Late nights at Sukjai Thai

One of the beauties of Chinatown's nearby 'Thainatown' is its late hour closing times. I know where to head if it's 2am and I have a hankering for pad thai.

One such late nightery is Sukjai Thai, next door to another Thai restaurant across from Mr. B's on Pitt and Goulburn streets where Thai/Japanese iima resides.

Water bottle at Sukjai Thai, Pitt Street, Haymarket

The restaurant interiors are a nice change from dark and moody drinking holes; a little Paul Frank colourful whimsy, I think. The dark wood furniture isn't the most comfortable, but probably helps turn over the crowds.

Wall decorations

After ordering, we put the waiting time to good use, checking out the array of wall decorations and murals. It's fun and light-hearted (perhaps reflecting the food philosophy? I don't know and it's not really explained) and would make many a popular urban T-shirt design.

Beef pad kee mow

Feeling a little more adventurous than pad thai and pad see ew on this early, early morning, I opted for a pad kee mow not really knowing the difference.

It's the same thick and soft rice noodles as pad see ew but with some slight differences in seasoning plus the addition of chilli. In all, very tasty and just a smidgen hot from the diced red chilli.

Satay chicken sticks

It's hard to resist chicken sticks at 2am in the morning - it just is. Served with a smooth and creamy satay dipping sauce, the sweet nuttiness is rididulously satisfying along with the big hunks of chicken.

Some kind of pork salad

It was probably the last drink that gave me the confidence to order the pork salad; again something I'm not familiar and that arrived looking rather raw. Prodding the meat, it wasn't soft like an uncooked piece of meat, and so we dug into the pink pork slices with lots of Spanish onion.

The pork seemed to have been pickled or something similar, and actually matched nicely with the tart dressing on the vegetables. Probably not a dish I would have ordered were I more sober, but just goes to show what new experiences one can have on a late night out with thanks to the late night eateries.