Cambo Thai Restaurant     金寶泰國菜館  

if you agree with sunflowerting that foods should not have the boundary about come from old or new restaurant, neither rich nor poor decoration, the first point & last point is : delicious
lucky found that fusion (both thail & vietnam style) in a same company when the order can cross-over 2 style at the same time!
raw beef noodle

Is is hard to find good Thai food in Hong Kong. Most places have one or two good dishes but the rest of the menu is below average. We decided to try Cambo Thai as it had the highest rating for Kowloon City Thai restaurants. We went on a Saturday night. The restaurant is actually a group of several buildings. All were packed but we managed to get a table for four on arrival in one of the rooms on the top floor.

Pros:
Considering there were only 2 waitresses serving around 70-80 people I thought the service was good. We didn't need to wait long for our drinks or food.

Tom Yam soup - one of the best I've had in Hong Kong. Full of flavor and large enough for four people to have a taste as a starter.

Thai pancake was delicious.

Price - at 170 HKD per head including drinks it was very reasonably priced.

Cons:

The rest of the food.

All deep-fried dishes (we had selection of starters from both Thai and Vietnamese menus) had a nasty old re-used oil taste.I was looking forward to try the rice-paper rolls but they lacked flavor.

Celebrity dish - agree with the previous reviewer. It looked nothing like on the picture and whilst it didn't taste as bad as the rest of the food it was nothing special and the portion was tiny.

Verdict - the only reason to go back would be Tom Yam, but is it worth the trip to Kowloon city? The search for a perfect Thai place goes on....

We went to Cambo Thai last night after reading some great reviews on this site & as I am pregnant I had a craving for spring rolls & tom yum soup.
Firstly, we made a reservation for 7.30 but there was no need as we were ushered in immediately. Menus were given & our bottle of wine was opened & we were given beer steins with which to drink it - interesting! But the setting is very casual so we were not too perturbed.
The place seems quite clean & busy & they appear to have a couple of locations on the same strip. We had a couple of attempts to get the waitresses attention so we could order. Once we ordered, the food came out in no set order but was arriving within 10 minutes. I must add that I ordered a lime ice drink that was delicious. It was really tart & exactly what I was expecting.
We ordered (to share):
Thai Spring Rolls - these were yummy but not what I would call a spring roll. They were basically a prawn wrapped in spring roll pastry & deep fried. They were nice but had no seasoning or additional vegetables in them of any kind. The dipping sauce was quite sweet. I still left craving real spring rolls!
Vietnamese rice paper rolls with prawn & pork - these were a highlight & really fresh with lots of mint & lettuce & vermicelli noodles and a beautiful sweet/sour dipping sauce. They are quite large but we easily demolished them as they were yummy.
Steamed rice - We ordered this to go with our main meals but it came to the table at the same time as the entrees, so basically sat there going cold for the 20 minutes it took for our mains to arrive.
Beef with garlic, ginger & eschallots - I couldn't discern anything even remotely thai about this dish. It looked lovely with 1cm cubes of beef surrounded with 1 eschallot & lots of cloves of garlic. There was no discernible ginger, either visibly or to the palate. The sauce was more like a pepper sauce. This dish was actually quite nice but almost seemed like a winter dish from Europe!
Celebrity dish of mixed seafood & vegetables - this was the most disappointing dish of the night. It looked nothing like the picture in the menu and had only 2 small prawns, 2 mussels and a tiny lonely piece of calamari. The veges were crisp but so tiny. I would not order this dish again!
Tom Yum Goong - Now this soup arrived on it's own little bain marie so was kept piping hot. The flavour was divine & rich & intense and definitely satisfied that craving for tom yum soup. The straw mushrooms were really fresh but unfortunately the prawns were roughly chopped, shells & all, & were really difficult to eat.
Overall, we ordered too much food for the 2 of us and the bill was very cheap - only $298. That being said I would only go back for the tom yum soup & the rice paper rolls and to be honest, don't think I will go back

Thought of having Thai food today, so went to Kowloon City for food and since Openrice has a lot people comment on this restaurant, we decided to give it a try.

After we have orderd our food, the first dishes came around 10 mins later, very small dish and at unreasonable price. We waiter another 15 mins for the second dish after finishing the first dish. We didn't even mind on the time they serve food (thought it's consider quite long wait) caused we always have no expectation from restuarant like this type of standard.

Unfortunately, even after finished our 2nd dish, there were still no sign on the following dishes we've ordered, so I politely waved for the waiter to ask on this matter. Too bad, 2-3 waiters/waitresses were around but no one care to answer us, and pretend they didn't see us. Finally after a few attemps, they answer us in a extremely rude manners, and ask us to continue waiting and didn't bother to check the status.

Waited for a while more, we decided to leave, and this time, we told another waiter that we didn't want to wait anymore and decided to cancel all our orders, instead of checking the status of dishes for us, he actually asked us to leave. Saying "if you cannot wait, you can leave"..... Worse, the waiter made us wait at the counter when we want to settle the bill. Now when I think back, should have left without botheting to pay.....

Though their business is doing ok now, but if they continue to act this manner, I am sure they will lose a lot of reputation and hope one day, their business will deteriorate. Waiting see that day!

Perhaps we didn't try the house special - raw shrimps and "juice bursting" prawn balls - so maybe that's why I didn't find any of their dishes spectacular with that extra "wow" factor, but overall the dishes were well executed with a lot of flavours, the quantity was sufficient for 4 persons to share each dish, and although the waiters needed a bit of prompting, you could forgive them because the shop was really busy, and it's always warming to see the boss (you can't miss him, his big head shot is in every menu) being courteous and polite to his customers, toiling away with all the other staff.

