It’s not often that my husband suggests that we visit a place to eat. I know, deep down, he hopes that I will give up the food reviewing portion of my blog and just do cooking. Not that he is a killjoy or trying to kitchen enslave me, rather he was brought up not going to restaurants. Apparently the one time that his family went, as they were raw food vegans it ended up causing such a kerfuffle it gave him Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. However this day, he was so fascinated by the enormous queues spilling out of Satang Thai that he actually suggested that we go.
The reason why there are such queues? The price apparently and it’s prime location right near UTS University. The food must also be good as there are a huge number of eateries to choose from. It’s 9.15pm on a Wednesday night when we arrive and still there are crowds outside, mostly students waiting for takeaway. We take a table right at the front and decide on our order. There are dishes starting at $5 for a thai soup with chicken to $6.50 for BBQ pork and noodles. There’s only one dish that breaks the $9.80 price barrier at $13.50. I order and pay up front and we take our seat and wait. There are only enough seats for 20 people to eat in and for most of the students around us, it’s probably easier to eat at home.
We’re waiting for between 5-10 minutes for our meal and once it arrives it looks and smells good. There is a slightly creepy sensation as if we are being watched. I turn around as I feel all eyes upon us. Indeed the large crowd on the footpath awaiting their takeaway are hungry and are feasting upon our food with their eyes. They’re fairly close and it feels like there are 20 other people seated at our table but not eating. Slightly creepy. Next time we’ll get a table inside if we can.
I try the Drunky Chicken noodles ($8.50). I’m not certain what makes it Drunky but it’s quite delicious. It’s heady in garlic and that fragrant licoricey Thai basil. The chicken pieces are clumped together and there are other vegetables and egg in it as well as thick rice noodles evenly coated with the garlicky, sweet scented sauce.
I next try the Seafood Laksa ($9.80). The Laksa soup is deliciously creamy and flavoursome. There are large, fresh garlic scented prawns and firm tofu chunks. The squid is a bit of a let down though being extremely chewy.
It’s not fancy food and not the kind of place to take a date to but for value for money, we feel like we’ve hit the jackpot. And at 9.55pm, 5 minutes before closing, finally the crowds have died down.
Satang Thai
20 Quay Street Haymarket Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9280-0956
BYO Cash only
Open 7 days until 10pm
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10 Comments | Add your own
At lunchtime I am sometimes one of the footpath crowd staring dolefully, waiting for my food. As this joint is near where I work, I used to come here quite a lot and Drunky Noodles is a favourite! I have also seen this dish named ‘Drunken’ noodles elsewhere. The pad thai from here is very good too (the serves are huge). Of late however I prefer to go to Menya Ramen because the prices are similar but you get to sit down in comparative luxury and the food comes quicker.
you’re killing me with all these delightful asian spots you visit. i am insanely jealous and seriously missing asia. asian food here in ireland just doesn’t compare…sigh!
Hi Lori-I wonder where the “drunky” or “drunken” comes from? I actually tossed up whether to get the Pad Thai or not- I must order that the next time we go. Yes Menya is a bit less frantic and it’s nice when you don’t feel everyone eyeing your food
Hi airy fairy-Sorry!
I guess there’s no Chinatown near you? That’s a bummer, I guess we take the food we have here for granted as there are places on almost every corner nowadays
What interesting in-laws you have! I like the sound of Drunky Chicken Noodles, mostly because it’s called drunky, which is such a funny word.
Hi Y-Thanks, they are very interesting. I keep trying to get my mother in law to write a book about their lives!
Haha yes there’s something quite happy and giddy about asking for “drunky noodles”
‘Drunky’ or ‘drunken’ comes from the Thai name for the dish – Pad Kee Mao (’mao’ being the word for drunk). Supposedly, the dish as it is cooked in Thailand is so hot and spicy that you would only eat it when drunk after a big night out on the town.
Either that or you would only cook it that spicy if you were drunk and didn’t know what you were doing in front of the wok
Clarification compliments of my wife, who’s Thai.
Hi Min-That’s great, thanks to you and your wife for the interesting history of the dish
Although ours wasn’t very spicy really come to think of it. It could just be more of a funny sounding name that peaks people’s interest there (or they weren’t drunk when they were making it 
!)
Hi Lorraine!
Well I have a different theory re: the “Drunky” chicken noodles.
I immediately thought it was humorous “Engrish”.. there’s a website called Engrish dot com or something. Mispronounced (by Asians) english words on signs and things in Asia.
I suspected “drunky” was Chinese speak for anything “drunken”.
It was only the other day that I was flicking through my July 2003 edition of Delicious magazine when I came across Jill Dupleix’s recipe for “Drunken Potatoes”. She writes “Contrary to popular belief in my household, this potato dish is called ‘drunken’ because the spuds absorb a lot of wine as they bake. It has nothing to do with the cook tending to follow suit”. hehe
So upon seeing your “Drunky Chicken” picture I assumed the chicken would be cooked with Chinese Cooking Wine (Shaoxing) maybe marinated first as I sometimes do with cornflour (I’ve seen it done on cooking shows).
I realised that I have the Drunken Potatoes recipe twice because it’s in my “Very Simple Food” cook book by Jill too.
I then decided to Google drunken chicken and it confirmed the Chinese wine definition of the recipe. Drunken I guess means “done in plonk”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunken_chicken
I’ve found sweet sherry a good susubstitute for my drunken chicken when I don’t have the Shaoxing on hand. I didn’t realise it was “drunken chicken” until I’ve made the connection here on your site crossed with Jill Dupleix’s potatoes!
Hi Maria-It’s funny that you say that because that was my guess but since I had no idea what they used and since the cooking wine is Chinese, I thought they might not use it. Interesting, you know perhaps I should ask them about it next time we go. I’d love to be able to give you guys the definitive answer. I think I would have to actually go there because if I rang up to ask they might think it was a prank call
Those drunken potatoes sound delish too!
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