To book, or not to book, that is the question. Monday nights are generally one of the slower nights in the week but Surry Hills eateries are notoriously small and tend to get packed easily. After passing a closed MoVida and Vini, I thought it was no surprise that the crowd at Muum Maam seemed thin. Only after trying to switch tables, did I realize how wrong I was. They were mostly booked out. So what does muum maam mean? Luckily the answer lies on a scroll on the wall. Formally, it is to eat voraciously but it’s also slang for “little glutton”. It’s a departure from what seems to be an unofficial tradition of giving Thai restaurants names that are punny and/or involve the word “thai”.
One wall is covered with a floor-to-ceiling mural containing elephants, some tuktuks, spires, cable bridges, and an awesome looking dragon. The restaurant is lit by exposed bulbs that hang over all the wooden tables. Staring at the filaments for too long can sear bright zigzags into your brain. Trust me, I know. A blue and silver grain mill sits to the side, somewhat out of place. Specials are chalked onto a large blackboard on the back wall.
The food is made to share, with each diner getting a glazed blue plate and set of detailed cutlery. Using a rice net as a spring roll wrapper is something that will definitely be added to my repertoire and I always love sweet and sour plum sauce. A table favorite was the slow cooked beef curry which was eaten quickly, lest the noodles softened. One of the downsides of using fish sauce in crispy pork belly is it can start getting salty quickly. The upside though, is that it smells like mom’s cooking for South-East Asians.
Sitting in this contemporary environment, you wouldn’t have picked this as Thai street food. But then again, Muum Maam is located in an area of (already very hipster-ish) Surry Hills that is off the beaten path. We all know that “street food” is becoming quite a popular concept amongst those opening restaurants. While it wasn’t bad, it wasn’t particularly mind-blowing either. But hey, it’s surviving in a tough neighbourhood food-wise. They’ve got to be doing something right, right?
Muum Maam
Shop 1, 50 Holt St
Surry Hills NSW 2010
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