Thai food for me is generally not eaten as a dining experience, so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of food at Holy Basil. A 5/5 for its cuisine at a casual dining level.
The the coconut milk of the duck curry blended well with the curry spice, which was complemented with the duck fat when combined with rice, one of the best thai duck curry’s I’ve had. 5/5
The mango salad was a fresh addition to the heavy meal, I liked how the soft shell crab was lightly breaded and fried, so that it did not take away from the citrus notes of the mango. The mango salad was also not overly sour unlike some traditional versions. 5/5
Another stand out was the deep fried ice-cream, a fan favorite. The fried layer again was thin and crispy and not deep fried which tasted less like a ice cream croquette and more thin wafer ice cream. A generous serving of butterscotch sauce was also welcomed. 5/5
Good food, central location and decent prices especially in a area right in the city. Would recommend the rice and noodle based dishes. The fried ice cream is a must try - crispy with a savoury crust yet still maintains the icy texture of ice cream, complimented by the caramel sauce.
To be honest - I love coming here whenever I want a bit of Thai food in the city. Prices are affordable for Town hall prices and there is a huge variety. Get the classic pad thai or pad see ew, you won't go wrong with them.
ALso there is a great bar nearby if you want to get drinks after.
Food,travelling And Life Freedom
+4
Dinner with my buddies
my two buddies came earlier than me. We went to Holy Basil at Shark hotel. this place offered Laos/ Thai food.
We ordered fishs, curry, vegie and dessert. we loved the foods. we came here often.
1.Fresh crispy snapper + mango salad:
fried big snapper and combined green apple salad instead of mango with dressing holy basil sauce. I asked put separately for fish and salad. I am still on my vegie months. well combined for fish and salad so crispy but the amount of fish getting lesser compared last time when we visited there.
2. Red curry: Beef combined spicy chili paste with garlic infused coconut milk, sweet basil and bean. the taste so nice and well presented.
3.Garlic and peppercorn: combined seasonal vegie with brocolli, mushroom, garlic and peppercorn sauce. however, there is no snow peas and the staff is not mentioned it but I can see they put snake beans instead of snow peas.
4.Holy Basil fried Ice cream: hot weather sometimes we need something cold so we ordered fried Ice cream wrapped by fried pastry outside and inside ice cream with caramel sauce, crunchy coconut and strawberry. we loved it but the caramel sauce is too sweet.
atmosphere in holy basil nice and it will be great if the staff can be nice and smile when they are serving.
Massaman curry is always really good, pad see ew is a bit too sweet but still tasty, the pad Thai here is one of my favourites and the fried ice cream is a great dessert too. One of my favourite Thai restaurants because the food here is very reliable - every time we come here the food is great.
This is one of my favourite Thai restaurants in Sydney. My go-to dishes are the pad Thai, pad see ew, papaya salad and ox tongue. For dessert, I really like their fried icecream which has a thin and crispy pastry that’s not too heavy or oily.
Amazing place in the CBD to have Thai food! The restaurant is presented well, and the food always taste great!! Staff are helpful and friendly, there is also a bar and some pool but that’s seperate (Shark Hotel). Overall the place is great for friends and family
Long time favourite. It was recommended by multiple people years ago and I became the fan since then. Food is always great and service is always quick.
It’s available for both dine in and takeaway. I was amazed by how delicious a simple pineapple fried rice can be. Must try the deep fried ice cream as well.
We ordered Ox tongue, curry puffs, soft shell crab with green papaya salad, and chicken pad thai for dinner to share between 3 people. The dishes were served promptly even though it was quite packed for a Monday night. The ox tongue has a smoky flavour to it which paired well with the sauce; and I really enjoyed the pad thai - it was cooked just right, not soggy and very generous with the toppings.
A lot of the other patrons ordered the soft shell crab as well, so it must be a signature dish.
Amazing quality Thai food! Have been here a few times with friends and always love it.
Great place to meet up with a big group of friends or for a celebration as the food is delicious and it’s amazing value.
