Doy Tao Thai

Doy Tao Thai is one of the many Thai restaurants spotted along King St in Newtown. This little gem is located towards the quieter end near St Peters, although the restaurant itself is lively and full of activity as waitresses zip around the crowded restuarant. The food is delicious and great value and the service is friendly and surprisingly good considering how busy they are.

We visited Doy Tao for a small farewell dinner for one of our lab members. Having a vegetarian amongst our company, we ordered the vegetarian banquet for 4 and banquet A for 4. After waiting not too long, the entree's started arriving. First up were the crispy pastried curry puffs and satay chicken. Then came the vegetarian spring rolls and satay tofu which was smothered in a chunky, tangy satay sauce. Thinking that was it for the entrees, out came another plate of curry puffs and a plate of sweet, sticky honey soy chicken wings. The satay (chicken and tofu) was the highlight and some of the best I've tasted.

Curry puffs

Spring rolls

Satay tofu

Chicken wings

Included in each banquet was a soup, a salad, fried rice/pad thai and a few stir fries/curry. The seafood soup was a tangy and spicy clear broth, somewhat like a tom yum with a less intense flavour. It was packed with scallops, prawns, calamari, fish and mushrooms and was practically a meal in itself. The vegetarian version was similar in flavour but lacked the sweetness imparted by the seafood.

Seafood soup

Thai salads are always a favourite of mine, combining the flavours sweet, sour, salty and spicy on a crisp vegetable base.

Beef salad

Vegetable salad

The pad thai and fried rice were generously portioned as were each of the stir fries: chashew nut-chicken and vegetarian, chili and basil with tofu, mixed vegetable.

Pad thai

Vegetarian fried rice

Vegetable and chashew nut stir fry

Chili basil stir fry

The red curry was thick, rich and coconutty with and abundance of duck and veggies. However, I was disappointed to find a lack of lychees.

Red duck curry

Just when we all though that we could not eat another thing, the waitress offered us dessert. Sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk topped with steamed egg custard. Only four of us attempted dessert, sharing two portions between us. However, we were totally defeated after only getting through half.

Sticky rice and egg custard dessert

While clearing our table, the waitress suggested we try the sticky rice with mango next time - looks like we'll just have to come back again!