Restaurant Review: Sailors Thai, The Rocks

Having loved my cookery lesson at Sailors Thai last year so much that it was the subject of six posts, I can't quiet believe that it has taken me so long to return. A lunch with my team from work provided the perfected opportunity.

As soon as we were seated in the smart interior of the restaurant we spotted a ponytail walking past. Is that Neil Perry? Yes it was. He was seated a few tables away for lunch with friends.

We ordered a starter to share of yamba prawns, peanuts, lime, ginger, roasted coconut, chilli and caramel on betel leaves. Oh my goodness what a taste sensation. It took me right back to the perfectly balanced exotic flavours that I tasted during my cookery course. There was heat and sour from the tamarind and an almost fibrous, but not unpleasant, crunch (from the ginger?). It was gone all too quickly in a slightly messy two mouthfuls. Can I have another one please?

After the heights of the starter I'm said to say none of the main courses lived up to the same standard. They were far from being bad dishes, it's just that they didn't have the same perfect balance of sweet, salty, spicy and sour that the starter exuded.

Our first main was the special of the day, stir fried duck. Thin slices of duck breast had been finished in a sweet and mild curry sauce with morning glory.

I had high hopes for the chicken curry with potatoes knowing the love and effort that goes into the curry pastes at Sailor Thai. The chicken was fabulously tender and contrastingly the potatoes still holding some firmness without being underdone. Unfortunately I didn't think the curry was as good as the one I made during my cookery class.

Next up we had the barramundi grilled in banana leaf with red curry paste. The curry paste was rich, intense, tomatoe-y and very spicy. I was mopping the beads of sweat from my brow! Underneath the curry paste was a moist piece of baramundi. The pickled ginger on the side was good, but not enough to refresh my palate from all that chilli!

Our final dish was my least favourtie the stir fried wagyu beef. The beef had been stir fried with onions. Pepper was the dominant flavour and I didn't get much else.

Despite being full we couldn't resist the amazing value of the dessert plate: jasmine smoked coconut ice cream, sorbet, sticky rice with egg pudding and pumpkin with salted coconut.

I'm not usually a fan of savoury vegetables cooked as a desert, but the pumpkin was almost jelly like and surprisingly good. It was a bit of a surprise to tasted the salted coconut on top, but it went well together. I'm always a fan of sticky rice, just a shame it didn't come with mango now that they are in season. Both of the ice creams were good.

It may sound as though I have been a little down on Sailors Thai. All of the food was good and the starter was fantastic. However, I was perhaps expecting all of the food to knock me out of the park having had a sensational cooking lesson and unfortunately it didn't.

Sailors Thai
106 George St
The Rocks
Sydney
2000