TL;DR: Just when you thought Thai had its place, to be simply reliable and a fall-back option - that case still stands. With it all being said though, as I have found occasionally there will be one that stands up from the general glut in terms of quality, and especially in terms of flavour. That rests here with Jao Jorm, in which already feels comfortable and like one of the reliable options in the much under-appreciated Moorooka. Hopefully, this place will be thriving soon.
The long story made short here is that a real winner is on our hands, going back to basics, not reinventing any wheel needlessly, and simply having good food. In some other words, welcome Jao Jorn to the neighbourhood, an above-average Thai restaurant that has already gotten the attention of locals, all of which is much deserved.
It was during the middle of the week, my parents were coming into town with my mom heading off overseas in the afternoon, and my dad staying around for bit; the latter aspect prompted the idea of having dinner with him. On the initial utterance of that, I open to either finding something good to cook or to find somewhere to go and eat - I am adaptable akin to salmon in these situations. Well, it is obvious that it turned out to be the latter prospect - which then led to whittling down where to go. Thai appeared to be the go, though some Vietnamese was also on the table.
It was the middle of the week, so returning from work it was the waiting game to him arriving home. Going through some of the options within the nearby suburbs - mostly hugging around the south side - it was simply looking at the menus, discerning from the general price of the main meals as well as the general rating-to-votes indication, the final decision rested with this one. The food looked pretty good, there was something less usual about it, and with him, my and the house mate - it was three guys off to dinner nearby. And what a good dinner it turned out to be.
From what I could tell with the way the interior was set up, this was initially a florist or some other shop. The way the shop space is set on the corner sort of tells it, and with what they had provided to them they have done a good job setting it up. All sorts of lovely and characteristic decorations adorn the place, including several flowers giving a cooling aesthetic and relaxing atmosphere. Even outside on the patio had a relaxed feel about it. You can easily people watch here, with the added bonus of a vantage point.
Service is often at quite a high level at Thai places, and here it was still much better service than it usually around. It may not have quite had the distinct and sharp attention often associated, and to be fair to the young lady working here there was quite a few people to service than. Plus, to give the whole place a bit of leeway, the place is new, and there is a distinct learning curve that they are managing to mount. And with saying all of that, there was a substantial number of clients whom were coming in for some take-away. Give it a few months, and the balancing act will be on point and more people will come as a result of it.
It is often the case with Thai where the selection of foods is more or less what is expected; in saying that, it is not quite the case here. Also in saying that, it is still easy to get the usual range of curries - green, red, and whatnot - as well as the different stir fries and noodle dishes. What really brings it all together is the section "The Best of Jao Jorm": this has the duck, the seafoods, and the pork, and some of the more inventive, unusual, and authentic styles of serving food.
Then there are all the drinks, in which it is more or less the usual range from restaurants around here in general. There are a few different wines, some beers, all the juices, and sodas et al. That, plus the usual tea and coffee are there. Tucked away down the bottom of the menu is a short list of desserts, the south-east Asian style ones. Just looking at that, the Thai place is audience pleasing though still nice enough to take people out to.
One aspect about dining out with my dad is that he is pretty tactical in knowing what to get. Even with the biggest selection, it can end up the case where multiple items - or even everything - turns out a bit similar to each other, or that a certain protein dominates everything. You can easily say that he is one smart man. That was the case here, and with a big selection of items that all looked good - and as it was already said, a few unusual gems were here and there - it took some skill to get a taste of the menu in an economic manner. Let's just say, we managed.
The first cab off the rank was to get the classical massamum curry, since it was Thai food and when one or more of my immediate family is there, it is more or less a default option. That was my dad's choice. More or less, this is the mark of how much a Thai place is worth its salt, and they may not have absolutely knocked it out of the park here - but in saying that, it was still substantial with everything as it should be. The ingredients were all top notch quality, but there just was not too much of it. All of them combined together nicely, with beef tender enough to resemble butter, soft potatoes that soaked up the thick, rich sauce which in itself was nutty, smooth, and had a great depth of flavour with all the spices. Truly, it was quite tasty. If this were more substantially sized, it would be recommended even more thoroughly.
