Mrs Chan’s – Thai in Haymarket

I’ve stumbled through Mrs Chan’s quite a few times to cut through to Charlie Chan’s for a drink without giving it a second glance. However, when I heard that they have boat noodles and decent prices, I didn’t hesitate to immediately try it on a Saturday evening. It is definitely a busy location, helped by the fact that you can bring drinks from Charlie Chan’s into this little restaurant area at the back.

The boat noodles were fantastic, and even better was the fact that the small size is only $4.90 and on a normal day, I could easily be full after 1 small bowl. What are boat noodles? Boat noodles are a Thai noodle soup with thin rice noodles in a very dark strong-flavoured soup typically made with some pig’s blood (I know that sounds gross, but it’s done in a really flavoursome way!) with cuts of pork, pork balls and some cooked vegetables. There are some great places in Sydney CBD that serve boat noodles for a bargain price, and Mrs Chan’s is definitely one of them!

We also tried the seafood sukiyaki soup ($12.9). I find that sukiyaki isn’t a very commonly known Thai dish which is a shame because it’s delicious (though if you’re having it at Chat Thai, beware of how spicy it is there!) It’s a bowl of clear chewy glass noodles in an egg-y soup that’s a little sour, a little sweet and a little spicy. This bowl at Mrs Chan’s had napa cabbage and seafood (calamari, fish, prawns) which was generous in number and which, I am proud to report, tasted fresh rather than frozen. There is also a dry version which I am looking forward to trying next time.

 

The last dish we had was the crispy pork with beans with rice. This was the crispiest pork I think I’ve ever had in a stir fry (let’s just not think about the oil/grease in it…). It’s spicy, a bit sweet and sticky but boy that pork… if I could be guaranteed my arteries weren’t clogging up, I could easily consume it weekly!

The menu at Mrs Chan’s is quite large – everything from noodles (pad thai, pad see iew, etc) to other stir fry dishes to eat with rice to a broad range of noodle soups (tom yum, etc). It is definitely one place I’ll be returning to try on a cold winter’s night when I am next in Haymarket.

Details: Mrs Chan’s, back of Charlie Chan’s, 635 George Street, Haymarket, NSW