There’s a comforting sort of chaos at Mangkon Road. Water is served from disposable cups that range in size from “dentist visit” to pint, there are typos and colourful pictures in the menu, and a noisy buzz even on a rainy Sunday evening. It’s Chinatown personified – or so it seems. A closer look reveals a kitchen helmed by two formerLong Chimchefs, a thoughtful fit-out and a menu that explores a lesser-known (in Australia) side of Thai cuisine.
Named for the main road that runs through Bangkok’s Chinatown, Mangkon Road’s menu explores the food culture that developed when Chinese settlers in junk boats arrived in Thailand many centuries ago, bringing with them their own recipes and gastronomic traditions. (Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community outside of greater China. Approximately 13 per cent of Thailand’s population is ethnically Chinese.)
When Warakarn “Title” Prasatsida, one of the venue’s three co-founders, began thinking about opening a new restaurant at the intersection of Chinatown and Thai Town, he knew they’d have to figure out how to stand out from the crowd in a saturated market. He tellsBroadsheetthat the team noticed a gap in the market for a Chinese-Thai restaurant that drew on traditional recipes rather than modern fusion flavours.
The menu from chefs Pongsakorn “Ken” Kantha (ex-Long Chim, Soi 25) and Chisanupong “Jumbo” Thaweerojthanakij (ex-Long Chim, Sailors Thai) covers all the classics – think pad thai, satay skewers and hotpot – but the two chefs are at their best when influenced by Bangkok’s Chinese street food. Start with a chewy fried turnip rice cake that’s crisp on the outside and soft inside and served with aromatic garlic chives and bean sprouts. Another crowd-pleaser is perfectly golden crispy pork belly served with Chinese pork sausage, rice, cucumber and a soft-boiled soy egg, saturated in a sweet sauce and served with a salty palate-cleansing broth.
Signature dishes tend towards seafood with crab fried rice; baked prawn vermicelli with mushrooms, ginger and chilli; and traditional fish maw soup, a rich dark broth packed with slow-cooked fish maw, chicken, quail eggs, shiitake caps and crab meat. But the show stopper is the wok-fried crab curry served in a rich yellow sauce that’s hot and sweet with hulking chunks of crab and Asian celery. Presented on traditional blue-and-white melamine plates, the serves are generous but the dishes are so moreish it’d be futile to hope for leftovers.
The bigger-than-it-looks venue features Chinatown hallmarks like neon signs, wooden stools and a small open kitchen. Seating includes a smattering of al fresco tables and a small ground-floor area with its upstairs mezzanine accommodating an additional 30 guests.
Following Woolloomooloo’sViandand Haymarket’sPorkfat, Mangkon Road is the latest restaurant continuing the tradition of Long Chim alumni – led by influential Thai-cooking chef David Thompson – doing excellent things for Sydney’s ever-expanding Thai dining scene.
Mangkon Road
Shop 3/710 George Street, Haymarket
Hours:
Mon to Sat 11:30am–midnight
Sun 11:30am–10pm
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