Jinda Thai Restaurant - Excellent Food In A Trendy Setting

I love Thai food. Such vibrant flavours. There's a lot of good Thai food in Melbourne and now I can add Jinda Thai to that list. It's already become one of my favourites as the food is really good and reasonably priced. I've been a couple of times already, the first time with I-Hua and zeboy, Michele and Ewen and the second time with my parents. Both times, nothing was bad and I liked and loved most dishes.

The restaurant itself is beautifully decorated in the industrial look of most new restaurants. The exposed brick walls, funky lights and strong artwork may be becoming cliche but they pull it off really well and the room feels open, airy and comfortable. I love the atmosphere in the room as it feels very vibrant. The noise levels can get rather loud as the room fills up.

You can't go to a Thai restaurant and not have some Thai milk tea. So refreshing and so delicious.

For entrees, I've eaten the Fish Cakes, Papaya Salad, Grilled Pork Neck and Steamed Chicken. Everything was so good. The flavours were all really strong yet balanced. I think of the entrees I've tried, maybe the steamed chicken was my favourite.

For the mains, I've tried the Stir Fry Basil Pork, Fish Floss, Fried Fish, Red Curry Duck and Pad Thai. Again everything is excellent. The stir frys have good wok breathe, the fried fish was crispy and the red duck curry had a great fragrant taste. There wasn't anything I didn't like. There's so many other items on the menu and I can't wait to try more of them. I've heard the boat noodles and other curries are really great too.

The savoury food was already great, but the best part of the night was still yet to come. Dessert time. I had heard so much about the crepe cake and just had to try it. Also the pandan chiffon cake was on special so we tried that too. The pandan cake was awesome and the flavours brought me back to my childhood. Then it was time for the already famous Thai milk tea crepe cake. Wow wow wow. Mind blown. The cake was so good. I could eat 4 slices by myself. Here's a tip. It turns out the exact same cake is sold in the Thai grocery shop next door, for half the price. So if you feel like taking away some crepe cakes, pop next door and pick one, or 4 up. They come in a variety of flavours too. I'd be surprised if you didn't pick up heaps of other items as I can never walk out of that shop with just one thing.

I loved the food at Jinda and the service matches the food. It's friendly and efficient and they make you feel like you're a valued customer. The whole experience is great and I'd highly recommend you go try it. Cost wise, I spent about $30 each time so it's excellent value. The restaurant is very busy at the moment so I'd recommend booking as it's highly unlikely you can get a table walking in on Friday/Saturday.