Boon Cafe, Haymarket

My opinion of someone can plummet dramatically when someone negatively judges the food I'm eating. Like this one time I was enjoying a hearty serving of pasta and a girl I was fiercely afraid of gave me a squeamish look and blurted out "ewwww you know that's carbs right????" Mind you, this was in year 8 and I still haven't forgiven her. This story popped up in my head as I read the first page of Boon Cafe, where they wrote about being the lone ethnic kid at school with the weird and funky smelling lunch that all the other sandwich eating kids would condemn. They then decided to take these negative experiences and turn it into a restaurant where the weird lunch they had is not only served, but also greatly appreciated and celebrated. 

Boon Cafe is situated in Haymarket and it serves Thai cuisine. Going inside, the area is halved with one side being the cafe/restaurant and the other side being a Thai grocery store. The store side has amazingly fresh produce, with the owners having their own farms to grow everything up to their own standard. Upon this visit, service was super quick and relatively attentive. 

Fresh cold press green juice - $6.00 

Having seen this as a favourite amongst Sydney chefs I had to go for the green juice. I was nervous about getting it because while green juice is healthy, it can be pungent and unpalatable. This one contains a variety of specially chosen greens that are in season, and upon first sip my fears diminished as it was incredibly refreshing with a strong taste of lime.

Hibiscus house-made iced tisane - $4.00

My dining companion, Angela, went for the hibiscus iced tea. It's a beautiful colour and wonderfully icy cold. It was the perfect amount of sweetness, with a floral taste playing in the background. Delicious! 

Prik Num Rice - $13.00 

The dish I ordered was a brown rice bowl that contained house-made spicy pork Thai sausage, green chilli relish, pork scratchings and assorted Thai herbs and pickles, all topped with a soft boiled egg. I think I inhaled this because it was so delicious and texturally amazing. The Thai sausage had lots of spices and a good taste of lemongrass, with the green chilli relish being my favourite because of the great kick it gave. 

Chicken squid holy basil rice - $15.00 

Angela's dish had minced chicken cooked with squid, chilli and holy basil. This was served with rice, a crispy fried egg and chunks of cucumber. I had a taste of this and the squid was so perfectly cooked and well coated in that flavoursome oil. Angela said this was quite spicy but she endured it and cleared her plate because it was so tasty. 

Boon egg noodles - $15.00

Just for research purposes, we ordered a third dish which was the egg noodles cooked with minced chicken, fried century egg, chilli and holy basil. The egg noodles were gloriously coated in sauce, with hints of fresh chilli mixed throughout. I loved the creative addition of the creamy century eggs. 

We decided to have dessert somewhere else (because people should have dessert at lunchtime), despite the desserts there looking incredibly enticing. I spied gelato in a bun and pandan custard. Before we left, we had a look at the grocery store side and were amazed at the range of groceries available. I will be back soon (maybe tomorrow).