Situated at the very northern part of what could fall under the ‘Eat Street’ dining precinct of Church Street in Parramatta is a quaint cottage housing Thai Garden House Restaurant. It’s taken a few years for us to realise, but it is indeed, the most well-rated Thai restaurant in Parramatta as it proclaims. And so for my birthday in 2021, we stopped by to taste for ourselves.

We start with drinks. The Lychee & Mint Mocktail ($9.00) above was described as being ‘refreshing crushed ice with lychee, mint, lemon juice’.

This was T’s drink, which was refreshing and captured both the lychee and mint brightly and in equal measure while the sweetness was well balanced by the acidity from the lemon juice.

This is the Thai Iced Milk Tea ($5.00).

It was quite sweet as seems characteristic of Thai milk tea. N enjoyed the sweetness and the flavour, though.

This Guava Crushed ($9.00) used ‘homemade guava sorbet in ice cold guava juice’.

The drink was smooth and delivered a salivating punchy guava flavour at the first sip before mellowing as the sorbet melts into the juice itself.

We had the Curry Puff Beef (4 pcs, $8.90) as our entree. It was described as being ‘mince of leaf beef, lightly saute[d] in [a] mild curry, potato cubes, diced carrot, sweet peas and Thai herbs, deep-fried, served with cucumber relish’.

The pastry of the puffs had a very satisfying crisp exterior yet soft interior, while the innards were flavourful although the fluffy vegetables meant we could hardly identify the beef.

This is the Tom Yum Seafood Combo (large, $22.90), which was described as ‘flavoursome spicy and tangy soup flavoured with lemongrass, galangal root, lemon juice, kaffir lime leaf, topped with button mushroom, tomato cubes, coriander and chopped shallots.

N and I were drawn to the tom yum, and here, the soup base has plenty of depth from the fresh lemongrass, galangal root and kaffir lime leaves. The mushrooms soaked up the soup, while the seafood included three mussels, numerous prawns and squid. The soup itself was a tad on the salty side for our tastes.

This is the Tom Yum Fried Rice with Duck ($20.90). It was described as ‘Thai fried rice flavoured with Tom Yum paste, egg, vegetables, topped with kaffir lime leaves and lemongrass’.

This turned out to be our favourite dish of the meal. The tom yum paste added interest to the fried rice, while the variation in the texture and flavour of the vegetables and meat and the crispy skin of the duck kept each bite refreshing. Unlike the soup, the saltiness was well-balanced. We could haven eaten the whole serving by ourselves without getting bored of the flavour.

The Green Curry with Chicken ($18.90) above was described as a ‘very spicy green curry flavoured with green chilli paste, coconut milk and Thai basil and mixed vegetables’.

The spiciness in this green curry crept upon us at the end of every bite, leaving a tingling and burning sensation on our tongues. The curry was creamy with a generous mix of vegetables, but the chicken breast was rather dry.

The Moo Ping ($19.90) was ‘pork neck marinated with herbs and spices, flame grilled’.

The pork had an enjoyable smokiness in addition to the marinade but did not taste particularly noteworthy to reorder again at that price.

We returned for takeaway a week later, starting with this was the Duck Oh Duck ($20.90, house specialty). It was described as ‘shredded boneless duck with sliced granny smith apple, Thai herbs and mints, lemon chilli dressing, garnished with roasted cashew nuts and crispy fried duck skin.

The portion size was very small but other than that, D enjoyed the variety of textures — the crispness of the duck skin, the crunch of the cashews, the sweet acidity of the apple, and the freshness of the herbs. The chilli dressing surprised us with its lack of heat, though.

This is the Pad Thai Noodle ($16.90) and was described as a ‘stir-fried rice noodle with beef, egg, crushed peanut, shallots, flavoured with tamarind and tomato, garnished with bean sprouts.

The strong flavour of tomato in the sauce of these noodles was an unexpected surprise that wasn’t entirely pleasant as the noodles themselves were overly soft and soaked too much of it. We’ve had many better meals of pad thai, so this isn’t something we’d try again.

This was the Pad See Eew Noodle ($16.90, beef) and was described as ‘stir-fried flat rice noodle with egg, beef, dark soya sauce, mild spices and seasonable vegetables, topped with chopped fresh herbs. The noodles were broken and soft, without any redeeming wok hei, though the pieces of beef were tender and well seasoned.

Finally, this was the Satay Lamb ($20.90) which was described as ‘wok grilled sliced back lamb back strap fillet on a bed of green vegetables, topped with Thai Garden House satay sauce and roasted sesame seeds’.

The appearance of this dish with its generous pool of sauce surprised us as we were expecting pieces of skewered and grilled lamb with the sauce as a side, served with a sauce. First impressions aside, though, the lamb was tender while the satay sauce had a very rich peanut flavour.

We were pleased with the overall experience at Thai Garden House Restaurant. While the portions were small and the noodles left a lot to be desired texturally, the quality of the ingredients was good and the service on eating in was appropriately attentive and friendly.

Thai Garden House Restaurant is located at 526 Church St, North Parramatta NSW 2150.