Green Peppercorn is a new restaurant that has found its home in Fairfield, as part of the Fairfield Hotel right near the train station.
(and yet again I forget to bring my camera – it’s such a bad habit of mine now. Forgive the grainy-ness in the photos. I know, it annoys me too.)
It has only been opened several weeks and word has already spread. Like everyone else, I’m very interested to see what this new Thai/Laos restaurant has to offer.
It’s located at the very beginning of Hamilton Road, right near the station. Upon entering the restaurant, your eyes are drawn to the tuk-tuk. Seems it’s not only part of the decor, but it’s a prop – you can sit in there and many vistors snap away at their joy. The feel of this restaurant definitely takes you to another place – it’s got a great atmosphere and vibe!
It’s a Friday night and it’s not too bad of a wait. What you don’t realise is how big the place is. There’s lost of space as you can see, and there’s even a back room for private parties. It’s huge!
While waiting for our table, we peek into the kitchen which is slightly opened. It’s amazing how the food just keeps pumping out and looking so consistent mind you. And I tell you what, my eyes were drawn to everything that came out of there. I was getting excited..
The menu is lenghty. There is so much to read and of course, trying to decide what to eat is a task in itself.
Love the little cups that water is served in. It reminds me much of Chat Thai (post to come soon!).
Lychee Fruit Shake $5.50
Jackfruit Fruit Shake $5.50
We begin the night with some fruit shakes. Fruity, icy, sweet and refreshing is what they both were. Delicious! The jackfruit fruit shake made me go wow – it was a little more creamier but oh so good!
Sticky Rice
I can’t believe we had two of these between 2 of us. Fatties for sure…
Charcoal BBQ Ox Tongue $10.90
A must order for us at any Laos/Thai restaurant – marinated ox tongue, grilled over a charcoal bbq and served with mum’s special sauce. I loved the presentation of this dish – definitely a modern look. The chargrilled ox tongue is tender and juicy. There’s plenty of flavour on its own, but mum’s special sauce has that spice, zing and acid that brings it to another level. I much prefer the ox tongue being cooked as a whole and then having it sliced up. I find it’s much more flavoursome and tender this way.
Nam Tok (Tiger Beef Salad, Laos Style) $12.90
We opt for a salad, knowing that our mains would be quite heavy. The nam tok has thinly sliced charcoal bbq beef mixed with herbs and spices, toasted ground rice powder. It was a tasty salad, with all the right flavours and the perfect balance of sweet, salty and sour. The slices of beef were quite large so we had to cut it up a bit more ourselves before being able to eat it like a salad.
Gang Ped Yang (Red Curry Roast Duck) $16.90
We’ve discovered a new curry that we both love, different from the green curry we usually always order. The Gang Ped Yang is a rich red curry of roasted duck with cherry tomatoes, pineapple, lychee, chilli and thai basil. It’s beautifully sweet and creamy and is very generous on the vegetables and roasted duck. It was the perfect curry to comfort us and keep us warm on this cold Friday evening. Mmmm.
Crispy Pork Belly wit Stir Fried Kang-Kong $18.90
The last of our main comes out and it is stir-fried asian water spinach with garlic and chilli topped with crispy pork belly. Look at that mount of pork bellyyyyyy! My jaw just drops!
Hello single crispy pork belly…
I find it annoying when people say ‘crispy’ pork belly and the skin is far from cripsy. Well, not here. This pork belly was crispy cripsy cripsy and cripsy! Oh it was a joy to eat. And for those that love the fatty bits on their pork belly, you’d love this even more!! Every piece had a decent amount of fat on it, and it really helped to keep the pork belly juicy! Oh my porky….
