Saffron Thai, Brooklyn Hotel, Cnr George & Grosvenor Sts, Sydney

Saffron Thai, Brooklyn Hotel, Cnr George & Grosvenor Sts, Sydney
Friday 19 January, 2007

Saffron Thai is located inside the Brooklyn Hotel - walk through to the main bar and a small counter on the left houses Saffron Thai's ordering post. Their kitchen is housed down the small flight of stairs.

I can't recall ever having a great meal at Saffron Thai - so, you can imagine my surprise today as the food was really, really good. The last time I visited Saffron Thai the food had improved a little and was a surprise but today's effort was ten times better.

We arrived without a booking for Friday lunch - bad move as the place was packed. We decided to queue to order our lunch anyway in the hope that a table would become free. We had been talking about laksa's all morning and were disappointed to learn that the laksa has been taken off the menu. So, then we decided to scan the menu board for other offerings.

The menu offers a range of curries, noodles, stir fries and vegetables however a work buddy and I decided to order and share:

- salt & pepper calamari (served with a side salad and lightly peppered, not much salt)
- curry puffs (thick pastry outer packed full of curried vegetables)
- red beef curry (sensational, the meat fell apart and the sauce was deliciously good, especially over rice)

You can sit anywhere in the bar or beer garden to eat your meal and order your drinks from the bar. After we ordered it become very apparent that there were no tables free so we pulled together a few high tables from the bar to create a makeshift table.

Like many places where you order at the counter our food arrived at varying intervals. Bizarrely, our meals arrived before several of our colleagues - it was a little ad hoc and we all ended up starting and finishing our meals at different times. That said, we enjoyed our lunch.

The Brooklyn is a casual, laid back place - there's sport televised on the large TV screens and a front window where you can sit & watch the world go by.

Saffron Thai, Brooklyn Hotel - Cnr George & Grosvenor Sts, Sydney - (02) 9247 6744

http://www.brooklynhotel.com.au/