Chalong Chapel Hill | Must Do Brisbane

Chalong brings an authentic and delectable taste of southern Thailand cuisine to the leafy inner western suburb of Chapel Hill.

Perched at one end of a shopping strip, Chalong features an al fresco deck and a chic contemporary designer interior with golden lighting.

A match for the bespoke interior is the food, which is a cut above, with everything made from scratch (including the sauces and dressings) by the chef, from carefully sourced quality ingredients.

The seasonal food menu is a mix of the familiar Thai dishes found around Brisbane and southern Thai specialties, for those who want to try something different - and it's recommended that you do.

Starters include Betel Leaf (pork relish citrus fruit, lime, ginger, peanut, caramelised coconut); Hatyai bites (Deep fried chicken with secret Southern Thai spice,herbs, fried shallot & sweet chilli sauce); Pork & Prawn Potsticker Dumplings; Fried Turmeric Cuttlefish (salt & pepper, turmeric, crispy garlic, lime & sriracha sauce); and bao (pork belly, crispy chicken or tofu).

For mains it's hard to go past Chalong's signature dishes, such as the heavenly Moo Hong (Phuket style soy-braised pork belly, Asian Herb, fried shallot & green nam jim); Duck Fried Rice; Lemongrass & Tamarind Beef Rib (slow cooked for 9 hours, with Asian herbs, citrus fruit, crispy shallot, chilli); and Fried Whole Fish (Market fish in sweet fish sauce, with Asian salad, fried garlic, crispy chilli & green chilli nam).

The curries are also come recommended, with a choice of red (tofu, chicken or duck): green (prawn, chicken or tofu); Massaman beef curry (slow-cokked 9 hours with kipfler potato, fried shallot & roast peanut) and must-try Southern Thai fish yellow curry ( barramundi with betel leaf in chilli & turmeric curry, Kohlrabi pickle and herbs).

A choice of salads includes Somtum (papaya, hot & sour dressing, anchovy, tomato, snake bean, peanut & dried shrimp); Isaan style Crying Tiger (grilled wagyu beef, chilli, coriander, mint, dill shallot, fine kaffir lime leaves, roasted ground rice & jeaw sauce); or Southern Herb fritters (Asian herbed fritters with fermented chilli & cashew).

There's also a delicious selection of rice and noodle dishes, including Pad Thai; Phuket Hokkien Mee (Thai Chinese egg noodles Chalong's signature garlic soya sauce, beanspouts & spring onion); Chalong Fried Rice; and Yaowaraj noodles (lightly charred thick roll rice noodles, eggs, kalian, garlic chive & soya sauce).

Chalong also serves Thai-flavoured cocktails such as Lychee Martini; Chalong 'Let's Celebrate' ( chalong rum, pineapple juice, yuzu, lime, chilli, syrup); and Floating Market (Ink gin, lychee, elderflower, lime, mint, soda) as well as mocktails and a mix of Thai, Japanese and Australian craft beers and Australian wines.