This review is specifically for their dessert menu. It was after dinner we just wanted some desserts and drinks. Happened to walk pass as we were still pondering where to go to get both. Given that this is actually inside a pub, makes it pretty handy on the drinks front. The dessert menu though only has 4 items on it, but for me there were only 2 options, the fried ice cream or the sticky rice pudding. The unanimous choice of the table was the fried ice cream & we all ended up getting one. It was pretty tasty. It was spring roll pastry around the ice cream, which made it quite crispy. The addition of the sticky rice on the side gave it good texture. Overall pretty satisfying.
You’ll definitely need to book if you want have Friday night dinner at Holy Basil, and be prepared to navigate the end-of-week after-work crowd to get to the restaurant which is located at the farthest end away from the entrance on the first floor of the Shark Hotel, past the bar. But once you get there, you’ll be greeted with an array of tasty Thai and Laotian dishes. It’s not a place for a quiet, intimate dinner but perfect for a casual and convivial catch up over delicious food.
Of all the meals our party of six shared which included chicken satay, tom yum, ox tongue, pad see ew and green curry chicken the standout was the massaman curry with its thick chunks of tender beef in a creamy, slightly sweet curry sauce. There will have to be a return visit to try their famous deep fried ice cream.
I used to think deep fried ice cream was kind of meh. I mean, I have had them at Chinese restaurants before and they were good. Nothing special. But after I had THIS deep fried ice cream, I felt like my life has changed completely. 🤤
Went for lunch with colleagues. This place was a bit tricky to find (if we didn’t have someone who knows how to get there). quite busy during lunch time, many large groups (8+) having lunch here. So you may want to book in advance if you have a large group of people. It’s a bar mixed restaurant, liked their decor. We ordered 4 dishes, food was great, but slightly too salty, and served a bit too slow (we waited for 30-40 min to get our food). Tom Yum soup was not as good as the other dishes. Only 3 wait staff in the restaurant, they prob should consider have a few more staff during peak hours.
Been here a few times and I love the fried ice cream! Always will get dessert from this place. Service is relatively fast, the Thai food itself is great but slightly on the saltier side. A bit of a tricky place to find considering it's within a bar/pub area. Decent value for your money.
it was the best thai food I have ever tested and a must visit place. Friday is the most busiest . So it is better to book in advance if you are going for dinner. The staffs are friendly and food are really really delicious. The ambience is ok . We had an awesome time with friends. added to my fav. list. Will visit again :D
Great place for dinner and drinks with friends on a Friday night, gets super busy on a Friday night, but worth the wait if you haven't booked ahead. My friends and I go back regularly for a feast because of the quality of food and the reasonable pricing.
Go to items on the menu include the duck red curry and the roast pork belly, but the signature item Holy Basil is known for is the fried ice cream. No matter how full we are from the mains, there's always room for some Holy Basil fried ice cream!
2 years ago, tried this restaurant and now this is the second time visit. High stairs lead to the spacious dining room, quite traditional Thai style decoration makes you feel at Thailand 🇹🇭
Almost everything we ordered is really nice! Especially for the fried 🍦ice cream with crispy coconut 🥥 crunches! Pad Thai is the best I tried at Sydney!
Beef salad is high recommended as well! Pls try! You will love it!
The flavours were excellent but the atmosphere needs some work and the staffs’ attention to customers (which seems be different depending on where you’re seated) could be improved. But let’s be honest, I came for the food and so as long as that is good then Holy Basil deserves a good review. The food was really good!!
Pad Thai and fried ice cream. Thats all I can say. Just order those two and it will satisfy you everytime you come to this place. Always would come here for just those two meals and pretty much worth every single cent.
staff: staff is okay. fast and generous
food: amazing. been here 4 times and the food still taste as good as the first time
vibes: ok, not bad
Love the desert, deep fried ice cream.
Come back for the ice cream, for sure
Love also the Thai fried rice and fish with fried fish.
