Thursday 3 November 2011

Spiced us Up @ i Spicy 2

i Spicy 2
80 Victoria Street
Richmond VIC
www.ispicy.com.au

Who would have thought you will be able to find a pretty good Thai restaurant in an area heavily loaded with Vietnamese cuisines??  You wouldn't know until you give it a try like I did. 


Miss P and I have been planning to take Mr and Miss S to try Thai food at i Spicy 2, mainly because we wanted them to experience other Thai food that they don't usually order.

It was a lovely sunny Sunday that we made our march to i Spicy 2.  Mr and Miss S left the ordering to Miss P and myself - of course, who would know what to order better than the Thais?...especially when you go to a Thai restaurant.


We started off with Yum Moo-Grob ($15) - a crispy pork salad.  The salad was refreshing with the tangy and spicy Thai dressing along with red onion, mint and coriander.  The Moo-Grob was nicely cooked, and did the job of still being crispy!






 
The second dish was a special dish off the board, Nam Gai Yang ($9) - marinated grilled chicken.  Nam Gai Yang had an acquired taste.  If you are not accustomed to the food that taste sour, you might not like this dish as the chicken was marinated in the same way as Thai preserved sausages, which gave it the sour taste.  I took quite a bit of a risk when ordered this one as I wasn't sure whether Mr and Miss S would find the taste OK with their tastebuds.  Well, it turned out to be an interesting dish for them and they actually enjoyed it!



 Deep fried Kang Kung with Spicy Sauce ($21) was next on the tasting list.  Our guests found it quite an interesting looking dish as there was a bowl of tempura Kang Kung and a bowl of spicy prawn and minced chicken sauce.  To eat it, you pretty much take the Kang Kung and pour the dressing over it.  The Kang Kung and dressing were served in separate bowls so that the Kang Kung could remain crunchy until you ate them.  I found the dressing was slightly sweet to my liking, but it was still an enjoyable dish.


Then, the long awaited Barramundi made an appearance! Fried whole Barramundi with Som Tum was served.  The Barramundi was fresh and nicely cooked, the sweetness from a fresh fish burst into out mouth.  However, the taste of the Som Tum was a bit of a let down.  I wasn't sure whether because all the dressing from the Som Tum was absorbed by the Barramundi underneath it or it was underseasoned.  Miss P agreed with me on this that it lacked the spicy and tangy kick of the Som Tum.  





The next dish actually made Mr and Miss S asking us about the food hidden inside the young coconut! It was Tom Yum Koong in Young Coconut ($12) - a Prawn Tom Yum served inside young coconut.   Traditionally the young coconut meat was supposed to be mixed in the Tom Yum and would add the sweetness and aroma to the Tom Yum.  Unfortunately, they didn't do it for us here, hence, after we ate all the Tom Yum, Miss S was digging up the coconut for the meat!  Miss S seem to enjoyed the young coconut and the Tom Yum, but Miss P and I found the Tom Yum was a tad bit sweet, if we got a dash of lemon, it would be just perfect.



After we cleaned up our plates, we filled in the sweet pockets of our stomachs with some Thai desserts.  It was Nam Khang Sai ($5) - Ice Ka Chang. Need I say more about this one? hmm, it tasted just like any other Ice Ka Chang - shaved ice with yummy toppings served with syrups and topped with condensed milk :) 





We also got Ka Nhom Krok ($5) - Thai Coconut mini pancake.  The best time to eat this snack is when it is still warm, so that you still can get a warm runny coconut when you bite into the slightly crunchy shell on the outside.  For the Ka Nhom Krok that we ordered at i Spicy 2, they made it fresh at the front kitchen - I didn't get to take any snap when they were making it 'cause they were quite busy and there wasn't much room to move around.  The topping that we picked was the sweet corns (from two choices - sweet corns and chives) and they tasted yummy!  



The last dessert for that day was Gluay Todd ($5) - Thai Banana Fritter.  A little bit chewy due to the texture of the batter.  But even in Thailand, the batter from each shop also have difference texture.  So i think they are doing quite well, just might not match to our liking.




After eight dishes, Mr and Miss S, Miss P and I left i Spicy 2 with happy tummies and big grins.  Miss P and I were glad that Mr and Miss S loved the food that we ordered for them, we got a big tick of approval for bringing them to i Spicy 2!

+Disclaimer: The commentary contained in this blog is purely based on my own opinion and experience at the time of visit. Taste is a subjective and yours and mine can be differed.


I Spicy 2 on Urbanspoon

4 comments:

msihua said...

Oooo... different dishes to order! Wuhoo! I've heard that the Richmond outlet isn't as good as the Hawthorn though.. mMMmmm

Pinkswoon said...

That's what I heard as well. I haven't been to the Hawthorn one. My first encounter with i spicy was at Richmond :) Wouldn't mind give it a try :)

Andie said...

I haven't been to the Richmond one, but I go to the Hawthorn one often. The Richmond one is considerably more expensive, although the venue and presentation are more attractive, and you can't drink at the Hawthorn one.

Pinkswoon said...

Yeah, you are right, the Richmond one is a bit more expensive. I went to the Hawthorn one not long ago...food there was pretty good as well :) but less seating area.

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