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Morks

Catriona Jackson

Soft-shell crab roti.
Soft-shell crab roti.Graham Tidy

Good Food hat15/20

Thai$$

A torrential downpour does little to discourage the increasing floods of diners pushing their way into Morks. This funky, modern Thai restaurant moved across from Belconnen to flasher digs on the Kingston Foreshore a few years ago now, and has built a cult-like following for good reason.

Mork and Benn Ratanakosol hail from a restaurant family (their parents ran Sukothai in Yarralumla for 19 years). The assurance that comes from long experience is clearly visible in the food and the way this very busy restaurant hums along. But the boys have added second-generation innovation, and the menu is a wonderful tour through new (to non-Thais at least) and beautifully balanced dishes that surprise with every bite.

The main challenge reading down the one-page menu is choosing what not to have, so take a decent group to make life easy. Sweet potato dumplings ($15) arrive bathed in excellent panang​ curry sauce, the fresh, rich and sprightly flavours bouncing off the sweetness of the filling and tender casings. This is by no means the token (see dull) vegetarian option, with a range of great choices catering to many preferences, all with clear labelling.

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Morks at the Kingston Foreshore.
Morks at the Kingston Foreshore.Graham Tidy

At $9 each it is impossible to resist the soft-shell crab roti, a really good dish, with the crab all wrapped in fluffy roti and great yellow curry and house pickles for crunch and contrast. I could eat one of these (or three) for lunch every day – and that's the case for most of these dishes. Morks serves up fresh and beautifully conceived food but doesn't leave you feeling like you have eaten an elephant. This is restaurant food you want to eat again and again – it's dangerous, really.

The well-chosen wine list works well with the food, and a South Australian sauvignon blanc (Shaw + Smith) and Doss Blockos beer fit the bill nicely. Juicy, flavoursome scallops ($16) come topped with a lovely curl of pork and go down way too easily.

Like many other bustling places, Morks is noisy; if you want a quiet dinner choose somewhere else, or at least get a table in the sheltered outside area in the front. The staff will ask you to choose a sitting when you book, early or later, and if you take the early slot you'll need to move it along to be gone in time for the second wave. Service is efficient and friendly, but at times a little missing in action.

Egg in Hay - coconut ice-cream, pashmak, roti.
Egg in Hay - coconut ice-cream, pashmak, roti.Graham Tidy
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Massaman beef ($30) is rich and fall-apart tender, with a bowl of spiced root vegetables served on the side making this a substantial dish. Next time we will try the crispy whole flounder.

Buddha's green curry ($22) is much more than a side dish, a lovely tangle of fighting fresh vegetables in a coconut-based curry that reminds you how good properly made green curry really is.

Our meal is rounded out by egg in hay ($15), a lovely concoction of creamy coconut ice-cream with fluffy roti and a fantastic thatch of pashmak (Persian fairy floss). Not a scrap is left on the plate.

Owners Benn and Mork Ratanakosol.
Owners Benn and Mork Ratanakosol.Graham Tidy

An intelligent, edgy mixing of cultures and flavours typifies this place. Morks is giving many much pricier establishments a real run for their money. But most of all it is an exciting place to eat, a place you will want to share with family and friends.

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