Kin Kao Thai

Kin Kao Thai is a little restaurant hidden away in Robina on Ron Penhaligon Way.  We were deciding on a place for dinner Saturday night and so I flicked through my Entertainment Book and found this. This restaurant has been in the Entertainment Book for many years, but I have never tried it!

Thinking that it was a restaurant hidden away in Robina, I thought it would be OK if I just turned up without a booking. When we arrived, I asked for a table for 4 people, and the waitress asked if I had a booking or not. I had a look around and pretty much all the tables had 'reserved' on them. Uh-oh! But luckily, there was one table left near the entrance, so we sat down! *Phew*. Ok, so the small restaurant is almost fully booked, must be a good sign right?

Once we sat down, the waitress quickly brought us some water and a small plate of veggie chips which were complimentary. Then we got the menus, which looked very unique.

Veggie Chips

Once we ordered our food, I looked around to admire the restaurant's decor. We were at the restaurant quite early, so there were very few other diners. But once our entrees arrived and we started to eat, heaps of people came rushing in, taking up all the tables in the restaurant.

Mixed Entree

Tom Yum Prawn Soup

For entrees, we ordered one serve of the mixed entree ($16.90) which consisted of 2 satay chicken skewers, 2 springrolls, 2 curry puffs and 2 thai fish cakes. It came with two dipping sauces (sweet chilli and a vingery sauce). The satay chicken skewers were quite nice with the peanutty satay sauce generously poured on top. The thai fish cakes were a bit spicy but paired nicely with the vinegar sauce. The springrolls were crunchy and had veggies, pork mince and glass noodle inside. I found the curry puffs really oily, with very little filling inside. They didn't use puff pastry for the curry puff, so it wasn't that nice in my opinion.

The tom yum prawn soup ($9.40) was quite ordinary, not as fragrant and tasty as I expected it to be. There were only 3 prawns inside, which I thought was a bit stingy, considering they charged close to $10 for it. Other Thai restaurants would put at least 5 prawns in the soup and only charge $7.90 at most.

After we finished our entrees, we waited a while for the mains because all the other diners had ordered and received their mains first (as they did not order entrees).

Finally our mains arrived. First to arrived was the Crispy Whole Fish ($21.90). This was a full barramundi (bones, head and all) which has been deep fried and then accompanied with some tasty tamarind sauce and vegetables. I actually thought this was the best dish of the night! The flesh of the fish was tender, the skin was crispy and the sauce was delicious! Only down side was, the vegetables seem to be undercooked as they were still quite crunchy, which I didn't like. (Especially the broccoli).

Not long after, the two curries arrived. I was shocked to see the size of the curries! They were so tiny! Both curries were brought out in small bowls, the size of a 'dessert' bowl you would use at home. We had ordered a Vegetarian Red Curry ($15.90) and a Chicken Gang Panang Curry ($16.90). The vegetarian curry was quite disappointing. Once again all the veggies were crunchy and undercooked. It's as if they were just chopped and then put into the bowl, then they poured curry 'water' over it. Yes, the 'curry' was quite watery. There were 4 tiny pieces of hard tofu inside the vegetarian curry. I don't see how this is worth $15.90.  The chicken curry wasn't much better. Yes, there were many pieces of chicken inside, but the chicken was bland and tasteless. Once again, it seems like the chicken was just boiled and then chucked into the sauce.  I could not taste/tell the difference between the two curries. They were both quite similar.

The prawn salad arrived next. The salad consisted of prawns, coriander, lime leaves, lemongrass and chilli. So where's the salad? There wasn't any glass noodle, tomato, cucumber or other greens at all! And this cost $20.90?! Other Thai restaurants would serve up a better salad than this place anyday!

Now, the coconut rice..... it was $3.90 per serving, we had 4 people, so our pot of coconut rice cost $15.60. For the same price, I might order a Thai fried rice instead next time (if there is a next time)

Chef's Recommendation: Crispy Whole Fish (Barramundi with Tamarind Sauce)

Chicken Gang Panang Curry

Vegetarian Red Curry

Prawn Salad

Coconut Rice - 4 serves

All the dishes except the prawn salad

My overall experience at this restaurant was OK. Looking around at what the other diners have ordered, I saw that most people got stirfries instead of curries. The table nearby ordered a lamb shank curry which looked quite interesting. This might be worth a try for next time.  We also ordered a pad thai takeaway, which turned out to be small in portion and ordinary in taste. Definitely a no no for next time. I was so glad that I had the Entertainment Book coupon, which took $25 off the total bill.

Considering that the crispy whole fish was quite nice, I might return to this restaurant in the future, but I definitely won't be ordering the curries or salads again.

Kin Kai Thai Website