Thai Pothong Restaurant

Overview

Newtown is home to plenty of institutions, be it the Dendy Cinema, Marly Bar or Dean's Diner, and up there with the best is Thai Pothong — a destination restaurant that's been drawing in couples on dates, groups of mates sharing a banquet and boisterous twenty-firsts and fortieths for over two decades. Heaps of Thai restaurants line Newtown's streets, but Thai Pothong rises above them all.

The expansive dining room offers authentic Thai food in an ever-bustling atmosphere and the service is top notch. It's almost fine dining but it's casual and cool enough to skip that moniker. Instead it's a force of nature in the busy Newtown food scene and one not to be missed.

This King Street stalwart serves up all of the usual curries, stir fries and noodle dishes alongside heaps of chef's specialities, like barramundi curry, banana blossom salad and fried rice with crab meat. Popular dishes include the steamed chilli scallops with ginger in spicy sauce, and the BBQ baby octopus which is perfectly charred and tender.

For vegetarians there is the papaya salad which offers a light start of fresh papaya and carrot with tomatoes, lemon juice and peanuts, while a more filling offering is the crispy salt and pepper tofu with chilli, garlic and a generous sprinkling of salt and pepper.

Thai Pothong Restaurant also offers several banquet menus, and puts on regular monthly special, too. The drink list is extensive and includes classic Thai beers, while downstair is a "secret" bar to enjoy a cocktail before or after your meal. Come here fThai Pothong Restaurant

or a celebration or sit by the window with your partner and watch the parade of King Street pass on by.

Images: Cassandra Hannagan