Green Papaya

At the end of 2013, we went through a really bad phase where we would go out to hip restaurants without a reservation and get knocked back every time cause we were in a big group without a reservation. I've always been really casual/last minute as a diner, the most organised I am is picking a place, a date, the menu, who bloggers/Urbanspoon thinks of it and who I'm going with. Finer details such as booking the restaurant, finding a way there and whatever else aren't worried about.

Green Papaya was our second choice as we got knocked back from Red Lotus. We all vaguely recognised the name, checked out the menu online and weren't adverse to having Thai for dinner so away we went!

Oh this place!

It was a bit touch and go at first as they asked us if we have a reservation too. Thankfully they let us into the back of Green Papaya aka the front of Pawpaw! I think all the people who didn't have reservations ended up back here with us haha. I didn't manage to get any photos of the front of Green Papaya but it was very solemn/serious looking, a nice place to go for a date.

I liked our table setting

I ordered the Thai lemon iced tea.It was very sickly sweet and served slightly warm despite the ice cubes in the glass. I didn't like it and neither did my Boyfriend.

Sweet :(

I ordered the Thai fishcakes as an entree and requested to have them arrive first. I received four fragrant and super hot fish cakes with a side of sweet chilli sauce. They were fragrant with that crispy/chewy fishcake texture and lots of lemongrass and shredded kaffir lime leaves to flavour the mixture. With that being said, it was a struggle to finish them because they were quite watery? Not oily, but distinctly watery and they felt like they squirted you when you bit into them. JGirl, Dr H and my Boyfriend had one bite and politely declined another.

Hmmm

I ordered the ayam cincane, grilled chicken in a mild chilli, tumeric, coconut and tamarind sauce. There wasn't much else in the curry besides chicken and the sauce, once I had eaten the garnishes. It was very good that I had gotten the rice because I wouldn't have been able to enjoy my curry sauce without it. The sauce was absolutely wonderful, so fragrant with creamy, creamy coconut, that slight heat from the chilli and the slightly sour note of tamarind to round things out. The grilled chicken was tender, but really, I'd have been happy for a bowl of that curry sauce and some plain rice to round things out.

Mmmm so good with the coconut rice

This is VGirl's vegetarian mee goreng it had lots of jumbled cut up veggies, carrot, cauliflower, red capsicum, onion and broccoli! I liked that they cut the carrot into a little star/flower shape haha, very visually appealing. VGirl ordered hers mild and she was very happy with the meal, I had a bit of the noodle and found the seasoning to be a bit on the salty side but tasty nevertheless. She finished her meal in record time as usual haha.

Veggo mee goreng!

JGirl and I both ordered coconut rice which came out in this single serve, we were both quite puzzled and we had to ask our waitress about the second portion. They had served it to us on one plate, and we were both disappointed with this because it made out serving size seem a lot smaller than we had initially though. Side portions of rice are one of those things that are weird in a restaurant, cause somehow that big a portion never seems enough for how much you pay for it. This rice was well cooked, fragrant, firm but not hard separate grains of rice with a creamy texture and shreds of coconut mixed throughout.

Rice!

This was one of the chef's specials so it doesn't appear on their online menu. Dr H ordered this as she had been existing on a pure chicken breast and fish diet for the last month and wanted something different. This was the soft shell crab in some type of salty, tangy and sweet sauce. It was amazing, you wanted to lick off every vegetable to savour the sauce whatever it was. The soft shell crab was deep fried to have a crunchy exterior and the white flesh was so sweet and soft, a wonderful contrast! I did find the sauce to be a bit overpowering when I had more than a few pieces, it would've gone well with some rice I think.

Ohhhh so tasty.

JGirl ordered this, the duck jungle curry with fresh pineapple, lychee, cherry tomato, capsicum and I forgot what else! Served in a hollowed out pineapple. The flavour of this sauce was quite similar to mine, with a much more noticeable sweetness from all the sweet fruits involved. I really enjoyed the pineapple, it was one of those perfect ones that are sweetly tart, juicy and taste like summer! The lychees weren't bad either but I don't think they were fresh somehow. I don't remember what the duck tasted like but JGirl did polish off this meal very easily.

Pineapple!

This is my Boyfriend's beef rendang. It's not a bad rendition, the meat was tender and the sauce was mildly spicy. We got into an argument as I stated my piece of beef was cold, while he said his was almost too hot to eat. I know I can make a better beef rendang so I didn't have much of this.

Darker please

Green Papaya
Atmosphere: 7, intimate little dining spot, a great place to go to impress someone I think!
Service: 8, quick, friendly and expert service. They were able to give us a good recommendation for drinks and meals when we wanted it. Frequent top ups of our water while we were being cheap, fantastic service.
Food: 6, I would definitely go back here. The meals are a little pricey and some of the meals are a bit strongly flavoured, but they were all very tasty and good portion sized. If I wanted to go somewhere nice with friends I would highly recommend this spot.