When it’s nudging 40°C outside, we hate to leave air-conditioning so getting food delivered takes little convincing. It does make me feel for the guy cycling in the sweltering heat to deliver our hot food, but that’s his job, right? This time, it’s Thai La-Ong, which has a store in Parramatta in addition to the original in Newtown.

We start with Chicken Wings (6 pcs, $9.00), ‘deep fried battered chicken wings, served with sweet chilli sauce’.

We enjoyed the crispy skin of the wings which had a pleasant savoury flavour while the meat remained juicy, but were disappointed that some of the wings varied greatly in size with some being particularly tiny.

This is the Larb Salad ($15.00) with minced beef ‘cooked with lime juice, red onions, ground dried chilli, parched rice and herbs, topped with cashew nuts’. D and I were expecting a raw beef dish cooked in lime juice from the description — something along the lines of what we enjoyed at Kaffir Lime Thai & Lao Cuisine — so we were surprised to receive a cooked dish. That aside, the larb had a good balance of sweet and sour, with pops of freshness from the herbs. The heat was mild as we began to eat, but in between bites, a prominent burn kicks in immediately, allowing us to enjoy the flavours of the dish first before the subsequent burn.

This is the Pineapple Fried Rice ($12.00) with beef (+$1.00).

We’re not usually one to order fried rice, but the generous portion size and the mix of fresh sweetness from the chunky lumps of pineapple with the tender beef and vegetables made this an easy to eat, flavoursome dish. We’ve ordered this again.

This is Pad Thai ($12.00) with chicken (+$1.00).

The flavour was spot on and we’re glad that they included the lemon wedge — In the Mood for Thai did not — as we find the zesty acidity just cuts through the savoury and sweet flavour of the sauce. Our only criticisms are the short length of the noodles which are also wider than the thin chewy ones we favour, but that’s a minor detail to a satisfying meal.

Thai La-Ong is located at 279-281 Church St, Parramatta NSW 2150.