EAT: ONEYADA THAI CAFE, ABBOTSFORD

Calling all fans of Thai food, the breakfast/brunch feed and/or Melbourne's famous Jinda Thai restaurant: Jinda has a new sibling, Oneyada Thai Cafe, and this is one eatery you will want to put on your to-visit list.

And the sooner the better if you want to avoid the usual looooong queues that come with Jinda Thai as the cat's not quite out of the bag yet...

The menu offers a mix of authentic Thai and Thai fusion-esque dishes. Given my like of baked eggs, the Kai gra ta, described as an E-sarn style baked eggs dish, caught my eye immediately. However the dish was nothing like the saucy, tomato-based baked eggs most of us are familiar with... in fact baked eggs didn't even cross my mind after seeing and tasting the dish. Still, it was a dish my tastebuds embraced wholly. The fragrant aromas of the minced pork blend teamed beautifully with the familiar flavours of the Chinese sausage and cocktail sausage (cha lua), delicious deep fried enoki and fresh bite from the spring onions. Each bite brought plenty of action to the flavour front and the dish alone is worth a trek out to revisit the cafe.

The folks at Jinda really know their Thai flavours and Oneyada's tom yum soup lived up to the same high bar set by the former. The tom yum was superbly balanced in the sweet, sour and spicy departments. The only difference between the two versions was the added layer of silky egg custard underneath, adding a bit more substance to the soup.

Made in house, the aromas of their freshly baked toast will greet your nostrils as soon as you step foot into the establishment. The portions are deliberately small: not quite enough for a meal (unless you choose to order several... why not?) but perfect to share as dessert after the mains. The freshness of the bread was evident in its airy light and soft texture. Not overly sweet, the accompanying kaya spreads provided a boost in sweetness. The pumpkin was barely detectable but the pandan on the other hand... give me two serves of that!

For the fans of brunch: Oneyada Thai Cafe offers quite a unique but delicious take on the early day feed. For the fans of Thai cuisine: in similar fashion, Oneyada retains the same high standard and authentic flavours of Thai cuisine delivered by Jinda Thai. In short, there's plenty of reasons to check out the new Oneyada Thai Cafe. Hop to it!