CHAO PHRAYA     昭拍耶  

RECOMMENDED: Kowloon City isn't an area of HK where you'll find much (or rather no) Westerners roaming about, but that shouldn't stop you making the effort to visit this interesting area of Hong Kong. Kowloon City on the edge of the Walled City Park area is a mini-Thailand full of an assortment of shops with all things Thai, including numerous Thai restaurants.

Chao Phraya stands out in a group of mostly nondescript restaurants. Nice modern music is playing at an appropriate volume when you enter, nicely designed modern tables and chairs and the menu (shown in another review is in English and is nicely presented as well). Recognize though this is a basic restaurant and while not an elegant 'date' night place, it'd be fine for a gang of friends to turn up. Our visit here was late on a Saturday afternoon well before the dinner hour. We were warmly welcomed and created an immediate stir, obviously not many Westerners appear here and they wanted to make a good impression.

But it's all about the food at a restaurant and Chao Phraya did not disappoint.

First out was a mango smoothie. Fresh blended mango, a slight hint of sweetness and full of flavour presented in attractive glassware started the experience. Authentic a tall and quite cold Chang Thai beer along with chilled glassware was brought out as we ordered a selection of dishes.

The minced pork with lettuce wraps is a classic dish and was well presented. Steaming hot and full of fresh Thai spices and cool lettuce leaves. You could taste each spice and was fantastic. The portion size was quite large and the waitress automatically brought extra lettuce without being asked. More than enough for 2 and nearly a main on it's on.Classic green mango salad was equally presented in a stylish fashion, full of shreds of fresh green mango marinated in a sharp and fresh series of spices and juices along with a heaping of freshly roasted peanuts. An excellent choice.Finally, we ordered a classic pineapple fried rice with egg this appeared in half a pineapple shell with a beautiful array of colors from various diced vegetables, spices and fresh and dried fruit (including pineapple of course). Hot n' steaming it was nicely flavored but mild for those not up for spice.The lunch time pricing was quite affordable (figure HK$150 per person) and a far cry from expensive Central. The staff was extremely diligent and caring with unobtrusive but quick service. They were equally concerned about my vegetarian friend and quick to help with menu selections or modification.

This is a definite FIND in my HK restaurant hunt and while it's a bit out of the way, it's worth making the effort to visit.