Newtown is a great place to eat; with the best selection of mid-priced restaurants in Sydney. A leisurely stroll along King Street, from Newtown station to Sydney Road at the peripheral of Sydney University, will take you past cafes and casual dining restaurants to suit most palates.

So what influences a customer’s word of mouth? It all depends of expectations. In Australia there are no Michelin star restaurants; so we must rely on the SMH Good Food Guide awards to know; which restaurants are at the top of the foodie chain. Sydney’s’ 3 hat restaurants are: Bilson’s, est, Marque, Pier, Quay and Tetsuya’s. So it must be all gastronomically downhill from these dizzy heights of gluttony. But then this makes it so much easier for casual dining restaurants like Chedi Thai, with no hats or awards but so many regulars.

Restaurateurs are extremely fussy eaters and hover at the top of the foodie food chain. So where do restaurateurs like to eat when not dining in-house?
Now after being home for over 5 years, the list of my favourite places to eat in Sydney has grown to include Sushi E for Japanese, Pizza E Birra for Italian and Dragon Eye in Hong Kong for Chinese. Sorry, but I can’t find good Chinese food in Sydney.

A customer commented on the Tom Yum Gung soup that he had just eaten. Her reply was perfect, “only canned straw mushrooms in brine are available in Australia”. And thus the brine spoils the taste of the soup; fresh is always best.

The cover story in The Sydney Morning Herald Good Living “Dining in the Dark and other Restaurant Gripes”; was a pleasure to read. The article by Scott Bolies is a collection of complaints of what most annoys our restaurant critiques when dining out.

Below is a list of the top ten Thai dishes, as put together by the Ministry of Foreigner Affairs; who conducted a survey of a 1,000 Thai restaurants, in different countries to find out the most popular dishes. Only restaurants which employed Thai nationals as chefs and offered authentic Thai food qualified to answer the questionnaire.

Enjoying the delights of wine with Thai food is now as common as fish cakes in Sydney’s Thai restaurants.

How to eat a chicken wing.

This is the best places to eat in Newtown – genuine Thai food using very fresh ingredients. I like the soft shell crab with green mango, fish soufflé and lamb panang. When we booked the manager offered us secure parking which is an advantage on King Street. This is now my favourite Thai and I am never disappointed by their food or service.