Yet another disappointing Thai restaurant in the Rouse Hill area. I suppose I shouldn't be…read moresurprised, given the demographic of the region - far fewer Asians than closer to the city.
The ambiance is nice, but it's too big for its own good. The tables are a bit too close together, & the servers don't pay much attention to the smaller tables (like the one my partner & I were seated at). It took a while to have our order taken, & we weren't offered drinks first. (& my wine sucked, but that's not their fault.) Then it took a while for them to notice we were done & wanted something, though they offered more rice when we just wanted the bill. Finally, it took forever to actually GET the bill. Either they forgot, or they were calculating it on an abacus. Guess we'll never know.
Now, onto the food.
I ordered the red curry with chicken & found it decent, but, like the place in the Rouse Hill Towne Centre, a bit too watery for my tastes. The flavour balance among the coconut, basil, & curry was good - it was just too diluted. The chicken was mostly good, but the pieces were kind of big, as were the pieces of cucumber & green beans. If the food isn't served bite-sized, it ought to be served with a knife - which it wasn't.
My partner ordered the beef salad, which was downright disappointing. Instead of featuring the beef on top, it was hidden below the greens. Not a good sign. When we dug it out, it was too big to be bite-sized, but no knives were provided. It WAS tender enough to bite through - for the most part.
Remember how I said the chicken was mostly good? It was kind of like the beef. Mostly tender & easy to bite through - but then there were the almost crunchy bits of chicken. Pretty sure they left cartilage on when carving it. I like chicken cartilage when it's grilled up in a Japanese restaurant. I don't like it surprising me in my Thai curry. Likewise, each piece of beef had a bit of chewy, unappetising fat on the end - if not totally riddled through it. There's marbled wagyu beef, & then there's cheap beef with crappy fat on it. This was the latter.
The rice was problematic, too. How can rice be problematic, you ask? By being overdone & dry - so dry & hard that it sticks in your teeth & you need a toothpick or a fingernail to get it out. And when they brought it out, they brought 2 servings, even though my partner didn't ask for any - then served it onto each plate & left with the empty serving bowl. I've never had rice served like this at a restaurant, & I'm not impressed by the custom. Not am I impressed by being charged for 2 servings when we only wanted one.
Also weird: having to walk basically through the kitchen to get to the restrooms.
I did tell the hostess about my disappointments with the meal & she said she'd pass them on to the kitchen. I'm afraid that I won't be back to see whether they take the comments under advisement, though.
