Mortar and Pestle is this cute little Thai restaurant in Manly. In the summer at least, it is open air. We walked in on a Monday evening around seven for dinner. I would give it between a 3 and a 4. The menu is huge and has a lot of interesting items. They range from the easily recognizable (Pad Thai) to some really different dishes, although they're all distinctly Thai in nature. I ordered the Peking duck stir fry which was served with shallots and bok choy over noodles. We also got an order of yellow curry with chicken and vegetables and an order of vegetable pad Thai. The food came out extremely fast, which was born awesome and slightly disturbing. The portions were large. I really enjoyed the duck. It was very flavorful and multi dimensional; the bok choy was crunchy and added to the dish. The yellow curry was spot on, and the pad Thai was pretty standard. While nothing really blew me away, the food was good in general. Everything was solid, and everything that came out of the kitchen smelled delicious. Perfect for a fast, hearty dinner. read more

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After a long walk/trek from Spite, we were searching for a place to eat in Manly. Back to back days in Manly and we still had the same problem of finding a reasonably priced restaurant to eat at. We settled on Mortar & Pestle, which pans themselves as traditional Thai food, after walking around the area. It was busy on a Friday evening (around 7:30pm) but we were able to get a table inside without waiting. Service was brutal even though they are well staffed. We had troubles with ordering, getting wrong dishes, etc. We weren't impressed. The dinner menu is massive with appetizers, soup, salad, grill, noodle/fried rice, from the wok, curry, whole fish, seafood, vegetable and desserts. The lunch menu was much more succulent with only two pages of options. - 2x jasmine rice ($3.00 AUD) - you're going to want to get at least two bowls to sop all your curry sauce up. - Gang ga ree gai ($16.90 AUD) - beef, sweet potato, pumpkin and onion in a mild yellow coconut curry sauce. This yellow curry was really well executed. So much better than the curry I had at another Thai place in Manly the day before. - Roasted duck fried rice ($17.90 AUD) - curry & turmeric powder, grilled pineapple, onion, garlic, shallot, egg and Chinese broccoli. Another well executed dish. Everyone loved this one. Generous portion of roasted duck and good wok hei on the rice. Only complaint is that there was barely any pineapple and I thought it was a tad heavy on the salt. - Hokkien noodle ($15.90 AUD) - stir fried egg Hokkien noodles with chicken, vegetables and oyster sauce. Good variety of vegetables but the sauce was a bit too sweet. Pretty average. - Soft shell crab with yellow curry ($20.90 AUD) - came with egg, celery and red chili peppers. This came out late as they messed up our original order. Luckily, the crab was delicious; lightly breaded and deep fried. The sauce had a good kick to it. Wasn't a fan of the celery as the only vegetable accompaniment. If you can get past the terrible service, the food is tasty and reasonably priced for the area. read more

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The best Padthai I've ever tried outside of Thailand! If you're looking for authentic flavours, Mortar & Pestle Thai will give you that. Everything was delicious! read more

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Overall a cute place for a Thai meal in Manly. We started with the stuffed chicken wings which were okay - sadly only came with three pieces and could be more flavorful. The pad kee mao was spicy and full of flavor like it should be. We found the noodles bit heavy handed on the salt but with plenty of veggies and nice springy noodles. Additionally, the pork belly prik king was delicious and tasty as well. read more

As far as Thai food goes this place is great. Very tasty, generous portions will leave you more than satisfied. Key points: good value for money, BYO, takeaways and no bookings. It is always busy which shows Manly locals keep coming back for more. A few downsides to this place are that it is rather squashy and loud. Secondly the language barrier when trying to communicate with staff is incredibly frustrating. There is one staff member who is referred to for anything other than a basic question. For myself, as a vegetarian, the process of requesting fish sauce be removed from my dish is long and painful each time I go there. I find it embarrassing and feel difficult in front of whomever I'm with when the staff come back and forth multiple times to make sense of what I want. If you have a food allergy...good luck to you communicating that. Overall though the food is excellent. If I didn't have to make a special request each time I went I'm sure I would have no problem. However considering dietary intolerances etc are increasingly common I think they would do well to have a more descriptive menu with a few vego, gluten free add in options. read more

This my favourite Thai Place in Sydney. I've eaten at least 6-7 different dishes and all I would rate 4.5/5 or 5/5. I would particular recommend there pork belly dishes they have two of them, and both are under the chef specialties. these are so good I'e tried to make it at home. I would highly recommend the Heavenly Beef, it's simply mouth watering. The venue is also BYO so you can save a few pennies this way. the down side is that it get's very very busy, so you may not get the personal one-on-one attention you find at fancy restaurants. That said service is fast once you seated and start ordering. read more

Super tasty Thai right in the heart of Manly! The vegetarian curry and fried tofu were excellent--no complaints and already planning my next visit. The inside of the restaurant is cute, as well, making Mortar & Pestle a fun place for a night out with friends or family to enjoy awesome food! read more

Ample portion size, fantastic taste and good prices! Came here with my mother and was pleasantly surprised! My mother loves Chat Thai and I thought she would find this place somewhat mediocre. We left really happy! The Pad See Ew was very solid and the Green Papaya salad was delicious. A great relaxing lunch spot!! read more

Cannot recommend Mortar & Pestle highly enough, one of the best Thai restaurants on the Northern Beaches

This place surprised me, in a good way. The food was fresh and tasty and I enjoyed it. Agree that it is a bit noisy which makes dinner conversation difficult but I like the atmosphere read more

Accommodating, Delicious, Reasonably priced! Family friendly, and the kids loved the Pad Thai. Would definitely recommend.

Many thanks to A (Manager) and the team for hosting a group of 30 of us for lunch on 29 Oct 14. Our customers were impressed with the quick service and they raved about the delicious hot food. Will recommend to others. Thanks. Colleen read more

Do yourself a favor enjoy their great food .... But at home. It's small crowded and really really noisy. It's hard to chill here. Food is good but too frantic to enjoy it in house. read more