Red Spoon/Kinn Thai: New Name, Fresh Flavours

The Red Spoon of my high school days has been renamed to Kinn Thai. Thai is one of my favourite cuisines and Kinn Thai is one of the restaurants I'll frequent often because I know the food is delicious and the menu has a huge range. The following dishes I shared with my HSC-stressed sister who likes to dine here with me on Sunday afternoons because she knows I'll be the one picking up the bill. Hmmmm.

The Crying Tiger was marinated char grilled Wagyu beef sirloin served with stir-fried mixed vegetables and chilli lime sauce. Crying Tiger sounds like something that would be tattooed on someone's back, so with an intense name like that, I was expecting some intense flavour... and Kinn did not disappoint. The beef was tender and juicy and the sauce was a great accompaniment. The serving was generous so I definitely felt satisfied after this dish. 8/10

Crying Tiger $24: Tender and juicy with a great chargrill flavour 

BBQ Chicken was a cousin of the Crying Tiger dish, consisting of Char grilled marinated chicken thigh filled with Thai herbs and spices served with stir fried mixed vegetables and sweet chilli sauce. This dish was also a delight with a substantial serving and delicious moist chicken. Thank goodness because the worst thing you could probably get from a restaurant is dry chicken. The universally complementary sweet chilli sauce was a good hit of sweetness with the chicken. 8/10

BBQ Chicken $22: Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner

It was my sister's first time to try Massamun Curry which is slowly braised beef in thick mild curry served with potato. I had a Massamun Curry at Mamak earlier this year so that was my point of comparison and I found this to be substantially sweeter. It was still very enjoyable. The beef pieces were melt-in-your-mouth and once again there were many pieces in the curry. 7/10

Massamun Curry $19.90: Packed with flavour but not with potato

Halfway through tucking into the curry I realised that something was missing. The potato! Awkward. I assumed they just didn't spoon any out but I wanted my sister to enjoy the curry in its entirety. 

After talking to the waitress, which proved to be a little difficult as her English was not that great, we were presented with a bowl full of more delicious curry and pieces of potato. How sweet of them. 

Our Little Bowl of Potato

The next dish was Crispy Skin Chicken with a 5 spice salt. Once again the chicken was moist and the skin was quite crispy. I did not find the salt that enjoyable and personally I do not think it adds anything to the dish. There were many pieces and my sister and I struggled to finish all of them. 7/10

Crispy Skin Chicken with 5 Spice Salt: Moist and crisp, the way chicken should be

The Panang Curry was described to be a delicious light curry served with red capsicum, snow peas, green beans and broccoli cooked in coconut milk. I've never had an unenjoyable Panang curry at a Thai restaurant and thankfully Kinn did not ruin that running streak. I love the hint of sweetness in a Panang Curry and Kinn's one was similar to the ones that I've had at other restaurants. The snake beans were a little undercooked but the other vegetables were tasty. 7/10

Panang Curry $17.50: I may have eaten some before I took this photo

Pad See Iw (Pad See Ew) is another one of those classic Thai dishes that I think are hard to mess up. The thick flat rice noodles were soft and covered in the delicious sauce. The vegetables were soft and overall I enjoyed this dish. 7/10

Pad See Iw $17.50: Eating tasty Pad See Ew since '07

Ending with dessert, Natasha had the Lime Tart with Pandan Icecream. At first glance, I was not impressed but when we tapped our spoons on the top of the tart it had a hard caramelised sugar topping like that of a creme brulee. Not what you classically find that on a tart but it definitely made it more interesting. The tart was packed full of lime flavour which I loved because if I'm having a lemon or lime dessert I want the sour notes as well the sweet. However, that's where the sweet things stop. The icecream had a subtle taste of pandan and although my sister enjoyed it with the tart I thought the flavours were a little on the strange side. It looked like someone had sneezed over the dish with a spoon of chocolate powder in front of their nose. It really detracted from the presentation and taste of the dish. 5/10

Lime Tart with Pandan Icecream $12: The tart was the star of the show while the icecream and powder were the awkward sidekicks.

Overall, I love coming to Kinn Thai and I always return. Their menu is huge so I will be frequenting there to try more of everything out, especially the desserts. The service is mediocre at times but the waitresses are polite.
Rating: 7.5/10