Thai Nee Cafe, Brunswick East

On Saturday night, I headed out to Thai Nee Cafe in East Brunswick with my Northern dwelling friends, Veronica and Christian.  As the name suggests, Thai Nee is a relatively tiny establishment tucked into the non-touristy end of Lygon Street, and is a firm favourite with the locals judging from the reviews online.  Thai Nee is BYO and cash-only, so bring your alcohol and a cashed-up wallet.

The prices at Thai Nee are very reasonable, and the food was good.  The service was a little slow, but this was likely because the restaurant was very busy, despite it being 8.30pm before we arrived.  Veronica and Christian have been before, and said that on a Thursday night, the service is much quicker.

We shared our dishes.  For entree, we started with the chicken mince spring rolls, with sweet chilli dipping sauce (the full serve was 6 rolls):

We also ordered the very delicious fish cakes, which also came with a sweet, honey-like dipping sauce (forgive the blurry photo):

 These fish cakes were not battered or crumbed, but were rather flat cakes of fried fish mince with herbs and spices - and were utterly moorish.

For mains, Veronica and Christian ordered their "signature dishes - the chicken yellow curry:

and the ginger beef:

The curry was very mild and sweet, while the beef dish was zingy with a touch of bite.

As the newcomer, I ordered sweet and sour chicken "with pineapples" (according to the menu):

I was relieved when no whole pineapples arrived at the table - rather, the rich, tomato-based sweet and sour sauce was bejewelled with pineapple pieces.  Veronica was a fan, as was I, but Christian not so much.

We also ordered steamed rice for the table to mop up all of that glorious sauce.  The rice arrived in a large patterned aluminium bowl in a matching stand, looking for all the world to me like the goblet that Edmund drank from when given a drink by the White Witch in The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe.

The food was very reasonably priced, with starters around the $7-8 mark, and mains at ~$12  for pork, beef or chicken, and $16-17 for seafood.

Thai Nee is definitely a keeper - just remember to leave the plastic at home.

Thai Nee Cafe
150 Lygon Street
Brunswick East VIC 3057
(03) 9388 0411