Portion was generous and big to be share
This place does pretty good Thai food. I really like their papaya salad which has a much better taste than other places. If you like spicy food - ask them to make it hot... it won’t disappoint! I really like this place because it offers some dishes which is hard to get without going back south west to places like Fairfield or Cabramatta. Back when I used to eat red meat, I would always come here to get my ox tongue and Thai sausage fix. It’s not as great as other Thai and Lao restaurants I’ve been to but for a CBD location its as good as it gets! I would also recommend getting the snapper with mango salad - it comes with deep fried fish pieces topped with a delicious mango salad dressed in fish sauce and some other citrusy goodnesses and herbs. Their fried ice cream is also really good. The only disappointing thing is that their portions have decreased heaps for all their dishes in the past few years but I guess that’s to be expected...
Food in Holy Basil is really nice and has been a popular Thai place to go to in CBD. The food there is very tasty and the atmosphere is very authentic and classy. Though in truth I do prefer eating at Home(resturant) due to the better price competition and delivers similar if not better Thai food than Holy Basil, Holy Basil still is a respectable resturant I will still go too.
When I entered the Shark Hotel I did not expect the restaurant to be as good as it is. The food here is amazing - visually appealing as well as super tasty. I came with some friends and we shared a few dishes. The food, the wine and the conversation flowed easily. I hope I get a chance to return.
This place never disappoints. Staff members are friendly and the quality of food is great. Food portions are generous for the price. Red curry and fried ice cream is to die for!
Came here to have a dinner on Friday night thus it was so packed that i need to be on waiting list and they called me around 15mins after that. We ordered thai beef salad, soft shell crab and pork belly (in a spicy and sour sauce if I'm not mistaken). Foods were all taste soooo nice. I really love the soft shell crab for its crispness. All foods served so fast despite all the crowds in the restaurant and all servers are all nice which was a very good plus point for me❤
Which ever holy basil you attend, the food will ALWAYS be top notch! Amazing, delicious succulent greatly prepared and designed meals! However service here at the CBD variant is while usually helpful it seems to be very slow as well as hard to comprehend what we want to order. Other than this the food is definitely the best Thai in Australia after holy basil you’ll never want to go anywhere else for Thai!
Love love love this restaurant! Decor is amazing with the waterfall. Since food is made fresh you can customize your dish. I chose the pad ke mao which I requested to be made with extra chilli. Perfect meal. You HAVE to try the fried ice cream. It is beyond amazing. 5 stars!
Been here a few times and food always great. They just know how to please your tummy!
Must try: fried fish, even though priced at $40, still recommended to try this. Also: pad see ew, gai yang, bbq chicken, red curry and the one last thing u never wanna miss: their fried ice cream desserts! Not gonna tell you how it tastes like, it is so worth it to try it yourself ;)
Fabulous experience.
We’ve order four dishes for two people, which was just alright.
Strongly recommend the grilled ox tongue (p1). It was very juicy and full of flavour and I personally enjoy these thick slices.
The duck curry was very flavourful as well and it went well with fried rice.
The quality of food Never let you down. So addicted to Ox tongue. Pad sew and ox tongue is a must, every time we try different salad or entry. Next time we’ll check dessert out. And Love Jack fruit shake!!!!!
Nice interior and Thai food , harga nya jg middle gak terlalu mahal
Yg harus di coba es krim goreng ! Enak banget ituuu .. nyummy luar nya seperti kulit lumpia di goreng wangi dan di dalam nya es vanilla
Ikan topping salad , inj juga best seller mereka gak terlalu asam dan ga pedas .. seger enak
Kepiting soka .. biasa aja yg ini
If you want to try different type of Thai food, come along with more than 4 people to this place.
The food here tasted delicious specially snapper mango/apple salad, grilled ox tongue and red curry duck and fried ice cream.
I’d been here numbers of time with husband family, their quality of food is consistent.
Service: good - polite and served quick. I requested not to have pineapple in one of my dishes due to my dietary but they came with pineapple in it. The manager realised it and replace it with new one at no cost.
Location: close to townhall and museum station. Very hard to find parking along the street, but you can park your car at wilson parking at kent at or goulburn st.
Although i like the restaurant but is not family friendly. Its very noisy on the weekend, not really appropriate to bring your kids there.
Recommended for someone craving for thaifood.
Affordable and portion not bad.
