Chon

According to the Bureau of Statistics, Balmain now has NSW's highest proportion of people earning more than $75,000 per year. The basket-weavers of yore are no more, and so the basket-weavers' restaurants must move on. Out goes the 33-year-old pan-Asian Satasia, for instance, and in comes Chon, a cute double-decker of a modern Thai restaurant.

Opened by popular Balmain restaurateur Michael Corrente of Balmain's 20-year-old Thai restaurant Blue Ginger, Chon is the new home for Pacharin (Air) Jantrakool, a Thai chef of note who has cooked her way from Sailors Thai to Cremorne's sadly missed Tapioca.

This menu is a warm bath for anyone brought up on a steady diet of Sydney Thai, which is pretty much everyone in town except Rene Redzepi of Noma. So there are miang kum betel leaf wraps, pad Thai noodles, egg nets, som tum green papaya salads, and massaman curry – here, made with ox cheek. The miang kum ($4 each) snap and crackle in the mouth, each peppery leaf topped with shards of smoky trout, ginger, roasted coconut, lime and caramelised palm sugar and a pop-top of tobiko caviar. 

More sweet/sour/spicy/crunchy good times come with smartly styled "small bites", including cute little quail "son-in-law" eggs that have been wrapped in chicken mince and egg noodles and deep-fried ($4 each), and a lacy egg-net roll filled with shredded chicken, coconut, Thai basil and kaffir lime ($14).

Sydney designer Matt Woods has given the place a minimalist mod-over without disturbing the bones; painting the bare brick walls, keeping tables and wooden chairs unclad, and floating a gaggle of white rice-paper lanterns overhead that look like kids' birthday-party escapees. 

Chon's brief but to-the-point 20-bottle wine list includes a savoury, velvety Sons of Eden Kennedy GSM from the Barossa ($43). The BYO option is taken advantage of, although this being the new, high-net-worth Balmain, they're bringing pretty decent stuff, like $70 bottles of Skillogalee Trevarrick shiraz.

A retro-moulded turret of grilled long eggplant salad ($16) studded with minced chicken, dried shrimp, Thai herbs and chilli lime dressing is warm, dense, and satisfying. Edible flowers garnish most dishes – purdy, but give me ruinous quantities of Thai herbs any day.

Marinated grilled wagyu beef ($27) falls flat, with no perky sizzle or spontaneity from the grill – I suspect the deadening effect of the warming lights of the kitchen pass, which can kill as many dishes as they keep warm. Even the fresh salad of lettuce, cucumber and cherry tomatoes and a terrific, tamarind-tangy, fish sauce and lime juice dipping sauce fail to revive it. 

A chu chee (chuu chii) fish curry ($26) is appropriately smooth and rich rather than rough and rustic; the pan-fried slabs of blue-eye bathed in a tan-toned coconut creamy sauce layered with red chilli, aromatics and (never enough) kaffir lime leaf. 

Thai desserts are always spoon-worthy, and Chon (Thai for spoon) sends out sweet-and-salty warm pandanus-green kanom koh dumplings of coconut and palm sugar in coconut milk ($8), and chi-chi dessert glasses of black sticky rice and mango ($8).

The kitchen has a tendency to overcook both fish and meat, and the smartly pinafored staff are often otherwise occupied, but this is sociable food for an equally sociable local crowd. There's room for the odd pram, and the chilli quotient won't scare the oldies.

It all makes Chon a next-level step up from your average suburban Thai. But then, clearly, Balmain is no longer your average suburb.

THE LOWDOWN
Best bit: Thai food with finesse.
Worst bit: Tables for two are tiny.
Go-to dish: Pan-fried blue eye with chu chee and Thai basil, $26.

Terry Durack is chief restaurant critic for The Sydney Morning Herald and senior reviewer for the Good Food Guide. This rating is based on the Good Food Guide scoring system.