Happy 3rd Birthday, Middle Fish! + New Menu Launch

I was recently invited to Thailand Middle Fish to celebrate their 3rd birthday and also a new menu launch. Woohoo!!

Yeah, I wish! I haven't flown to Thailand for a party (although that sounds like a fab idea) but the food that Middle Fish offers, is as authentic as it can get in Melbourne.

There were heaps of food, and even a cooking demonstration by Pla, who owns and runs Middle Fish, with her partner, David - both of whom were incredibly friendly.

Pla also got us all cracked up in laughter during the cooking class - she's very cute and has a great sense of humour, so much so that Ms I-Hua wanted to take her home. Crazy I know, but she's really, really nice and sincere!

Back to the food and drinks... Many started their day with a coffee, but The Boyfriend and I both had a Thai milk tea each. This is a must for us at every Thai restaurant. Oh, it was so refreshingly good - just what we needed that arvo when we had a taste of summer.

I was in awe to see the main table so beautifully set up with these Thai noodles in paper boats. Middle Fish served two different kind of Southern Thai curries to go with the noodles.

This is the Kang Tai Pla, well known for its unique flavour, but heck it was spicy. Spicy, but good and authentic. "It's like my mum (or was it grandmother's?) cooking," said Thai-born blogger, Katspat. That says a lot coming from a Thai, don't you reckon? ;)

Pla mentioned that she uses the curry paste that her family produces in their hometown in Thailand for all her recipes. She goes as far as to import these curry paste in to Melbourne to ensure the authenticity of the dishes served in Middle Fish.

If you love Thai fish cakes (like I do), then I highly recommend these mini fish cake burgers. A slight hint of spiciness, but the fish cakes patty were juicy, tasty and packed with flavours.

These tiger prawn springrolls were also really good, but I surprisingly preferred the mushroom springrolls better which I ironically do not have a picture of.

But if I had to choose only one dish as the highlight of the day, it'd be these amazing sa la pao! I've never had any pao's quite like these before. I might or might not have stolen that one missing piece. :P

I particularly enjoyed the pork kau kling (spicy southern thai dry curry) and chicken grapao pow pow (stir fried green curry with Thai basil) fillings. The buns were soft, and the fillings so tasty.

I'm a little sad I didn't get to try the sweet potato one, but I'm heading back for sure for more of these sa la pao's!

And then there was this beautiful chocolate & almond tea, to wash it all down before I moved on to the desserts.

How beautiful are these Thai desserts? I've never had them before, but they're basically made from egg yolk in sugar syrup.

They're called Tong Yib (golden flower) and Tong Yod (golden balls) - the name of these desserts are derived from the word "thong" which means gold in Thai.

They're known as "lucky Thai desserts" as the Thai's believe that gold which symbolizes fame and wealth, will bring good luck to them. How interesting!

And in case you were wondering, pla means fish in Thai, and Pla is the middle child in her family, hence the name - Middle Fish.

And while I'm at it, this is Middle Fish's special version of Luk Choop, a popular Thai dessert. Pla is so creative!

Made from mungbean, coconut milk and sugar, Luk Choop usually come in the form of fruits. Super cute, don't you reckon? I've learnt so much about Thai food in that few hours!

Pla offered for us to sit down and have a meal if we liked, and although I was quite full, I was also feeling very greedy.

So whilst many left to go home, The Boyfriend and I, stayed behind with Kat, I-hua and Aaron for brunch.

I'm so so glad we stayed though! I finally tried the Thai coffee with condensed milk, and loved it!!

This is after stirring the filtered coffee with the condensed milk. The coffee was rather strong, but the sweetness of the condensed milk was a great balance. Perfect combination!

I tried the Kao Tom Moo Kob - rice soup with crispy pork belly and a poached egg in chicken broth, Oh, the broth was SO SO SO GOOD and hearty. I drank it all!

The Boyfriend, on the other hand, had the soft shell crab burger. He was so full from all the eating at the event earlier, so he ate half his burger, then walloped the remaining crispy soft shell crab by its own and gave me a thumbs up.

We walked home, not only with well-fed tummies, but also with a goodie bag and recipe cards! I was so pleased we got to take home some curry paste that Pla so kindly shared with us.

Pla believes in "simple and tasty" recipes - all you need is a good paste. Since it's an easy recipe to follow, I think I'll get The Boyfriend to do it. He's seen Pla demonstrate the recipe step by step, and we've got the recipe card on hand too... I'll let you guys know how he fare. ;)

Overall, a really fun event! Everything we had, food and drinks alike, were all fantastic. A big THANK YOU to Zilla & Brook for the invite, and Middle Fish for having us. I can't wait to head back for more sa la pao's and to try more items off their new menu. :)