Only took 1 picture 😝 nxt time 😀😀
Great food! Had an amazing time, with the food tasting absolutely divine! The way they serve/handle food was very professional as the place gets busy! Well done ❤️❤️🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
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Holy basil is situated a few minutes from Townhall station and is a reliable restaurant for group dining. The tables here are large, fairly communal looking and I suspect capable of holding a very large group booking. And the best thing is there was no group surcharge.
Given the volume of business on a busy Friday night, service was fairly reliable. Our food came timely and was served by friendly waiter. The only issue we had was trying to flag down a waiter for some eating utensils. Other than that all went smoothly and they even offered free BYO cake service (I have been unwittingly charged $50 at another place).
The interior of the diner was surprising large, at least larger than what you'll presume from the narrow entrance into the Shark Hotel. However, the fumes from the cooking was very strong inside and like most Thai restaurants I left feeling unclean and smelling like curry on my clothes, hair and skin.
As for the food, the deep fried squid was really good however a tad oily. The vegetarian spring roll was also a winner which had a crispy skin and lots of filling. However, I was disappointed with the ox tongue for which some pieces were just too tough to chew on. The pad tai was also excessively oily and greasy to look at.
Overall, everything was surprising well presented and photogenic for a Thai restauarant. However, I would not recommend for a health conscious eater.
Been to this restaurant twice in the span on a week, and both times have been a really good experience. The waiters are friendly and efficient. There's alot of variety on the menu and the food goes the spot (at a reasonable price too!).
Decent portions and reasonably priced for dinner out in the city. Most of the dishes I've had before, but the Nem Khao (crispy fried rice) was quite interesting with the different textures. It's a good place to go for group dinners.
The best Thai restaurant in Sydney. They serve Thai and Laos food. We ordered Calamari, Ox tongue, Panang curry, Lao pork sausages and Vermicelli with mixed seafood salad. All of the dishes were so tasty and served quickly!! The dishes came big serving. We recomend to go here with more than 2 people to try different dishes. We highly recommend this restaurant if you love Thai food.
The service is extremely fast if you pay a visit on a week night as there are less people dining in. Holy Basil's curries are brilliant and has never disappointed me. Meal portions are quite large and very filling. Be sure to make a booking on a Friday or Saturday night
My sister invited me to have lunch in the city with her on a Friday. And since I was not working that day, I said yes. She told me to come to the city before 12pm and I was puzzled as to why that is. We went to the restaurant but, it was still closed. Yet, several people were already outside the shop and waiting to be seated. Staff of this place looked serious and were not smiling but, the service was prompt. We ordered their pad thai, ox tongue and a papaya and apple salad. All of their dishes were perfectly cooked and seasoned well. I did however, found that the sauces served were too little in serving. I love sauces so I found that disappointing as the sauces were tasty. This place served the best pad thai I have ever tasted thus far. They do have several seats inside and interiors had several Thai memorabilia. If you do want to order drinks, you have to order it from the bar outside the restaurant.
I came here after hearing about their fried ice cream. Delicious. The pastry was crispy and light. Love the fried soft shell crab with mango salad. Will come back for them.
Friendly staffs, delicous food and affordable price.
Me and my friend order Roasted duck curry w steam rice and Fired fish something.. ( i don't remember the whole name, but it is one of the best food and must-try at this restaurant). We are 2 girls, and after eating this dinner, i felt full until the next day 😆😆😆
$66 for dinner, i think it's good price. I think this is one of the best thailand restaurant in Sydney.
Holy Basil is a rather big restaurant inside a pub/bar but has plenty of staff so the service was great. Can't remember the exact prices but it was definitely reasonable and not over priced for the portions. Food was relatively authentic (or what we know of thai food) and had good amounts of chilli which is always welcome. Some were a little sweet for my liking though, but overall everyone had a good time and enjoyed the meal.
This restaurant is a great place for any kind of celebration. I came here for dinner with a group of 22 people and we were delighted to face a variety of dishes that catered to all of our taste palettes and diets.
The menu was decently priced and definitely affordable.
