Sydney's best Thai restaurants

Longrain 
Best for... dinner and drinks

Famed for matching wine with Thai food (no mean feat - we usually just have a beer), chef Martin Boetz does the best salt and pepper squid in Sydney - lightly battered and incredibly tender. Pork hock falls apart in sweet striations and a dry red curry of squid teased with pork crackling is the reason Longers still packs 'em into the 100-year-old warehouse. Give us a Bloody Longrain (their version of a Bloody Mary with cucumber and chilli jam) on the side and we're anybody's.

Chat Thai
Best for... stylish surrounds

As soon as you walk through the door you'll see a bunch of chefs toiling over flaming grills and boiling oil in a tiny space. Start with the redfish fritters - powder puffs of kaffir lime-spiked redfish mousse served with pickled cucumber. There are a lot of grill choices on the go here, too, like tender pork skewers amped with a roast chilli and ground rice relish. The soup of pork belly and tripe is rich, delicate and piquant. When it comes to dessert, you can't look past the banana fritters. It beats nearly every other Thai restaurant in Sydney hands down in terms of execution and flavour and gets massive big ups for décor. A triumph.
Sydney

Sailors Thai - Potts Point (previously called Oy)
Best for... people watching

There are some excellent dishes on the menu including betel leaves topped with smoked trout and trout roe, or squid, prawn and pork flat rice noodles with a super savoury gravy and some flaky, delicate roti. The space or service may not be anything to write home about but the food certainly is.
Potts Point

Saap
Best for... quick lunch

The room is narrow and incredibly loud and service isn't their strong point but boy, is the food good. All your favourites are here: pad Thai, a very spicy chicken laab (that's a type of cold Thai salad of minced chicken, basil and other bits and pieces) as well as massaman, green and red curries. They also do stir fried morning glory and an excellent fried egg on rice. Super hot som tum (green papaya salad) is also worth a red-hot go.
Sydney

Sailors Thai - The Rocks
Best for... fine dining

This restaurant was one of the first to offer really authentic Thai food in an upmarket setting. Upstairs is more casual where you can get an excellent dry trout curry with green peppercorns or som tum with little chunks of caramelized pork hock and a tasty pad Thai, while the downstairs restaurant is a little more fancy with some interesting wines by the glass and exquisite desserts like smoked coconut ice cream or salty sweet coconut dumplings.
The Rocks

Spice I Am - Sydney
Best for... super authentic

Get there early for a lash at a seat or head up to the Hollywood for a drink while you wait (they'll take your name and number if they don't have a table in the tiny restaurant straight away). You may find all the usual suspects on the menu here, but they also have our favourite, kan nom jeen - fermented rice noodles with fish curry sauce and pickles. The staff are incredibly friendly, there are regular specials and if they have dessert on, get it - they do the best mango and sticky rice this side of Thailand.
Sydney

House
Best for... those who like it hot

It's the same team from Spice I Am, doing not the tricked-up top-dollar stuff that Darlinghurst is known for, but the street food of northeast Thailand. That means plenty of salads, grills and fermented, dried and sour gear. It's fitting that Sydney's hottest new Thai restaurant also does the hottest salad we've eaten in Sydney.
Surry Hills

Sugarcane
Best for... mod Thai

Their pad Thai is one of the better ones we've tasted of late (an all-in brawl-in of stir fried rice noodles, crunched up peanut, shrimp, tofu and egg with lime juice and coriander). The black sticky rice with banana is another winner. The balance of flavours and their use of texture here is right up there.
Surry Hills

Thainatown
Best for... offal!

Thainatown holds true to its authentic roots reflected in some of its more colourful menu items such as the tom jued luert moo - boiled pork blood jelly, intestines, minced pork, pork liver and vegetables with clear soup. There are also plenty of equally authentic dishes that don't involve offal if that's not your bag. Moo pa stir-fried is a riot of flavour and texture - stir-fried pork belly with fresh green peppercorns (still on the stalk), chilli, garlic and bamboo shoots.
Haymarket
 
Yok Yor
Best for...a post-pub bite

While the menu isn't rich in new or unusual dishes, there's a pretty close adherence to proper Thai cooking by and large, and the room is reasonably comfortable and polished, if notably noisy. Among the selection of snacky-type things, there's not merely salt-and-pepper squid, but a whole S-and-P menu, covering tofu, squid, prawns and soft-shell crab. Among the more interesting smaller things are the tod mun, the trad fish cakes leavened here with a healthy addition of minced pork. The hoi joh are also impressive - minced crab and, yes, pork, wrapped in beancurd skin and deep-fried. All goes down nicely with a frosty lager.
Haymarket

Chang Thai
Best for... an out of towner

At this beachside Thai, no table goes unturned and if you show up without a reservation, it better be 5pm or else you won't be sitting down for a long time. Pad Thai and tom yum are excellent, as is tom kha - a fragrant, mild coconut milk-based soup. The fisherman salad is loaded with prawns and a zesty texture-fest of mint leaves and crunchy, creamy cashew. The service is outstanding.
Narrabeen

Crocodile Senior
Best for... all your favourites

A shining star in the George Street throng, it's all about the som tum, the laab, and string (no, that's not a dish, it's Thai pop music). All your faves are here as well as some more interesting dishes. But you'll need to be able to read Thai to know what they are or be brave if you can't.
Sydney

Spice I Am - Surry Hills
Best for... ka nom jeen nam ya

You may find all the usual suspects on the menu here, but they're all done extremely well. Our favourite dish is the ka nom jeen nam ya - fermented rice noodles with fish curry sauce and pickles. It tastes better than it sounds.
Surry Hills

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