My partner and I have had a lot of Thai food recently and A Mark Thai was probably one of the restaurants that started the trend. We visited late at night, near closing, after 8pm to an almost empty restaurant.
The tom yum fried rice with duck ($20.90). was incredible. It was fried rice in a way that I had never experienced before, with most Chinese fried rice dishes acting more as a staple carbohydrate dish than a dish in and of itself, which this one was. It had such a great and strong wok hei flavour to it that complemented well with the tanginess of the tom yum as well as the slight spice. I have absolutely no complaints or regrets about this dish, it was just delicious.
The crispy pork belly pad thai ($20.90) was okay, quite on the stickier spectrum of things, with an okay but sweeter flavour. I did not enjoy the pork belly meat as much, it being a bit dry and with a non crispy skin, even though it was meant to be crispy. Certainly some pieces of pork belly were just skin and fat with no muscle, which detracted from the experience.
The shrimp chips (4 for $9.90), aka prawn cakes, were also quite good, not too prawny for my partner which is an important factor for her enjoyment. They were nicely freshly fried and crispy on the outside but moist on the inside. I found the difference in pricing between the prawn chips and the fried rice was interesting as I didn’t feel that it was half as good as the very excellent fried rice, but I guess it makes sense given the cost of seafood inputs.
The banana roti was free on a promotion, however usually attracts a price ($9.90). It was very good, nice and warm, delicious and flaky towards the edges with a soggier inside filled with banana. It was sweet but not too sweet, most of the sweetness coming from the condensed milk rather than the pastry itself. The lady working there said it was a traditional street food snack in Bangkok.
It’s important to disclose that this was provided free as an inducement for a Google Maps review, though they did not look at the review at all or ask for a particular rating to be given. Whilst I am normally against inducements for reviews on a professional standpoint, I do feel like this is different as the offer is available to everyone and was only presented as an option for a free dessert at the end of the meal, in exchange for any mention or any rating at all on Google Maps. It’s also an offer available to everyone, regardless of if you’re one of those untrustworthy paid influencers on TikTok/Instagram or not. At the very least I think it is better and more honest than those restaurants that offer you a discount or free item for specifically a 5 star review, so I don’t feel like I’m going against my personal code of ethics by writing about it.
Let me know if I’m committed a cardinal sin here and I’ll tip them $9.90 the next time I go.
A-Roy Mark Thai Street Food
123 Georges River Rd, Croydon Park NSW 2133
(02) 9716 4111