Thai Me Up Chapel Street

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Thai Me Up is fairly new at 135 Chapel Street, Prahran - at just on 3 months old, opening around November 2024. I've been waiting all this time to try it out, so I'm not sorry I ate out three times last week, hah! I enjoyed The European on the Sunday before, and following on, Republic Economica was next, and then Thai Me Up . Thai cuisine is one of my absolute favourite cuisines, and having lived in Bangkok, Thailand for three years, it brings back a lot of street food memories. I am seriously excited to have this restaurant literally a 10-minute walk from where I live.


Generally, I find that going for the 'feed me now' or 'sets' is always the best way at most restaurants. Initially, it sounds expensive, but by the time you tot up all the meals you each want to eat between four people with individual orders, it can always add up to more. Upon looking at the menu, a lot of what I wanted to order was already part of the set in any case, so that's what we settled on. We got the $55pp set for 4 on the 'feed me now' menu and everything we had, you can see in the images here - minus the two bowls of jasmine rice I didn't photograph, that came with it. There was so much food, we ended up taking home two takeaway containers of the grilled chicken and Massaman curry which was promptly demolished by breakfast the next morning.


Some of the members in our party of four could not wait and were famished, so we got a couple of sides while we waited for our sets to come out. We ordered the 'sweet potato chips' accompanied by northern-style Thai mixed herbs and Sriracha mayo. The other was 'cauliflower popcorn', again with Sriracha mayo - which I'm totally going to emulate at home. That hot little mayo is a perfect accompaniment for fried food snacks, cutting through with its heat and tang. The cauli florets coated with wheat flour, salt, pepper and sweet paprika were absolute perfection, and we all loved it. It was tasty, light and the mouth feel wasn't fatty or oily. After the snacks, the rest of the food just kept coming hard and fast, our eyes as big as saucers each time a dish came out because it looked so good.


The set came out almost in perfect order as it was written on the menu, and photographed here, and included the following.


Each plate you see is to be shared by four. When the sashimi came out, our greedy guts immediately passed judgment that this was not going to be enough for all of us. How wrong we were! And let's face it, for all the food we had, $55 per person was a pretty darn fair price. The sashimi was fleshy, with a perfect thickness that didn't make you feel cheated with super thin slices. It was fresh and wolfed down quicker than you could say 'fish'. I was looking forward to the ox tongue which is said to have been slow-cooked for 18 hours, the nam prik noom being a northern Thai chilli paste was the accompaniment, along with the pickled egg. Unfortunately, tasty as it was, three of us thought the ox tongue a little too chewy and not as tender as we would have liked, but the fourth loved that it was chewy, so I say, to each their own.


The fried squid garlic and chilli was plainer than I expected with not a lot of spices through the batter. Perhaps it's held back on the spices to suit everyone, as generally, Thai food is super hot and spicy. It was up to the accompanying sauce to lift its game, and that it did for the tender squid. Thankful it wasn't chewy, and perfectly cooked. The Barramundi Salad came out as three quite big chunks of battered fish which you then have to cut up and mix it through the accompanying salad, dressing and roasted cashews. Eat it as is, or fill a lettuce leaf with salad and eat it like you would san choy bow aka Chinese lettuce wraps. No complaints about this one. The Thai salad was tangy and spicy as it should be.


Gai Yang or Thai grilled chicken is something I cook all the time at home, but of course, there are a few different ways to cook this, and everyone has their own style. Mine is totally different from what Thai Me Up served us, but I love my style too. This dish was impressive on the plate, accompanied by a sweet and spicy sauce, and some black and white sticky (glutenous) rice cooked in banana leaves, which I loved. Most of this chicken came home with us because after having the snacks and going through all we had eg drinks, we were pretty full already. Being grilled a little dryer, the sauce was a necessary accompaniment. Everyone agreed, the stir fry pork belly and Massaman beef short ribs were our absolute favourites (and the sashimi and Barramundi salad).


That pork was so tender and tasty and spiced just right, and the curry went down great with the jasmine rice. Being short ribs, expect to suck the meat off the bones with the Massaman curry. Believe it or not, it felt like a good change to not eat everything filleted, but to have a bit of bone and marrow to suck on. So Asian, hah! When the king prawn pad Thai came out, the size of those king prawns was impressive! I wouldn't put it past us that we would have loved two each for ourselves. The pad Thai accompanying it was as it should have been and perhaps would have tasted even better if it possibly could have, as it was already great on its own - had we allowed the prawn to be cut up and added to the mix. Instead, we just wolfed the prawns down on its own. Absolutely happy with all that we had, I can guarantee we'll absolutely be eating there again. Being a short stroll away, the temptation is always there, and that's the joy of living off Chapel Street.


Be sure to stay in touch with Thai Me Up on Instagram and the website to make your booking. The restaurant filled up pretty fast, so we were quite happy we booked an early sitting of 6pm. The venue has been completely refurbished and simplicity is the key, with an upstairs area for more seating. Only open for dinners, I have to admit, I wish they'd open for lunch as well from Friday to Sunday at least. That way I can quietly slip away on my own for a cheeky lunch before everyone gets together at dinner time. I have no doubt they'd take walk-ins, but you'll probably run the risk of them being fully booked out. With Mains averaging around $35 a plate, the 'set' is definitely worth it. Thai restaurants are not big on desserts and the only two available are the Thai Milk Tea Tiramisu and a Crumble Mango Sticky Rice. Mmm.. what would my wish list be to try out next! Prawn Betel from 'snacks, Crying Tiger from the 'small plates', which is a porterhouse with tamarind sauce and green nahm jim pesto, a soft, warm, buttery roti bread from 'sides,' and Pad See Ew Tofu, Dang Ped aka red duck curry, and a whole plate of Pad Thai Goong with those king prawns again, all to myself.



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