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| 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.
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| 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
To catch my most recent culinary adventures head on over to
littlelauren.com
But it's not just through tickling your frugal funny bone that Merivale have lifted March - they also have some pretty spectacularly kitsch and therefore amazing ways of show casing their restaurants.
