Thai E-Sarn

At their original site in the now-shuttered and much-missed central-city food court Food Alley, Thai E-Sarn had a fervent following for its Isaan (northeastern Thai) cuisine. After a short hiatus following the food court’s closure, they returned in 2021 with a standalone shop at the opposite end of Albert St. While we long for the $3.80 glasses of wine you could order from the neighbouring stall to accompany their food, and the general hum of the food court they once inhabited, we’re really just grateful to have them back at all. The noodles here are very good, as are the rice dishes like the khao khluk kapi — shrimp fried rice with additions like raw onion, chilli, sliced apple, braised pork and ribbons of egg omelette — which is hard to track down in Auckland. As it is their specialty, you should pay special attention to the “E-Sarn” section of the menu. More specifically you should look to the dedicated som tum menu, which features numerous renditions of the green-papaya-based salad — with mussels, or anchovies, or green banana, or pickled crab, or salted egg, and so on and forth. Sweet, sour, spicy, salty and thoroughly addictive.