The Elephant

Dear readers, we're back with a blast! Not to worry, we'll keep you entertained with awesome food all the way!

Welcome to The Elephant, an authentic thai restaurant with yummy food. This place has been around for many years and is quite popular with the people living in the Howick Area.

The Elephant is a warm and inviting place to step into for dinner after a long and cold winter's day. The staff there politely greets you with a Sawadee Kah, something that is always nice to hear. I like the cosy candle environment.

Love the teapot, it's so cute

And dinner begins!

We had Gang Dang (yes - dang, not bang) and we chose Roasted Duck ($22.50) as our meat. You can also have Chicken/Lamb ($19.90), Mixed Seafood ($23.90) or Scallops ($26.90).

Gang Dang is a red curry and we ordered it thai spicy, because if you order just 'spicy' in asian restaurants in NZ, it usually turns out sweet and not spicy at all. T says that most caucasians like their curries sweet and not too spicy. So thai spicy was the hottest! :)

They gave quite a lot of duck meat and the curry was full of flavour. It was served with bamboo shoots and green beans as well.

Pha Goong ($24.50) is a salad of spicy grilled prawns mixed with herbs and some veggies with a dressing. My mother loved this and although it was too spicy for me, I enjoyed the prawns they served.

Pla Mar Naow ($26.90) - this is a steamed whole snapper. My parents prefer ordering the whole fish because we can eat different parts of the body and not just the fillet. Fish ordered as a whole is generally more crispy as well and The Elephant served this fish with a somewhat spicy and flavoursome sauce, which went well with the crispy fish. The shallot and coriander also complemented the fish and it was fragrant.

Of course, we also had the usual crowd-pleaser, Pad Thai ($19.50). This is basically stir fried noodles with prawns, chicken, egg mixed with other stuff. Crushed peanuts, chilli, beansprouts and spring onions are always served by the side of the plate and most people mix it with the noodles. Squeezing lemon over the noodles also gives it extra flavour.

The Pad Thai here is not bad although the noodles could be a little more chewy and there should be a bigger portion for the price.

Tom Yum Gai ($9.50)

This is one of my mother's favourite dishes to order at a thai restaurant but the Tom Yum Gai here was a little diluted and the flavours were not that strong, which was a disappointment. Tom Yum Gai is a sour-ish soup served with chicken, thai herbs and the stronger flavours are lemongrass and coriander.

For dessert, we decided to try Banana Fritter ($6.50)

This was a huge disappointment because when we were almost finished eating, my mum ordered the desserts but specifically told the waiter that we only wanted the chef to fry the fritters after we had finished eating and not before. However after we finished eating, our desserts were immediately served - indicating that they were already fried earlier and they were not hot. They were lukewarm going cold. Terribly disappointing. Well, at least we know better next time.

The Elephant

No 1 Moore Street, Howick

Phone: (09) 5340588

Fully licensed & BYO

Opening hours:

Lunch - Tues to Sun 12pm to 2.30pm

Dinner- Everyday 5.30pm to 10.30pm