We came during dinner time (roughly 7pm) and the restaurant was incredibly busy both inside the room and at the tables outside. Good thing we booked in advance! We ordered fried ice cream, pad thai, chicken feet salad, pad si ew and a range of other Thai delicacies. The food was lovely and it went smoothly with social interactions, especially when other tables started singing happy birthday. We had so much fun that we forgot to take loads of photos! :P
The venue had an interesting interior, but the layout of tables and chairs were slightly uncomfortable. The staff were extremely helpful and polite. I'd love to come back here for another huge dinner with friends and co-workers ~ (=^▽^=)
The Dear Luncher skipped breakfast this particular day and required urgent sustenance. Located not too far away from The Dear Luncher's Sydney operation is this particular establishment. You need to know you are looking for it, as it is within the confines of a pub.
The setup is a little strange, but the food makes up for this. The Dear Luncher ordered chicken satay as a starter, and a Thai Beef Salad as the main. Both dishes were extremely enjoyable. The satay in particular was delightfully creamy and fragrant.
The Dear Luncher was very pleased. Would most certainly visit again.
Long over due review this one...I'm slowly getting addicted to Thai food..thanks to my colleagues..they keep deciding on Thai for luncheons...anyway so I took the pad Thai chicken noodles and I liked it. It tasted neither out of the world nor very bad...it was just nice dish to eat when you are hungry. I asked for the my order to be very spicy and it still wasn't close to being a little spicy..blame my Indian tastebuds 😑
Two best things were the ambience and the portion of the food.
The place is really huge and us, a team of almost 20 were able to sit at one huge table without having the tables moved around and the food that they gave was just too much for me. I bet if I had taken the rest of my leftover, my dinner would have been covered.
I would definitely revisit but will make sure to ask them to double the chilli.
Had dinner with a work colleague and ordered the thai papaya salad, duck curry and prawn pad thai.
I was very impressed with the food very tasty and the service was quick and efficient. The weird thing is that is restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of a building and next door to a pool place. Also to order drinks we had to order and pay separately at the bar located outside the restaurant. But I will be back as the food was delicious and very efficient staff too!
Deep fried ice cream that comes more like a wrapped parcel, accompanied by muesli, cashews and strawberries. Sharing is always the best way to go with south-east Asian dishes, for not only does one get to sample each of the variety offered, but it also leads to a certain feeling of communion at the table. When the restaurant occupies almost a third of the pub and bar floor, the camaraderie from the licensed bar area can easily translate to a better feeling of gathering at the dining section.
There aren't any single dish (apart from Padthai was a bit disappointing that I was not happy about), everything is nice including quails, curries, fishes, calamari dishes.
One of the best Thai food in Sydney! You have to try this restaurant if you love Thai food. My favorite menu here are salt n pepper calamari and fried pork with basil. For the dessert, they have fried ice cream which I also like👍🏻
The crowds at Holy Basil are often huge, with diners regularly tipping over out across the pub floor. Without allowing a full dining experience, we ordered some shared dishes. Visually, everything is quite colourful and presented brightly in the overly dark and dim space. The satay chicken skewers ($11.90) are tender and incredibly moreish with a crunchy satay sauce. The fish cakes ($8.90) are large in their size in turn full portion, however are lacking a little flavour and seem to miss any tang or spice. Service is pretty efficient considering the masses they are catering for.
Very good foods, very good taste, great atmosphere,
I will come again when i visit sydney again one day.
This is very recommended thai restaurant in Sydney. U must try. I ordered 5 items but i only share 4items because forgot to take a pic.
Two things I always back for when ever I am in Holy Basil, the crispy snapper with mango/apple salad (which ever is in season) the fish and salad go so well together and the holy basil fried ice cream where they give you a good portion but you would not want to share it at all.
Well this is my favorite restaurant in the city cbd, each and every dish is awesomeness, the deep fried ice cream they have is fantastic chicken chilli basil is on point 10/10
Sir And Mlady Dine Out
+4
The ever-expanding Thai restaurant growth in and around Haymarket has been very evident lately - but Holy Basil has been here a while quietly getting on with business since 2009. It's a bit secluded - well a lot secluded - in that it's upstairs inside and at the back of The Shark Hotel. It's worth a visit though as the food is very good.
