Whenever it’s raining, I always see rainbows as a sign of something good to come. Symbolic perhaps of a lesson learnt after a hardship or a silver lining in a cloud. Rainbow themed anything from cakes, biscuits and cupcakes adorn my blog and when I see a sign saying “Double Rainbows All the Way Across the Sky” beaming at me from a yellow neon sign as soon as we walk into Chi Chi Asian Kitchen, I see it as the reward at the end of a long drive.

I was with my usual partners in crime Mr NQN, Miss America and Queen Viv. The latter two are the friends that best like an adventure to a far flung suburb and on this torrentially rainy Sydney Saturday, Mr NQN and I bundled into the car avoiding fat drops of rain and picked up Miss America from Potts Point and Queen Viv from St Peters and went on our way to Canley Heights (on the way buying twelve blocks of butter but that’s nothing new). We were running a touch late and perhaps we were over optimistic with the travel time to Canley Heights. The rain doesn’t help traffic conditions and Chi Chi isn’t actually on Canley Vale road as the address says but we stumble upon it on Derby Street while trying to find a park in this busy little suburb.

Inside, it’s quite different from the large number of Vietnamese eateries that line Canley Vale road. There’s a large Manga style wall complete with a waving lucky panda alongside an exposed brick wall and pink metal cut outs of pandas in sunglasses partition off the marble bar from the main restaurant. They tell us that Chi Chi just means chic and the idea was to introduce a Melbourne sort of vibe to Canley Vale. One of the owners Les Huynh of Chi Chi also owns Blue Ginger in Balmain. Every table is taken this evening and I’m glad that they take bookings. Service is very friendly and they take time to explain things to us and give us recommendations.

Liquid Pavlova $18 (left) and Hello Chi Chi $8

It’s funny how one ingredient can evoke a whole dish. The passionfruit in this cocktail and fluffy top brought forth memories of pavlova immediately. My choice was the Hello Chi Chi which was a delicious mocktail tasting of sweet strawberry and lychee. The only complaint was that there was a lot of ice in both drinks and they were gone rather quickly within a few gulps.

Spanner crab, pomelo, caramelised coconut, galangal and peanuts on betel leaf $4.80 each

It’s a short wait for the entrees that arrive all at once. We start with the two betel leaf items which are always crowd pleasers. The spanner crab, pomelo, caramelised coconut, galangal and peanuts on the betel leaf are perfectly balanced, with just the right amount of sour pomelo and rich, sweet caramelised coconut never overpowering the crab.

Smoked trout, galangal, roasted chilli and fried shallots on betel leaf $3.90 each

We follow the crab with the smoked trout (on their recommendation) and it’s also good with the strong smoked trout flavour dominating but out of the two betel leaf toppings, the crab ones were just that touch more balanced.

Son-in-law eggs with house XO sauce $5.90

I originally found Chi Chi from Tina’s blog Bitemeshowme and I recall that she was smitten by these on her blog and I’m in total agreement. They’re simple enough, boiled eggs lightly dredged in cornflour and deep fried so that the outside gets a crispish coating. Inside the yolk is runny and golden and topped with house made XO sauce, that powerhouse spicy sauce flavoured with dried scallops and pork. “I could have eaten a dozen” Miss America says to eating lifting the last mouthful to his mouth.

Steamed dumplings of seafood and vegetables with ginger soya sauce (5) $11.90

On the drive here Miss America had made several requests for us to stop in Ashfield for dumplings. It was rainy weather after all and that means holing up with a plate of steaming dumplings. These were filled with seafood and vegetables with an egg pastry wrapper. Drizzled on top was a ginger soy sauce. They weren’t bad but they also weren’t very distinctive in flavour in terms of the seafood and I couldn’t tell what seafood it contained.

Crispy skin baby chicken with house satay sauce $20.90

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“They’re going to spank us” Ute says whispering. She elaborates, “we’re in trouble, they wrote ‘late’ next to our name. I even argued with the woman over the location as I walked around and around the street as it used to be on the other side of the road!” she said.

Chat Thai is the uber popular Thai chain of restaurants whose location can be signalled by the crowd of people queuing outside. We’re at the Thaitown location, which is the original location located on Campbell Street in Haymarket right opposite the Capitol Theatre. It’s a long, narrowish space with exposed brick walls and paintings. You walk past the crowd of people that stand and sit transfixed, watching the chefs cook in the front kitchen. They await their name and number being called like yum cha patrons.

Seating is crowded and it is noisy inside with much jostling of elbows. Our waiter is efficient and friendly enough but the aim is to get you fed and turned around so that someone else outside can take your place. We have a look at the menu which actually looks like a book about the experience rather than the actual menu. The menu is varied and we choose quickly.

Thai tea $5

There are a range of soft drinks but I decide to try a Thai tea. A strong black tea mixed with condensed milk and sugar, it is sweet and strong but really quite addictive.

Strawberry juice $6

Gai chicken satay (each) $2 each

There was so much on the menu that it was hard to choose so we decided to go for the classics on the entree menu. We started with the chicken satay skewers. The entrees came out in a flash and we take a bit of the juicy, chicken satay sticks blanketed in a thick satay sauce. These came with a cucumber chilli salad.

Todt mun bpla fish cakes $10

This was one of my favourite dishes although rather surprisingly described as “dollops of fried fish cakes.” They really were dollops though but light and puffy and worlds away from any tough, chewy or firm fish cakes. They were served on lettuce leaves, in a generous number with pickled cucumber relish and a tumble of deep fried Thai basil leaves.

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“I want to order the betel leaves, the quail’s eggs and let’s see the wagyu, the fish and the pork belly and let’s also get the whole snapper too” I declare to Mr NQN.

“Is that all? I think you left off one dish” Mr NQN says raising an eyebrow.

“Well we’ll order that too” I say, purposely ignoring his sarcasm. “Have we only just met honey? You know I always want to order everything!”

When one turns up inadvertently early to a restaurant one has little choice but to take a good look at the menu and tick off the menu choices that they want in the hopes that their dining companions want to do the same. We were in luck, Louise and Viggo having dined here before have already honed in on the same things and because of this ordering is done without fuss and within minutes. Tapioca is the newest Thai restaurant in the Cremorne stretch of Military Road. With chefs from Sailors Thai it has become a fast, solid favourite with locals.

Deep fried quail egg and minced prawns wrapped in egg noodle served with tamarind sauce (3 pcs) $14

The deep fried quail’s eggs come out halved so you get six pieces in total although the menu says that there are three pieces. They’re coated in a prawn mince and then rolled in crunchy egg noodles and served with a sweet tamarind sauce which gives it a sweet and sour aspect. They’re addictive with the crunchiness and sweetness and the prawn mince is juicy and packed full of herbs and flavour.

Smoked trout, roasted coconut, peanuts, chilli, lime, ginger and caramel sauce served on betel leaves (4 pcs) (v) $18

The betel leaves are a favourite of practically every one that has visited here. And we can see why. They come out topped with roasted coconut, peanuts and large flakes of smoked trout. On top is a sweet chilli, lime and ginger sauce which runs down hands when you pick up the betel leaves but it’s so lovely and crunchy and zings with flavour that you simply lick your hand clean.

Crispy wafer stuffed with prawn, turmeric, coconut and kaffir lime leaves (4 pcs) $16

The crispy wafers are filled with prawns, turmeric, coconut and kaffir lime leaves and have a fresh quality to them along with a crispy thin wafer and are terrifically moreish if somewhat messy to eat.

Crispy pork belly in a sweet and sour spicy sauce $25

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