Red Spoon Thai, Castle Hill

The end of the uni semester is approaching (much to my delight!), but I find it hard to believe that it's already almost been a year of uni! It was only this time last year that I was studying madly for the final exams! (maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration....)

I'm quite glad that I don't ever have to go through the pressure of those exams again (although uni exams can be just as stressful!), especially in the lovely weather that comes during these months. But I guess my experience doesn't quite compare to that of my friend, who was unfortunate enough to have the exams start on the day after her birthday!!  We did celebrate it after the exams, though by the time we got around to that I was ....overseas *ahem*

To celebrate her birthday this year, she took us to Red Spoon Thai in Castle Hill, which I was quite excited about, not only because I like thai food but because it's been quite a while since I last met up with my group of high school friends!
 

Thai Fishcakes 

We start off with a couple of entrees, and I excitedly whip my camera out as the food comes. I rarely take my (big) camera out to restaurants with me, so I'm quite inexperienced when it comes to restaurants with low lighting and when plates of food just come raining down onto your table....so excuse the blurry photos! :)

Petite Chicken Satay

The chicken satay is a cute, bite-sized portion of 8 skewers, perfect for sharing. The chicken is grilled nicely, and the chicken pieces are tender and tasty, especially when dipped with the sweet, nutty peanut sauce or cucumber relish it is accompanied by.

Curry Puffs

Interestingly enough, the curry puffs don't have much of a curry flavour, but are still quite tasty, especially with the sweet chilli sauce. The vegetable filling, consisting of mainly carrots (no doubt the frozen ones of course!), are a little too soft and overcooked for my liking but the beautifully pleated wrapping of pastry is deep fried until perfectly light and makes the puffs very enjoyable.

Barbecued Chicken 

I would have left this picture out of the post (because it's so blurry!), but the barbecued chicken was very tasty, and definitely one of the highlights of the dinner. Like the entree of satay skewers, this grilled chicken thigh was very tender but was even more tasty, with its slightly sweet and flavoursome marinade/sauce.

Green Curry with Chicken 

My first observation of the green chicken curry is that it is quite green, with all the peas and beans, but interestingly, lacking in the vegetables I usually like with my green curries, like corn and eggplant.Whilst the curry is pleasantly creamy and fragrant from the coconut milk, I find that it lacks a little in spices (it isn't even hot!) and doesn't really make me want to go back for more.

Red Curry with Chicken 

The Red Curry was a more popular on our table, with its heavier use of spices, bringing out a more interesting depth of flavour. 

Pad Thai 

 The Pad Thai is a generous serving of stir fried thin rice noodles which aren't too sticky or overly sweet. We ordered both chicken and prawn pad thai's, both of which were enjoyable, but pretty average.

 

Thai Fried Rice 

The menu promises that the fried rice is not boring- and I think they kept their promise pretty well! Whilst the rice is a little too oily for my liking, the fried rice carries strong Thai flavours (especially basil) and was very tasty.

When we finished eating, the table was quickly cleared (which wasn't actually an easy job, as the table was quite packed and there were a lot of dishes on the table). The birthday girl brought her own cake, so we were sort of expecting it to be brought out afterwards. What we weren't expecting was for the lights to be turned off and birthday music to start playing- a lovely surprise! :)