Yok Yor, Haymarket
So like, I’m easily suckered into something with quirky costumes. A coupla months ago there were signs plastered around my work hood about a development proposal for a Thai restaurant and I was all like hells yeah more foods within super close walkable distance! And then just the other day out of the corner of my eye I see a sparkling new restaurant partially hidden by all the roadwork, and what’s that? The staff are wearing hard hats and overalls?! At first I thought oh maybe construction is still happening inside but nope this is what the staff wear at Yok Yor (g06/323 Castlereagh St, Haymarket) now all together with me: Bobbbbb the builder! Can we fix it? Booooob the builder. Yes we can! (ChocolateSuze does not accept responsibility if Bob the Builder song is stuck in your head for the rest of the day).
I’m here with awesome humans who have a pretty high spice tolerance compared to my weak fail Malaysian self. Luckily only the Som Tum Kai Kem with salted egg ($10.50) was the only dish that was so mind blowingly spicy that I had to steer clear of. As refreshing as the chopped papaya was and as delicious as the nubbins of salted egg yolk sprinkled throughout were, the chili syrup was just crazy on my oh-crap-that’s hot-chili-meter.
Gai Tod Hard Yai ($11.50) aka pile o’ awesome southern Thai fried chicken is deeeelicious and has us eagerly munching away finger licking style. The fried shallots are fought over. It wasn’t pretty. Pak Prik Khing ($14.50) is borderline uhoh-hello-spicy territory but I power through the pork belly coated with dry red curry. A scattering of crispy pork rind bits made for an interesting treasure hunt amongst the squeaky green beans.
Shockingly we forgo the desserts. Crazy I know right. But after eating sticky rice with our dinner I really wasn’t in the mood to eat a dessert containing sticky rice again. But hey look at the drinks! Iced Thai Tea, Iced Thai Coffee and Pandan juice. The tea and coffee were crazy sweet as expected, heavy on the condensed milk but the pandan juice was surprisingly refreshing. There was a ‘Pinkie milk’ on the menu but we found out it was just milk with red syrup haha I nearly got sucked in by its name!
Google tells me there’s a Yok Yor in Darlinghurst so perhaps this is an offshoot? The tiny restaurant was packed by 6.30pm and with food that was tasty and reasonably priced, I’m sure this would make a great alternative to those in the never ending queue at Chat Thai. And hopefully their desserts menu will increase!
