouts!
So luckily there was a Safeway that had beansprouts and all the other weird ingredients we thought we would have trouble finding; for example - tamarind paste.

When we got back home, David and I turned into the wives and got busy in the kitchen, whilst the 'husbands' were busy fiddling with the TV.

David began with liberating the tofu from it's tofu juice and chopping it up whilst I began on the sauce.
We ended up doubling the sauce quantity but it wasn't enough, so after the noodles had cooked we ended up making more. The sauce was pretty bland until we found some sweet chilli sauce in the pantry, which helped bring the dish to life.

As I plated up the noodles, David turned into a head chef and garnished the dishes before they were sent out of the kitchen. Our garnishes include: extra bean sprouts, ground peanuts (which we also had problems finding), coriander, spring onions and a wedge of lime.
The dish wasn't too hard to cook, and it tasted pretty good for our first attempt at cooking Pad Thai. My compliments to the chefs!


Pad Thai (Vegetarian)
Recipe taken from: http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/padthaiveg.htm

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Sorry folks! There was no mid-week cooking this week. Quite frankly I was just too lazy to be bothered and needed a night away from the kitchen! So Iron Chef Rob and myself went down to one of our favourite Thai places, Lemon Leaf.

The service is always fantastic and the atmosphere very relaxing for a nice meal.
You can order from the banquet or the a la carte menu. The banquet is much cheaper at lunch time so we settled for some dishes to share from the menu.

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Well not really, I have done a class in Phuket, and I have a certificate to prove it!

I did my course at Pum's Thai Restaurant & Cooking School.
I learnt Thai cooking from an Irish guy called Damiaan (yes, he spells his name with two a's). At the end of the lesson we were lucky enough to meet the master behind it all, Pum! She even signed my new cookbook =)

I have ordered her new cook book, so hopefully that shall arrive in the mail this week!

Going to be trying my skills with Pad Thai this week!

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