Even in putting the standard choices off to the side for a bit, there was still quite an array of options to choose from. Between me and my dining buddy, there was around about half a dozen beauties in the midst. After a bit of time, in my head it managed to be whittled down to enough choices for one hand, and finally thought that it should go to soft shell crab. It was relatively inexpensive, and it is not too often that soft shell crab is able to get gotten so readily; then, without any other reasoning being needed it is always a good, solid choice that makes an impression. This streak is still in tact, soft shell crab has not let me down just yet.
That still had a couple of choices, in which it was going back and forth in my head even while it was time to order. At a moment's notice, the one that looked the best was the black pepper soft shell crab. The term "less is more" is a bit irksome to me in honesty, but this time I truly believe that is the right term to use here.
However, with that being said it was not applicable to the quantity of the crab meat they gave, in which there was at least half a dozen pieces of the succulent crustacean on the plate. Each piece was well done, was smooth, buttery, and sweet with the flesh, plus quite tangy and sharp with the black pepper seasoning used to coat it. On a bed of meekrob, plus a whole lot of seasoning including fresh chillies and coriander, the dish was one tasty little number that is definitely given a solid recommendation. And like it was said, soft shell crab is always a good and winning choice.
With my dining buddy, he went ahead and ordered the spicy duck. After the last two being fairly rich and complex, this one was simple basics done right. Big pieces of roasted duck were stir-fried with plenty of chillies (in which would have ended your entire system if ingested), some basil, and plenty of mixed vegetables. All of the vegetables were crunchy and stewed into the sauce, the bits of duck meat were simply delicious - a good amount of dark meat, and some marbled fat. And when the word "spicy" appeared in front of the word duck, they were not kidding around. The sauce here is very pungent, and suitably light. Rounding it all off, it was three solid choices that will more than guarantee everything else is cooked and prepared to a high standard.
And after all of that, who could forget to get some rice? There was an order of that, and a roti gotten for each person (another bonus mark to here; having an extra be only a couple of dollars to add on - that can easily persuade people into it). The coconut rice tasted much like it was freshly prepared, and was piping hot and fluffy like a cloud. It was smooth, tasty, and soaked all the sauces up pretty readily. Adding onto that, each of the rotis were individually served, and were just as good in their own way. The bread was hot and buttery, and tore apart really well. It had just the right texture that it was made perfect for picking up bits of meat to eat, as well as soaking up whatever remnants of sauce there were.
It the end of the night, and since it was still fairly early (at least by my watch), there was the idea about whether or not to get a coffee to finish off the night. Well that definitely happened, and I went in to get an iced coffee with my dining buddy getting a cappuccino. For an extra on the side, they give out chocolate chip cookies; that is a little strange I will admit, but I will definitely take it. I am not sure what sort of bean they are using here, whatever kind it was the coffee was a soothing and smooth one. The bean was not too astringent, surprisingly mild in flavour, and the milk was good and cold. Props will be given for the extra touches, the whipped cream on top and some coffee beans. The cookie on the side was also good, having a solid buttery dough, and heaps of chocolate chips shoved into it all. What a sweet way to end the night.
For such a long-ass time, I have been touting Moorooka as one of the underdogs in Brisbane's dining scene. Ever since that thought, more and more places that have been punching above average have been opening up, and I think it is safe to say that when a Thai place opens up within the area, that the suburb and its surrounding locations have finally arrived as one worthwhile dining precinct - bonus points for being within the right hub for foodies. That is the case here, and the Thai food was quite the notch above average.
Not only is it the case where Jao Jorm manages to make some tasty, and high quality fare, but a big part of the appeal is with the ergonomics, and the atmosphere of the area. Within a stone's throw of the arcade, and the supermarket, the central location is going to do wonders for bringing in a whole slew of new clientele, plus the aesthetics both inside and out. Finally, Moorooka is one of the places to be in getting a good bite to eat, and Jao Jorm is easily one of its highlights.
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