Great flavours! Ordered the beef massaman curry and the Thai papaya salad with rice for main. The curry had excellent depth with good balance of spice and sweetness. Beef was so tender I could break it apart with the back of my spoon... and it was moist! Rice was good. Thai papaya salad was tasty but not enough texture / I've had better.
For dessert we had the fried ice cream. Excellent textures with the shredded coconut, raisin and nuts, and the ice cream was creamy and had a great consistency (not like some other fried ice creams I've had which are frozen in the middle). The pastry was like filo, buttery, sweet and delicious. If I had one criticism it would be that the dish had too many sugary elements and not enough counterweight, so the dish overall was a little sweet for my taste.
The waiter did not say hello, walked away as we were in the middle of our order and was altogether flippant so wasn't entirely impressed by the service. But meh, the food is what counts.
Omg, has anyone tried their deep fried ice cream and lychee ice drink? They are delicious!
I live the variety of choices on the menu and always great for sharing with friends. Whenever I have a Thai craving, I grab my friends and we go here. The food is fantastic, I couldn't fault it.
Just look at the food. Yum yum yum. Love ox tongue with its fish sauce dip. The noodles are great and has that balanced flavour. The Lao sausage is yum. And the fried ice cream topped with some coconut shreds is to die for. You will leave satisfied
The food is just great here. Nothing really to fault besides the fact that is does cost more than your average Thai place. Being the sister restaurant to Green Peppercorn, it would be recommended to go there instead due to its diminished prices. The chicken satay skewers are great; highly recommend.
Located inside Shark Hotel, most people would probably miss this place! I've been here a few time (usually after a few wines at the shark hotel) and the food is always really good. Try the deep fried icecream. Best ever!
A quality Thai/Laos restaurant inside the Shark hotel. The dining space is quite large, we were here for dinner on a Wednesday night and it was busy. The staff are friendly and the food is out on your table very fast. We were here as a group of 8 which was ideal as we got to share a number of dishes. All of the meals were very nice. We started with some curry puffs, loved these things. I wish they were bigger, gone in 2 bites. The pad see eew was great, as were the Thai king prawns. The Green curry and the cashew chicken had nice flavour. We also had the tasty holy basil fried rice. The portions were decent and 6 dishes between 8 seemed to work. A great dining experience, will return.
Waited an extra 20 mins for our table, but considering it's a Friday and we had a booking for 20 people, it was understandable.
Spring rolls - pretty average, the main flavour we found was cabbage. I'd avoid it in the future.
Satay chicken sticks - were really juicy and tender with a great amount of satay sauce.
Pork belly in garlic sauce - crunchy, crispy yet soft. Beans were really crunchy. One of our favourites of the night
Soft shell crab - crunchy, salty, light batter. It was a generous serve and probably our favourite dish of the night.
Duck curry - succulent & tender duck, creamy sauce, pretty nice overall.
A place I discovered during uni, used this multiple time for group gatherings and all have been satisfied with the food. The deep fried ice cream (differs from your original expectations of a crumbed sphere) is worth the price of $13ish so long as you share!
The pad thai and pad see eew are also staple dishes that would be recommended for the price of $13ish for it's taste! Certainly a place recommended for outings, but remember to bring ID to get inside since it is a 'hotel' (don't get caught out for forgetting). The staff are very friendly and very responsive to emails which is a big bonus.
Have been here multiple times in the past. Not that great a place for dinner, but for lunchtime this place is fantastic.
Do try the chilli basil if you like your food spicy. And the friend ice cream is to die for.
The atmosphere is loud and busy. We ordered a duck curry, pad thai and fried ice cream. The portions were a good size but the food was quite oily (accounting for the fact that Thai food is generally quite oily). I wouldn't rush back to return because I do think you can get better Thai in the city for the same/better price and ambience.
Food: 4/5
Delicious and packed with flavour. If you've had thai before, this would fall along the spectrum of standard to good thai. The portions are rather generous for some dishes as well and came out in a fair amount of time. Try to avoid peak hour as you may have to wait in line for a table.
