You know that feeling when you want Thai so bad, and then find out that there’s a Thai restaurant boasting two consecutive Chef’s Hats from the Good Food Guide, only five minutes from where you’re staying? I do! And you can bet your life I wasn’t gonna let an opportunity like that slip away. So, I kinda booked us in for dinner. And by kinda, I mean I made a firm booking at Morks Contemporary Thai Restaurant for four people at 6.30pm. And then reconfirmed it.
Look, it’s not as cheeky as it sounds. Mum and dad did say we could go wherever we wanted for dinner during our latest stay in Canberra. And by we, they meant me, I’m pretty sure. And yeah, maybe I should have checked if everyone was happy with my choice but, in reality, I did everyone a huge favour and they should be thanking me. Because Morks is banging!!
It’s in a great spot on the sparkly Kingston waterfront and while it’s a little fancy and a bit schmancy, it has a really chill vibe and great music. They even played Hendrix! The staff at Morks were dudes too. And our personal dude gave us some awesome tips on the best things to order. They should give him a pay rise because he nailed it.
We kicked off with Morks signature sweet potato dumplings. The silky-skinned, sweet potato filled flavour bombs were served floating in a fragrant Penang curry sauce and were so amazing that everyone in my family had to acknowledge my genius in booking the restaurant. At least they should have.
Then came another signature dish, angel prawns, direct from heaven I think. They’re cooked and served in a rustic pottery dish. Each prawn sits on a base of kaffir lime custard and is drizzled with creamy red curry before having a cute little pottery hat placed on top! It’s very theatrical but so worth it. I could eat 100 of them without blinking.
The Pan roasted Hāpuku with green curry and bamboo shoots was soft, juicy and sweet and as well as the soupy green curry sauce had a great big punch of curry paste slathered on top of each of the fillets. The crunchy addition of bamboo shoots gave it texture and soaked up plenty of flavour from the luscious sauce, which we mopped up with the remains of with crispy paratha roti.
The duck fried rice was well, ducky and delicious with a touch of mint tossed through it to give it freshness and balance the fattiness of the duck. I had to fight my dad for this one, it was so good.
Morks Restaurant is dishing up their own unique take on Thai flavours with a next level twist and I recommend everyone in, or heading to, Canberra should get some Morks on their fork!
You can thank me later.
Reviewed by Raffles – Aged 12
Morks Contemporary Thai
18/19 Eastlake Parade,
Kingston ACT
PH: +61(0) 2 5134 6993
The boy in BoyEatsWorld, Raff is an experienced travel television presenter, published travel writer, and an award winning public speaker who is as obsessed with eating as he is with travel. 