Review: Azesti Thai

Exciting news, as of May 16, Azesti Thai are going to be doing a regular buffet for lunch on Tuesdays. We highly recommend trying it out if you can. Full details here.

Azesti Thai is a place that seems to get undeservedly overlooked as far as Thai food in Neutral Bay goes. Pricewise the food is a slight cut above standard Thai fare, but Azesti rewards it's customers well, serving good food in a nice environment.

Azesti Thai's strongest drawcard is the quality of the food it serves. Each of the items we have ordered in our visits have contained a nice variety of vegetables and seafood. We have no complaints about the way the dishes at Azesti Thai are made or the freshness of the ingredients. On our most recent visit, I found the garlic pork to be particularly memorable because the sour flavours worked hand in hand with the chilli and garlic to create an extremely balanced dish. Also, it had that unmistakable barbeque flavour that seems to be missing from a lot of Thai barbeque dishes and the sticky rice was a lovely touch.



I'd like to also say here, for what its worth, that the complimentary prawn crackers are the nicest I've ever eaten. The flavours are slightly gingery and each cracker is so much less oily than what you would expect. If I were more hedonistic, my lifelong dream would be to track a tonne of them down and eat till I have a heart-attack. For some reason the lovely prawn crackers seem to slip my mind, so they are always a nice suprise for me when we eat at Azesti.

As you'll see in the photos, each dish is photogenically presented with nice touches of garnishing. Azesti Thai must go through a hell of a banana leaves as they put a little bit under most of their dishes. Its a really nice touch, especially when presentation seems to be ignored in a lot of cheaper Thai.




If anyone were to ever ask what made Azesti Thai worth paying a few more dollars per dish for, the quality of the food and its presentation should be enough to silence them.

The service at Azesti Thai is good. We tend to get spicy dishes when we eat Thai (me with a fondness of chilli/basil stir fries and Laura with her jungle curry love) so we prefer to ask the wait-staff to keep the bottle of water at the table instead of them having to refill our glasses as we drink them. Which they normally do very promptly. On our most recent visit our waitress misheard Laura's request for a pork jungle curry as being a "prawn jungle curry" but after Laura pointed this out the curry was remade and replaced in about ten minutes free of hassle or charge. I normally dread telling a waitperson or chef they got something wrong in case an argument ensues, so its nice to know they treat you right. Laura noticed that the staff are always well presented. The women wear light make up for dinner and the staff are always polite. The service gets a thumbs up from me.




However, Azesti Thai has a weakness that must be pointed out. Despite serving quality food and having a refreshingly modern interior, Azesti Thai fails to stand out from it's competitors in other regards. With Thai food now passing its peak of popularity, setting themsleves apart is something that Thai places are now going to have to strive to do from now on. This probably goes a long way to explaining why the restaurant can often seem sadly under-customed.

When you glance at the menu, there is little that immediately distinguishes Azesti Thai from the slew of other Thai restaurants around. The dishes will be familiar to any who have been eating Thai food casually since it came to Sydney. There are few, if any dishes on Azesti's menu that you won't be able to easily find elsewhere.

Similarly with the interior design, there is something very non-descript about Azesti Thai. The colour schemes are pleasant, the wall decorations inoffensive and the layout very photo-friendly but there seems to be nothing that jumps out at you. Its nice and clearly has a nice level of attention put into it but it still lacks individuality.




Even the photogenic meals are presented in a way that feels very ... done. They certainly look good, don't get us wrong, but they seem to carbon copy standard cafe presentation rules in the food arrangement as well as the crockery. Paradoxically, it seems like this familiarity is what is holding people back from embracing Azesti Thai more than anything, which is a pity because the food is good.

Azesti Thai stands as one of the stronger competitors in a rather crowded cuisine scene. There is a lot going for Azesti but it looks like it just isn't getting enough customers. Its a sad reality that the decline in the number of Thai places will push a lot of restaurant owners aside. Especially sad for those who put a lot of work into their business, like they do at Azesti. But trends will ultimately prevail. It'd be a shame not to enjoy places like Azesti Thai while they are still around.

As of mid-May, Azesti are now doing weekly lunch buffets which people seem to be flocking to. We can't recommend the buffet enough. Full details.


What we ate:

Prawn Crackers (complimentary)
Garlic Pork (Moo Pieng) ($6.90)
Pork Jungle Curry ($14.90)
Seafood Pad Prik Sod ($17.90)


Azesti Thai:

79 Military Road,
Neutral Bay, NSW, 2089
+61 2 9909 2011

(They also offer free home delivery to North Sydney, Neutral Bay, Cremorne and Mosman for orders over $20)


Related Links:

Azesti Thai on Eatability

Lunch buffet details