Service: 3/5
The waiters can become quite flustered during busy times. I've had my order taken wrong and they called over 3 waiters to try and solve the problem and had it blamed on my lack of description despite pointing to the item and the exact words on the menu whilst our order was taken. If it's busy, they will not wait for you to pack your things and will try to hurry you off. This didn't happen to me but I saw this happen to a pair of ladies and I thought it was extremely rude of them not to wait to her to go before moving her table and pushing chairs about.
tldr food is good, service is not horrible but don't expect something great
ps don't forget ID cause there's security out the front
Literally the best Thai I've ever had! I've recommended so many people go here when they're in Sydney as well and they all agree. So delicious and authentic. Fruit shakes are always so fresh, and the fried ice cream is the perfect treat to finish off your meal.
This family-owned restaurant is a must try in Sydney. They have ample space for big groups, fast service, and staff are friendly. Their dishes taste good, with generous servings for sharing. When looking for authentic Thai dishes, visit Holy Basil Sydney.
Must try dishes: Thai King Prawn, Chilli Basil Pork Belly, Fried Icecream
Most dishes from here taste really good. All the ingredients are always fresh and the food is presented very well. This is one of the best places for Thai food.
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The dessert are what we came for although I have been here on many occasions before. Being a Saturday night, the restaurant was at capacity but we were lucky to be seated straight away. The things about Holy Basil is that it's the food that people come for as it's situated odly at the back of a pool hall but has been going strong since my friend brought me here many years ago.
Fried Ice Cream - The huge triangle shaped ice cream is encased in a paper thin pastry thats fried perfectly crispy and could easily be shared between 2-3 people. The ice cream comes with caramel sauce and a coconut and oat crumble on the side which provides a good contrast in flavour and texture.
Black Harbour - Although the dessert was enormous, I feel that these days it's more about quantity over quality. Firstly, the original we tried years ago came with just black rice and that provided a great texture and dimension that melded perfectly with ice cream. However, the 3 more chances we gave Holy Basil proved to be dissapointing as they blended white glutinous rice with the black rice losing the whole construct of the dish and looking more like thickened porridge.
The ice cream used was good quality although it was very sweet. I think we will only be back for the food next time! (Score based on food on previous occasions too).
Possibly one of the best tasting thai green curries i have tasted. The portion sizes were generous and prices were reasonable. Service was a little slow however expected due to the ratio of the size of their kitchen compared to the restaurant.
This is just based on ONE dish. Holy Basil Fried Ice Cream. This is one of the best Asian desserts in Sydney. It's creamy, crispy (not doughy) and the toasted coconuts on the side adds so much texture to the dish. It's a MUST try. I give this dish 4.5 bears.
Best pad khee mao ive ever had in sydney hands down. Love the spicy string beanlike thing that comes with it. Perfect combo of spicy, noodle and meat.
Fried ice cream is ok, not a fan of the thin crust style and a bit pricey for what you get, ok to get once i guess but you wouldnt reorder
Great vibe and tasty foods! I always love this restaurant. Tonight, I just had fried ice cream and stocky rice and mango which were delicious:)
WATCH OUT FOR THAT FRIED ICE CREAM! FOOD GASM! Holy Basil originated in Canley Heights but also has a Sydney City version within the Shark Hotel. This blog...
Located on the same street as green peppercorn both serving thai/laos dish, ive only ever been here once for a birthday dinner.
Because it was a birthday dinner i managed to try a range of their menu. All of the food that came was delicious.
The service was okay. Really liked the decor of the restaurant. Dessert was alright (maybe because i was too full for anymore food?)
All in all, wonderful place. Would like to come back on the off days i dont feel like green peppercorn thai milk tea.
If you can't find the restaurant, walk up the Shark Hotel and keep going until you see it at the end of the bar!
Weird placement aside, Holy Basil is an outstanding hotel, serving Thai and Laotian food. The Laos sausages were extremely yum and the durian smoothie was ace. The Thai salad was perfect too.
Wait staff were a bit absent but it didn't detract from the food at all.
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