After that feed there was just no room for dessert.. oh how sad, but luckily for me I got to dig into some desserts on another visit =P
Ice Cream Pavlova Smash $14.90
An awesome looking steroid size wine glass was filled with vanilla ice cream, smashed pavlova and fresh seasonal fruits. Every scoop was a nice suprice as you’d get different elements on your spoon. A great dessert to be shared amongst several mouths…
Pandan Creme Brulee $14.00
.. not this one though. NOTE: order one only for yourself! Oh the pandan creme brulee was perfect in every way. And it looks so good too! A luscious, creamy custard is infused with the pandan flavour. It’s not too over powering which is sometimes the biggest sin. My only complaint was that the dish was rather shallow so my spoon kept scooping for more, but by the time I looked down there was nothing left :( and I wish the top had been brulee’d a bit more. There was a slight cracking sound but it needed to be more significant ;) Otherwise, it was the perfect dessert.. for one =P
The Boy and I really enjoyed our experience at Green Peppercorn. It definitely lives up to the hype. We had friendly and quick service, the food was well presented and tasted great. I can forsee a big future for the Green Peppercorn venture. Well done to the team and here’s to many more feeds there :)
[edit]
On another visit, we tried a couple of other dishes.
Chicken Feet Salad
A refreshing salad with plenty of chicken feet to go around (how weird does that sound…)
Nam Khao
This crispy rice ball salad was a great dish. The textures make everything much more exciting. It’s definitely one of the better nam khao that I’ve had.
[/edit]
Green Peppercorn
1-3 Hamilton Road
Fairfield NSW 2165
Tel: +61 2 9724 7842
http://www.greenpeppercorn.com.au/
Mmm everything looks so delicious! Don’t think I’ve been to a Laos restaurant before either. I must add this to my list of places to visit :)
You must try Laos food, it’s very similar to Thai as they do have many similar flavours but if you’re looking for a place to go, message me and I’ll recommend a few;)
Ooh nice.. I love going to the little place called Laos Village opposite the Fairfield RSL when in the area, but it’s pretty basic – this place looks like a good place to spend a bit more time in!
Oh Laos Village is very cheap and quite decent. Green Peppercorn is probably more towards the Thai Cuisine, but you can definitely take your time there and sip on a few cocktails also ;)
OK, now I need to look at a map and see where Fairfield actually is. Aside from the big flatscreen tv’s the place looks ok. The food, most importantly, looks really good! Agee about the brûlée, it needs a lot more torch action!
Fairfield is a neighbouring suburb to Cabramatta – which I assume is almost on the opposite side of the world to you :P
I still have to get to Holy Basil! Maybe I’ll go here first :P Which would you recommend going to first?
Holy Basil sure can get extrememly busy so be prepared to wait. For a first experience perhaps make the trip to Green Peppercorn. I will email you shortly :)
OH MAN that pork belly and red curry both look so yum! and pandan creme brulee and the pavlova smash were defs great dessert choices :) Ok yep, this is more incentive to go visit Fairfield!
When you do visit, Tina, make sure you give me a yell ;)
YUMMMMMM epic Thai meal :) i love all the dishes especially that crispy pork belly and OMG the pandan creme brulee I’ll get two for myself thank you!!! :D
Haha I was tempted to get another for myself!!
Dear Tina,
It’s been a while since I went to a Loatian restaurant in Canley Vale and I just love how the flavours are so amazing. Best of all it’s honest food at such competitive prices too.
There are plenty of new restaurants opening in the canley vale/canley heights region! It was good of green peppercorn to locate themselves away from the competition :)
And yes the food is all reasonably priced and it tastes good too ;)
This is a fabulous looking Thai restaurant. I love the look of all the food especially the pork belly. That crackle looks amazing. And the pandan brulee looks wonderful too. I would love to try this restaurant xx
I think the restaurant did a great job on presentation. They know how to make things look visually appealing
That pork belly looks amazingly crispy! Too bad it’s so far though, otherwise I’d be there for the pork and pandan creme brulee! mmmm
Awwww shame you’re so far away!
My goodness! Everything looks fabulous… and that pork belly!! I have such a soft spot for crispy pork belly.
I know. I think it makes everyone weak in the knees
the pandan creme brulee sounds like something that would be insanely delicioussssss! I love pandan! :)