Best meals in the House!

Yum Pla Duk Fu

House is the sister restaurant of one my all time faves - Spice I Am. I have been a couple of times before and each time is enjoyable, although I am the first to admit that I find their menu daunting. 

Unlike it's sisters House serves the unique food from north-eastern Thailand. The restaurant is relaxed and approachable, butted up with Triple Ace bar behind central, almost next door to Spice I Am, Surry Hills. Because House is effectively in the bar's beer garden it doesn't do BYO but you can buy drinks at the bar and bring them to your table - which for groups has the added bonus of beer jugs! It also instantly eases the initial panic from reading "Cash Only” on the menu, as like any good local Triple Ace has an ATM - triple bonus!

House is not a place to go if you are expecting run of the mill Thai food. Its menu is versatile and has an extensive list of soups and salads sure to please. Like its sisters House is sure to set your mouth on fire so if you can't handle heat... I'd probably stick with the grilled and fried portion of the menu. 

Although this is the third time I've been here the menu still scares me, so I cast my mind back to my copious research, which I generally conduct before heading out (unless the name is stellar like Bling Bling Dumplings - but I later came to regret that decision) and remember heaps of chatter about some bird soup. There was no bird soup, so we went for the next best option egg embryo soup aka Tom Yum Powng Kai. Part of the reasoning was neither of us knew what egg embryos were but wanted to seem culturally aware.... 

Harry chose our second dish based on a previous experience, Yum Pla Duk Fu (The Cat Fish Salad). 

Upon ordering the waiter mentioned a number of times spice, so I was prepared... or so I thought. 

Tom Yum Powng Kai

Thinking I had outsmarted my previous mistake of ordering a papaya salad almost too hot for me to enjoy, I was shocked with the first mouthful of the salad. Lucky there was some rice to cool my girdle. That aside, the Catfish salad was honestly my favourite thing I have ever tried at House. It was akin to delicious, fried, catfish fairy floss that you can't stop eating... ever. Despite the fact that your lips are burning and your tongue is momentarily enlarged. 

The soup was not nearly as frightening as images conjured up when you tell someone you are going to eat embryo. Turned out just to be egg yolks... perhaps fertilised egg yolks with the beginnings of a tiny animal - so a vegetarians worst nightmare. The soup was beautiful and fragrant. It had copious amounts of ginger and those delicious mushrooms, I want to say Enoki but I could be wrong. Ultimately the yolks weren't my favourite things in the whole world... I didn't love the texture, I was expecting something more soft boiled but that did nothing to stop me from eating/drinking the whole bowl! 

The great thing about House is you can go crazy and order unique and exquisite dishes like the Tom Yum Powng Kai but you can also cater for the less adventurous with their less frightening fried and grilled options. Although we didn't order these last night - as there were only two of us - we've tried them before and they are consistently delicious. Ultimately I think this was our best ordering so far.

Of course if you are going to House for the first time (and have a huge appetite or big group) you must try the Better Than Sex (discretely referred to as BTS) for dessert. It is a party in your mouth... seriously gasp worthy... I can't think of anything else to say that can't be interpreted as a sex joke so... yeah

  Happy eating xx


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