We scheduled dinner with Noah and Ling and we also invited Stef as we thought it would be fun and we all have a keen interest in food. I chose to go to Trinitas Thai as I thought a shared feast would be enjoyable and it had good write ups. Plus Stef had been before and had enjoyed it and it was in the right location for us all.
Barley boy and I had planned to go on the train but a particularly drunk night before meant that Barley was more than happy to drive and lucky for us there was a car space that was vacant right outside the restaurant.
Our table was at 6pm as that was all that was available and we had to vacate it by 7:45pm which we though we could do.
We started off with tom yam goong all round except for Noah who had chicken satay which he generously shared with us all.
The tom yam was clean and clear tasting without the powdery, murky residue of a paste mix. It tasted like it was clear chicken broth flavoured with chilli, lemon juice, lemon grass, galangal and coriander - pure ingredients making it a pure tom yam.
Chicken satay was also good - chargrilled chicken pieces and two dipping sauces - peanut and a simpler sweet, salty, sour one.
We went a little crazy with the ordering and enjoyed a whole host of dishes including:
- Roti and satay sauce - deliciously flaky yet has a doughy chew to it too
- Chicken pad thai - pretty good and well balanced flabours
- Three flavour fish - not sure what the three flavours were but loved them and the crispy texture. The fish was in generous goujons too so they remained moist after deep frying
- Stir fried veggies with tofu - good flavours to cleanse and cut through all the deep fried stuff
- Chicken with cashew nuts - chunks of deep fried chicken with a mixture of veggies and nuts. More nuts would have been better.
- Thai beef salad - good tangy dressing, lots of salad leaves but the beef was a bit stringy
Our time was up pretty quickly and they were keen to get us out ready for the next sitting no doubt. It was a beautiful evening and we took a walk down Burke Road before stopping at Cacao Green for some frozen yoghurt.
We enjoyed our dinner at Trinitas and it was good value for money. Steve said it was darn good Thai and I have to agree although our dinner was definitely more about the catching up and the giggles than the food. Having said that if the food wasn't up to par we wouldn't be as happy, carefree or as giggly.
We made plans with Ling and Noah to meet up for lunch at one of Noah's faves: Sofia's in Camberwell which is ideally situated halfway between where they live and where we are. We decided to take public transport so we could enjoy some wine and our research showed that there was a direct train from close to us to really close by the restaurant. Simple...or so we thought! What we failed to look at was how circuitous the tram route was and what we thought was a 20 minute journey was actually 45! We were half an hour late to meet Ling and Noah. What a first impression to give Noah!
Anyway finally we arrived with starving tummies and we quickly ordered. We'd been warned portions were big. Noah ordered soup as he wasn't too well and didn't have much of an appetite. Ling asked for a chicken salad, I went for a spaghetti in tomato sauce with prawns and Steve went for the old favourite - carbonara. Well the portions were humungous! Mountains of pasta and the chicken salad must have had a whole chicken in it!
So the quantity was there but what about quality. It was a little more than acceptable; not out of this world but excellent value. The pasta was cooked nicely with the right amount of bite not the soggy mush it can be. Sauce ratio was good so it wasn't too sloppy or dry. I'm sure there's better quality out there but I also know there can be much worse so this was a decent lunch. Service was attentive but not overly so and they seemed ok about Ling and Noah sitting there waiting 30 minutes for us! I think in some Chinese places where the food is cheap and they like to get people in and out quickly our tardiness could have been a problem so nice of them to be accommodating. Our share of the food came to $50 which included a bottle of wine ie £30 so the value is there.
After a quick walk round some of the shops in Camberwell we came to an ice cream stall called Trampoline. It's a chain and there's one near us in Southbank but we've never tried. Steve and I shared a tub with three flavours: hokey pokey which is honeycomb bits in butterscotch, lamington which is coconut, choc chip and raspberries and a white chocolate and berries. I really enjoyed the ice cream as it wasn't overly sweet unlike Ben and Jerry's.