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Newtown's Sumalee Thai to close

Scott Bolles
Scott Bolles

Closing after 20 years ... Sumalee Thai at The Bank Hotel, Newtown.
Closing after 20 years ... Sumalee Thai at The Bank Hotel, Newtown.Fiona Morris

Has Newtown finally reached saturation point for Thai restaurants? Sumalee Thai closes its doors this week after a 20-year run, but regulars of the famed courtyard restaurant at the Bank Hotel on King Street won't have to look far for alternatives.

''When we opened there were eight or nine Thai restaurants on King Street; now there are about 30, and 43 within one kilometre of us,'' Sumalee Thai operator Chris Yarnprasitkul says.

A spokeswoman for Solotel, owner of the Bank Hotel, says: ''We didn't feel it fitted the brief of what we wanted for the pub.''

The Bank Bistro will open in Sumalee's place, offering dishes from the grill and pizza.

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Despite price wars between Newtown's Thai restaurants and the emergence of new Thai precincts, such as Haymarket, Yarnprasitkul still wants a bite of the Newtown cherry.

He will continue to deliver takeaway from a cafe on Glebe Point Road but is looking for a new site in Newtown.

''I don't think about the competition, I only fight against myself,'' he says.

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Scott BollesScott Bolles writes the weekly Short Black column in Good Food.

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