We had chicken curry with baguette, coconut salad (a bit too crunch and hard for me, very spicy which I like, though probably it's safer to stick with papaya or mango salad next time), appetiser platter (satay and pandan chicken were particularly nice, and the prawn cakes were also fluffy and golden brown), stir fried kale, pad thai, and 3 kinds of dessert - sticky rice pudding with mango, coconut and sago pudding, and sweetcorn and mango pudding (which didn't look particularly appetising, and the taste was just so so, I'll give it a miss). My friend commented that the little containers for the puddings were made with skill, no staples or sticky tape to hold it together. Every little counts.

Overall, it's a good place to eat in the area as it's famous and quality guaranteed, but be expected to queue for a table most nights than not. If you want a more authentic experience, try one of the smaller shops nearby where you can see the thai people gather and eat (can't miss them, especially the ones who dress like they're about to go for "work").

Since Open Rice showed this as the most popular restaurant in Kowloon City, so we came to try it for ourselves. It was after 9 when we arrived and there was a table free. We took the advice from previous reviews and ordered coconut hearts, longan ice drink and shrimp paste fried rice. And we also ordered chilli paste crab as I love crab and chicken fried in pepper and garlic, his choice.

Everything was as expected, really delicious and we couldn't believe the speed at which they arrived. 10 mins after ordering, everything was on the table.

I will only comment on the dishes we ordered different from other reviews. The Chilli paste crab smelt and looked so nice and the sauce was rich and not too chilli, even for him who normally can't be bothered with crab and doesn't like food too spicy. It was a good crab as the meat was quite firm and there was some roe in the shell. Since the sauce was so delicious, we ordered a baguette to soak it up. My only complaint is that it tasted a bit too much of basil.

The chicken in pepper and garlic was delicious too and fried dry with lots of pepper stuck onto the meat. It would have gone well with something plain like plain rice. I only wondered why it was cut into odd shapes and not very nicely.

I ordered Longan ice and forgot about the barley. So he ordered a Longan and barley ice just to try what other reviews recommended. Both were really refreshing and the longan only drink was very pure in taste and the longans were firm and juicy.

The food is good value, the small size crab was only $120 and the large drinks were only $20. I am sure this restaurant will please most diners and you can also order Vietnamese dishes from the adjoining restaurant. Business is so good that the owner has 4 restaurants on the same street under the same name.

We were always watching Michelle Lo's eating program, and the fried shrimp ball was really tempting and ... that's why my dear suggested to have a kowloon city tour and the district tour was a regular function once we had long holidays.

We had fried shrimp ball, pan fried phad thai and vietnam coffee... *Vietnam... should they call themselves South Asian cuisine instead?"

Fried Shrimp Ball - big big fried ball looked very tempting and served very very hot ... had to took small bite. It really did not need any other dipping since the inner shrimp essence is delicious enough. Very good indeed, but it had to eat while it was still hot.

Pan Fried Phad Thai - mixing with many many ingredients. The phad thai is nice too and it is really a bit sour with just a bit of lime. I think the dish is authentic, but I prefer some more Hong Kong style ...

Vietnam Coffee - It was served hot and the milky flavor is a nice partner with the coffee. Good.

One the whole, the meal was great, yet we had to tour the other eating points so we just ordered a few to fill up our stomach

Thai cuisine is my favourite and I love spicy food so much
I definitely recommend this restautant if you would like to try the authentic Thai food
I tried chicken satay and Tomyam soup, it's really nice!!! they are exactly the same taste as in Thailand (the one that I tried in SuanLum market)
and the Thai shrimp sashimi was absolutely delicious!!! spicy.. and just get up my appetite!!! love the chilli!!!
Overall, the food is good

Last night I had my dinner here and me and my friends shared a great night!

We ordered Ton Yum Kong and the soup is very tasty, sour and spicy stimulated our mood of eating! Pat Thai is quite good, but a bit localized I think, compare with the one I ate in Bangkok, I prefer more peanuts and bean sprouts!

Curry Crab is another recommendation, size is big and enough for six person I think! The sauce is highly recommended for garlic bread! Fried Brocoli with salty fish is good, but a bit greasy!

Dessert is good as well, the sago cake is tasty! What a good night! Cheers

Went to the area because it was famous for Thai food last Friday. There were lots of people waiting out "every" thai restaurant. We therefore get the tickets for a few restaurants and plan to go to the one that comes up with the table first. So we end up with KAM BO, the place was quite messy and dirty. The service was good but food quality was really below average. We ordered Shrimp with rice noodle pot, Grill Pork Neck, and fried veggie. All dishes are not too good.

The curry chicken w/ french bread is very delicious especially the curry sauce. The bread can completely absorb the curry sauce. I recommend to order an additional load of bread so that you will not waste the curry sauce. However, people who love spicy food may not like this dish because the curry sauce is not spicy.

Their chef special - prawn ball is quite delicious. but $4X just for 4 balls seems a bit expensive$$$ their green curry is also nice. it's perfect match together with garlic bread. but don't try their "Tom Yam Gong" cos it's quite salty and it tastes like green curry.

My sister told me, this shop was quite good before~ But, on the Mothers' Day, we tried this shop again, the quality.. ai.. Also, so many flies ah~~ >_<
One sentence: "Not worth to try~"
U better try 金不換la~ also in Kowloon Tong~

The Thai style shrimp sashimi is the best, swallow the shrimp with the chilli & drink the whole bottle "singha"..mamamea..

泰式蝦刺身(Thai Style Shrimp Sashimi) OK!
OTHERS SEEM TO BE TOO EXPENSIVE.