Basil Nut - Mosman

Firstly, hats off to whomever does the chalkboard for this restaurant. The menu is enormous and the changing of coloured chalk for every single dish deserves a mention! Been to Basil Nut many times for dinner and my most recent visit just happened to coincide with the hottest evening of 2017, when it was still 38 degrees at 6pm! Got the last table next to the register so we were able to read all three walls of blackboard dishes! Also, pretty hot and steamy next to the very busy kitchen! Started with the sampler plate, which consists of moneybags, fish cakes, spring rolls and gyoza. Delicious! Then green chicken curry and the cashew nut seafood stir-fry w king prawns, calamari and plenty of green veggies. Very fresh and tasty. A popular Mosman choice!

Now that I've left Mosman I'll give this place the review it deserves. I believe nobody writes reviews as it truly is a local gem and you usually need to book ahead as it is a small, busy restaurant. It's low key casual dining with food that's packed with great flavours at a very reasonable price. The prawn and scallop dumplings, chicken jao and pork belly are highly recommended.

Spectacularly bad. This place was always good and so they have always gotten busy. In fact the food was good enough to warrant a 35-40 minute wait. We've had a few mediocre meals there in the past when they've been busy but this was the final straw. And this is my first restaurant review. Ever. It wasn't to be this time. After a 45 minute wait out on the street for Pad Thai, chicken and Cashew nuts, steamed rice and satay skewer entree, the order was just left on the counter. Another member of the public waiting for their takeaway came out and asked me what my name was and indeed it was mine. After getting it home the chicken skewers tasted more like curry, and it's not a good sign when you get your torch out to check the state of the meat. It was dry, tepid and gristly. The sauce tasted more curry than satay. There were practically no noodles in the pad Thai. The whole thing was greasy and tasteless. Obviously the bottom of the pan. Again loads of gristle in the meat. The chicken and cashew nuts were tasteless and probably one of the most oiliest dishes I've ever seen. A tablespoon would yield 90% oil and 10% of whatever it was supposed to be. Again cartilage and gristle. The steamed rice was good. But then I would at least expect this to be a fairly difficult dish to screw up. After arguing with my better half over who isn't going to eat the leftovers, we decided to throw it out. Won't eat there again. Save your money! Go to oodles of noodles instead!

Spectacularly bad. This place was always good and so they have always gotten busy. In fact the food was good enough to warrant a 35-40 minute wait. We've had a few mediocre meals there in the past when they've been busy but this was the final straw. And this is my first restaurant review. Ever. It wasn't to be this time. After a 45 minute wait out on the street for Pad Thai, chicken and Cashew nuts, steamed rice and satay skewer entree, the order was just left on the counter. Another member of the public waiting for their takeaway came out and asked me what my name was and indeed it was mine. After getting it home the chicken skewers tasted more like curry, and it's not a good sign when you get your torch out to check the state of the meat. It was dry, tepid and gristly. The sauce tasted more curry than satay. There were practically no noodles in the pad Thai. The whole thing was greasy and tasteless. Obviously the bottom of the pan. Again loads of... read more

Our favourite local take away and dine in! Always busy, food is always delicious, staff always friendly even when run off there feet! We love the caramelised chilli fish - reminds us of the dishes we ate when we were in Phuket!