Everyone and their mum has been to Jinda Thai. In fact, I think it's probably the most reviewed Thai restaurant on Zomato, and that's saying something.
My friend and I finally made a trip down to Jinda Thai to see if it was as amazing as I remembered from a year ago, and God I forgot how busy they are now. We arrived around 5 from memory and there was already quite a few people in the restaurant! Definitely make a booking if you want to eat at a normal hour haha.
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| Boat Noodle (Beef) - $9.00 w Glass Noodle - $1 extra |
Starting things off with what made me fall in love with Jinda Thai the first time, their boat noodle! I've only tried boat noodle from Jinda, but man it's so tasty! The dark and aromatic soup is made from pig's blood according to my Thai friend, and has an earthy and rich flavour. You can tell that it was cooked with a bunch of herbs and spices over a long time.
There was fish balls, beef, and pork crackling sitting on top of the glass noodle. And you're given (well we had to ask for one since the waitress forgot to give us one) a little tray of seasonings and pickles that you could add to the noodle! The only letdown of the dish was the fact that the waitress didn't tell us about the extra dollar that's charged for the glass noodle, not that we minded but would've been nice to be told beforehand.
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| Green Curry Chicken - $16.90 |
The green curry chicken was fragrant, and I couldn't wait to pour some of that sauce over some coconut rice ($4.00). Although the sauce was a bit thin, it was full of flavour. Apart from chicken, there was eggplant and bamboo shoot, and I loved how the eggplant could soak up all the sauce! However, the serving was definitely on the smaller side of things.
Mmmmmmm crepe cakes.
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| Pandan Crepe Cake with Ice cream - $8.50 |
The crepe cake was phenomenal. Layers of crepes were filled with pandan flavoured cream in between, and add a humongus amount of pandan sauce on top, it just took the whole thing to the next level. The coconut ice cream was lovely too, with chunks of coconut flesh thrown into the mix.
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| Thai Milk Tea Crepe Cake with Icecream - $8.50 |
And because two people can't just share ONE cake, we got the Thai milk tea one too. These two are probably my favourite flavours. The distinctive creamy and sweet flavour from the Thai milk tea was delicious, and I was as happy as a person can be by the last bite.
There are a couple things that Jinda could improve on - customer service and serving size. Even for Melbourne, Jinda Thai's serving size is noticeably small, especially coupled with the steep price of things. Customer service is a bit touch-and-go, which I can understand when it's a full house, but when we first arrived the restaurant was barely half filled, and the there was still a long wait to order, long wait for water - just a lot of waiting in general.
Is it the best Thai restaurant in Melbourne? Watch this space, I've got a blog post about a strong contender coming up.
How to get there:
Jinda Thai is located on Ferguson Street in Abbotsford, catch a train on the South Morang line and get off at North Richmond station, or catch tram #12 or #109 and get off at North Richmond Station, and the restaurant is 2 minutes walk away!
Labels: Abbotsford, dinner, food, Thai
