Thanon KhaoSan
413 Pitt St
Haymarket, Sydney
In the bustling hub known as Thainatown sits the rustic Thanon Khao San. There certainly is no shortage of Thai places in the area and most have been here for a while. Thanon Khao San has a casual almost street market feel to it. Cages hang from the ceiling and the rough timber walls really transport you to another world.
Their lunch menu is quite lengthy with a wide range of stir fries, curries, noodle and rice dishes catering to pretty much every palate. We settled in and ordered our dishes.
Pad See Ew is obviously a hugely popular dish. This steaming mound of wide noodles in a tangy sauce is a great stomach filler. You simply choose your meat, or even go vegetarian if you’d prefer. A little squeeze of lemon also adds some zing.
For something a bit meatier there’s also the crowd favourite of Massaman beef. While a lot of places serve this with rice, here it comes with a side of roti to mop up the rich sauce. It works well. The beef itself comes out tender and tasty and there are also potatoes in there too so you can honestly say you’re getting your veggies too!
Finally, if you’re after something a bit spicier there’s always a curry. The yellow curry always seems less popular than its trendier siblings - red curry and green curry. It’s worth a look though. This one had a decent spice level and again came with roti to mop up the curry sauce.
It’s a casual place here so don’t expect white linen tablecloths and silver cutlery. It wouldn’t work either. There’s a really nice feel to the place though with a familiar street market vibe which works well. They also have a wide range of take away desserts on display in a cart on their street front.
They have a busy trade at lunch time with good deals for the local workforce. They’re also open in the evenings for dinner with a more substantial menu on offer. The food is tasty, the servings are a good size and the prices are very reasonable. It ticks a lot of boxes.