Found this cheerful restaurant in a tiny alley near collins st in Melbourne cbs. My colleague and I had been pining for Thai food — me because I had found it unaffordable to have dinner in Perth with each main costing around 27 – 30 dollars and him having just moved over from Leeds. The restaurant is pretty large and busy and as soon as we entered at around 6.30pm on a Friday we were asked if we had a booking. We said no and were told that we only had the table until 7.30pm. Despite the limited time the waitress did not rush us to order. We ordered the fish cakes(5 on a plate for 8.90 — what a bargain), pork skewers(4 for 8.9), three servings of jasmine rice, duck red curry and chicken massaman curry. The massaman curry actually comes with wagyu beef but they happily exchanged it for chicken. The food arrived fairly quickly. The fish cakes were soft to cut into and very favourable and were complimented by the sweet chilli sauce. The pork skewers were delicious and came with a vinegary soy chopped chilli sauce. The massaman curry contained large pieces of sweet and golden potatoes and succulent large chicken pieces. The red duck curry contained thinly sliced pieces of duck with lychee and peppercorn. The rice was slightly undercooked and crunchy. Though the food tasted great I didn’t think it was fresh. I asked for the food to be made slightly hotter and both curries had a kick to them but were not spicy. The red curry tasted exactly the same as the massaman curry. The curries did not have any veggies like carrots or beans that you usually find in a Thai curry. I was really disappointed by the undercooked rice. Though the kitchen is visible and looks clean, the bowls that we ate in looked dusty and old. The food was delicious but the curries did not come with alternate options. For example you couldn’t order vegetarian red curry or a tofu green curry like you can in many Thai restaurants where you have the option of which meat you would like to pair with the curry or whether you would like the vegetarian option. They had mushroom rolls and not the usually vermicelli vegetarian spring rolls on the menu. Fresh coconut juice was unavailable and you had to order coconut juice for 7 dollars that came from a can. Outrageous. The bill for two starters, two mains, and three bowls of rice came to around 60 bucks. Pretty cheap compared to Perth and I was pretty full and satisfied but think the menu needs more options.
Berry Y.
Place rating: 3 Philadelphia, PA
The atmosphere and service are good, so as the curry. But compared to what I had before the food seems not worth 5 stars. 1st, the coconut rice tastes like cooked with coconut powder instead of coconut milk, which compromise its richness and stickiness; 2nd, the papaya salad is lack of richness in its taste. It’s a little bit too sweet or maybe add more spicy or sour can help. 3rd, the wok seems overheat that makes the pad thai little bit bitter.
Steve H.
Place rating: 5 Chicago, IL
The food is very close to eating in Thailand. The cooks tailor your dish to your request. I highly recommend making this a good place to stop by to get rice noodles and other Thai delights.
Mel P.
Place rating: 5 Melbourne, Australia
If you’re in the mood for Thai that is more modern than your local joint down the road, but not so modern that you need to dress up or queue for 2+ hours to get it — Mr Nice Guy Thai is pretty much the perfect middle ground. Fresh, modern and authentic Thai dishes in a more casual family restaurant setting. In the CBD. Winning. The family behind this is Pla(from Carlton’s Middle Fish) and her Australian partner whom she lovingly refers to as Mr Nice Guy. They are as passionate as they come and put a lot of love into the food they serve. They are known for their speciality chicken dish, but with a hankering for stir fried greens we went straight to their Chinese broccoli. SO good. Definitely order this with whatever you’re getting — it more than satisfied our cravings. The other stand out was the beef Pad Kee Mao with really fragrant spiced mince beef and thick rice noodles. I could eat this by the truck load. I want it again already. Being accustomed to having to order a zillion things off the menu when dining in the CBD, we over ordered. We also got the sliced pork neck(tasty, not mind blowing) and the seafood dish with prawns and calamari, which wasn’t really my thing. Next time we’ll probably order 2 – 3 max and be done with it! Having now seen that there’s no recent photos on here I feel bad for not snapping any, but it smelt SO good that we devoured it instantly. Next time!
Sarah A.
Place rating: 5 Armadale, Australia
Thai at, in my limited-time-spent-in-Thailand opinion, its most authentic. Not your average curry and pad Thai restaurant, Mr Nice Guy offers delicious, fresh, wholesome Thai cuisine. The very sweet ambiance is coupled with an even sweeter owner, Pla who happily greets customers and offers her recommendations. We had the roast chicken to share with a papaya side salad for $ 50 which can feed 3 people(well if you add a few starters/sides). The whole barramundi was delicious stuffed with a spicy blend of ginger. The desserts. Where exquisite and what you could expect to find in a hatted restaurant. Definitely get the deconstructed lemongrass and smoked pineapple dessert, there is a surprise in every bite. I also had the Thai tea pannacotta which was beautifully textured and delicious. See you there again!
