Mr. Nice Guy Thai

While there’s no shortage of dumpling joints and sandwich shops in town, getting decently priced and spiced Thai in the CBD can be a challenge. From the makers of Carlton’s Middle Fish comes Mr Nice Guy Thai, a lively restaurant down a laneway in the legal end of town.

Owners Pla and David have brought many of the favourites from Middle Fish to their new venture, with the addition of a liquor licence and late night opening hours. To start the day off there’s a fairly hearty breakfast menu including Thai porridge with pork belly and 62C egg ($12.5) and the slightly ‘lighter’ Will’s coconut pancake with smoked pineapple, lemongrass sugar and condensed milk ($14.5).

But my pal and I went by for lunch where salads, curry and woks are the go. We started with the Mr. Nice Guy Thai som tum salad ($7.9) that’s convivially described as “bright and exciting, like a bomb in your mouth.” The bomb can be made more explosive with protein and our server assured us we should choose two to start – we went with chicken breast and beef rump.

What appeared soon after were two huge bowls the size of footballs. The salads were light and fresh, though I would’ve preferred my bomb to have more of a chilli burst. Next up was the Snack Attack tasting plate (a steal at $15) – a platter of fried goodness: pork sausage, fish cakes, chicken ribs, beef skewers and veg spring rolls. The chicken ribs were delicious – lightly fried and seasoned, I could have eaten a bucket load.

But I had no pause to reflect because the Kha Na ($14.9) has just turned up, Middle Fish’s most popular dish. A handsome plate of Chinese broccoli and twice-cooked pork belly served with a shallow fried egg on rice. By this stage we were struggling but managed to polish off the tender, sweet and saucy belly, splashed up with some sriracha. Yes please.

I’m a greedy man and there was plenty more I wanted to try, but I’d run out of stomach and table room. I’ll be back for that condensed milk pancake.

MR. NICE GUY THAI
Shop J, 535 Little Lonsdale St Melbourne (enter via Healeys Lane)
Mon – Fri 10.30am – 10pm
Sat – Sun 5.30pm – 10pm
facebook.com/mrniceguymelbourne