Chum Tang - Chatswood

Khao Pla has won people's heart as one of the best Thai eateries in Chatswood area since the day they opened back in 2013.. As Chatswood Interchange introduces their new food court area, The District.. Khao Pla is also introducing its new restaurant, Chum Tang..

Chum Tang means station interchange and the interior surely brings the atmosphere of a railway station.. Bangkok born chef Taweer Rojratanvichai, having worked with Spice I am, Ms. G's and Mr Wong will definitely bring you an authentic regional Thai dishes..

Looking at the menu, we stumbled across this Jackfruit Salad.. It's quite fascinating to see it being used in a salad.. I guess it's rare too to find it in any other Thai restaurants.. =D

Mr. Nomnom used to live in Bangkok and he said this is a Northern-style dish where you can't easily find it in Bangkok.. It consists of green jackfruit, poached chicken, roasted coconut and chili jam.. This salad brings you an unmistakably Thai flavor with the explosion of salty, sweet and sour flavours from the chili paste, palm sugar, lime juice and fish sauce, yet all harmonize inside the bowl.. 

When we ordered, we're warned that this dish is quite spicy but it turned out sweet in our opinion.. We guess they may have adjusted the spiciness level as the Northern-style dishes are usually spicier than average..

Our second dish was Gaeng Hin Lay, it's well known as a red curry with the richness of the pork belly, especially in Chiang Mai..

The sauce is thicker (similar to the Massaman-style) compared to the usual soup-like.. It's then enriched by the long and slow simmering of the sweet fat layered pork belly and the use of tamarind and palm sugar give it the perfect balance of a curry.. I guess no coconut milk is used here.. or maybe just a little bit?

Look at that tender hunks of fatty pork belly!! It's heavenly rich and had that silky consistency~~ 

Nothing will go wrong with Thai's Grilled Chicken aka Gai Yang.. Deeply marinated with all the herbs (pretty sure garlic and lemongrass play big parts in the mixture) and cooked with low heated charcoal grill resulting in moist, tender and full flavoured meat.. 

When it arrived on our table, one kind waitress asked us to check the chicken first.. We found some of the chicken parts were slightly uncooked.. So, she sent the whole plate back to the kitchen and they re-grilled it..

We're not sure if the menu will be changed as the one we saw was stated as soft opening menu.. So, I guess we'll be back to try more after the grand opening.. =D

Address:
The District (Chatswood Interchange)
436 Victoria Ave, Chatswood

Opening Hours:
Monday to Sunday 11am - 10pm