All-you-can-eat seafood buffet at Talay's Thai Seafood Restaurant, Duo Central Park, Sydney

All you can eat seafood including scampi sashimi? DREAMS CAN COME TRUE. Wear loose pants and get yourselves to Talay's Thai Restaurant, now open at the new Duo Central Park development on Broadway. Just $69 will net you as much seafood as you can eat in two hours, as well as unlimited Thai milk tea. Yeah boi. Want to know what's included? Read on...


All you can eat prawns, Balmain bugs and oysters

The all you can eat seafood buffet only runs at dinner, and includes a self-serve section plus dishes you can order via tablet. That means you can hook into prawns, Balmain bugs and oysters while you wait.

NB I've included the prices for a la carte for some dishes. The prices in brackets are what you'd pay if you ordered each dish individually off the menu. If you order and pay for the buffet, everything mentioned in this post is included.


All you can drink Thai milk tea, bael fruit tea and Thai iced milk green tea

And sure, plain water is provided, but you can also go nuts with all you can drink Thai milk tea, bael fruit tea and Thai iced milk green tea. As always, these tend to be on the sweet side, so I'd suggest you fill up your glass with ice to provide some much need chilled dilution. The choice - and tooth enamel - is yours!


Tom yum soup with prawns

Help yourself to tom yum soup, definitely on the fiery side but a touch too sweet for our Thai ex-pat, the G-Man. It is filled with plenty of prawns though.


Pipi clams with fresh chilli and garlic (a la carte $13.90)

They also have pipi clams with fresh garlic and chilli in the bain marie...


Crab fried rice 

plus plain and crab fried rice.


Scampi sashimi (a la carte $6.90 per piece)

But don't fill up on the carbs because food orders tend to fly in thick and fast. Our scampi sashimi arrives on a massive wooden board, peeled for easy eating. The flesh is firm and deliciously sweet. I'm still amazed this is part of the buffet considering it retails for $90 per kilo at the Sydney Fish Market.

The tablet only permits us to order two raw scampi per diner (we're a group of four tonight) but when we ask if there is a limit, our waiter somehow sends through another order to the kitchen. I'd understand if there's a quota per diner, but it won't hurt to try your luck if you do hit a maximum order on the tablet.


Parboiled cockles (a la carte $14.90)

For most of us, eating parboiled cockles is a first. There's a stronger and chewier taste here, like a mussel crossed with a pipi, but it's a reminiscent flashback to childhood for the G-Man. Make sure you help yourself to a bowl of Thai seafood sauce for dipping too. You'll want to dip everything in this spicy, sour and garlicky dressing.


Raw salmon roll with Thai mint spicy sauce (a la carte $17.90)

The raw page on the tablet menu includes salmon sashimi (tasty) plus raw salmon rolls, doused in a vinaigrette pepped up with chilli, garlic and mint. Due to messy hands eating crab, I managed to take photos of most, but but not all, of the food we ate.


Raw peeled prawns in hot sauce (a la carte $16.90)

If you love raw scampi, you'll probably also love raw prawns. Crust crustaceans have an incredibly lush sweetness that is lost upon cooking.


Prawns and squid on the grill

Grilled prawns and squid are cooked to order. The grilled squid (sorry, no photo) was so awesome we finished the lot and then ordered another. The squid is tender with a slight char to the edges, especially on the tentacles.


Prawn cutlet with tamarind (a la carte $21.90)

What the menu describes as prawn cutlets turn out to be semi-peeled prawns. We tried the prawns with garlic as well as tamarind. They're equally tasty, with firm and sweet flesh.


Thai style steamed blue swimmer crab (a la carte $22.90)

We feast on steamed blue swimmer crab, served Thai-style in that it comes with a side of Thai seafood sauce. Ask for crab/nut crackers if you don't find any on your table.


Making fresh som tum green papaya salad  in the kitchen

And it's not a Thai meal unless there's som tum, or papaya salad involved. Mercifully the som tum is pounded fresh to order in the kitchen, ensuring the papaya is well macerated in that tangy fish sauce dressing.


Green papaya salad with fermented crab (a la carte $11.90)

You can order the papaya salad Thai-style or Lao-style. The latter includes fermented crab that creates a darker fishier dressing. We tried both, although the fermented crab version always gets bonus flavour points from me.


Spicy pickled crab salad (a la carte $16.90)

Highlight dish is this spicy pickled crab salad. That means raw blue swimmer crab with som tum papaya salad and pickled crab. As I've waxed lyrical before, raw crab is unbeatable. If you're worried about the crab not being fresh, as with all raw food, you should immediately know by smell, touch and taste.

The raw crab is firm but sweet. And it pairs so well with the spicy som tum papaya salad.


Crispy fried soft shell crab with garlic (a la carte $21.90)

If you're craving fried seafood, they have that too. We gorge ourselves on the fried soft shell crab with garlic, a crunchy tangle of batter and crab. We also munch our way through serves of the deep fried crispy salt and pepper squid (a la carte $14.90) as well as deep fried squid with garlic (a la carte $14.90). The latter is particularly good, with a knobbly crunchy batter.


Deep fried whole barramundi with garlic (a la carte $24.90)

Still hungry. You can order whole barramundi steamed, grilled or fried. Nobody's going home hungry.


Sticky rice with fresh mango and ice cream

Dessert isn't listed on the tablet menu but it is promoted on each table. We definitely have room for sticky rice with fresh mango and ice cream, served in a martini glass. There's a distinct saltiness to the sticky rice and coconut, saltier than what you'd expect in a dessert, but it works brilliantly against the sweetness of the mango and the cold scoop of ice cream.



Bookings are recommended for the all you can eat Thai seafood buffet, currently available for dinner at $69 per person (as at November 2018).






Talay's Thai Seafood Restaurant
Duo Central Park
Shop 5, Ground Floor, 38 Broadway Chippendale, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 8067 0721

Opening hours
Monday to Friday 11am-10pm
Saturday and Sunday 5pm-10pm

All you can eat Thai seafood buffet dinner $69 per person (as at November 2018)
Bookings are strongly recommended


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