Zabb Nua is the spiciest joint on King Street – and that’s saying something

I can’t tell you exactly when Melbourne shed its reputation for perfunctory Thai food. Remember that? Sydney equals great Thai food, Melbourne equals great Chinese food, never the twain shall meet. So went the stereotype. But was it ever justified? Was it just ignorance? Was it a weather thing, perhaps – is Sydney’s humidity a better fit for Thai?

Either way, in present-day Melbourne, there’s regional nuance everywhere you look. Hits from Thailand’s spicy south turned out with unblinking heat. Earthy, herbaceous flavours of the north suffused through bright soups and rich pork curries. Central staples, such as pad Thai, finessed with hard-won technique and a keenness for texture.

And then there’s the rise of Isan cuisine: funky, tangy, jubilant cooking from the uncompromisingly delicious north-east. A region whose mere mention is parsed with wide eyes and the promise of sensory overload – just as Sichuan was 15 years ago. Our story takes place there.

Zabb Nua opened in January 2024 by four Thai couples who missed the taste of Isan. The Isan word “zabb”, explains chef Preepaween “Far” Dejwatcharanon, is akin to delicious, but in a sour, spicy way. “Nua”, she says, means balanced and rich with umami. Talk about a restaurant hitting its brief.

The walls are plastered with colourful posters promising everything from fried pork with fermented fish paste to tom zabb: pork ribs in a hot, sweet and sour soup. It’s all a quick QR-code scan away. I am no QR-code apologist, but whatever you’re losing in romance by phone-scanning to order here is repaid with some seriously bright Thai cooking.

Let’s start you off with a som tum, Isan’s world-beating suite of green papaya salads. You have 19 options. You might top yours with supple raw salmon. Or perhaps you’d enjoy some crisp pork rinds in the mix with all that hot, sour funk.

I’m locking in the signature som tum Zabb Nua because a salad ain’t a salad without mussels, pipis, blue swimmer crab, squid, raw prawn, salmon, pickled crab, Thai olives, tamarind juice, chilli, fish sauce, lime, snake beans, tomato, garlic, palm sugar and tonnes of shredded green papaya. But that’s just me – I’m confident you’ll end up with something that slaps your senses to attention, no matter what you choose.

The Isan word ‘zabb’, is akin to delicious, but in a sour, spicy way. ‘Nua’, means balanced and rich with umami. Talk about a restaurant hitting its brief.

There are wok-fired moments that burn like the sun, charred rice noodles slick with dark, sticky sauces, and subtle flexes at every turn.

Fancy a pad krapow? You might know the central Thai stir-fry best for the depth of its ground pork, but have you ever had it with pork jowl? Fanging a larb, that fiery, meaty salad of the north-east? Knock it up a notch with duck. Even the pad see ew cops a major textural upgrade – coiled rice rolls subbing in for flat noodles to trap more flavour.

Some dishes are available only at lunch, and lunch specials trigger my inner cynic. I don’t want the express experience. But my goodness – some of these specials are truly special.

Take the yum gai zabb, a fried chicken salad served with a plateful of perfect white rice. It’s all the high-wire balance you get in, say, buffalo chicken: juicy bird; deep-fried exterior; fat; chilli; acid; sugar. But on this trapeze, the vinegar makes way for fresh lime juice, the chilli is Kashmiri, the meat is breaded with ground toasted rice (that gritty talisman of Isan cuisine), and we welcome the all-important extra dimension – fermentation – courtesy of a wildly savoury fish sauce. Tumbled with the pungent crunch of red onion and the cool heat of fresh mint, it’s a tongue-tasering tour de force, and a powerful exhibition of just how delicious things get as you approach the Laotian border.

For a similarly complex flavour profile with a textural upgrade, the yum naem khao tod is unskippable. Balls of rice worked with chilli paste are deep fried, cracked open and tossed with house-made fermented pork sausage, peanuts, fish sauce, lime juice, pork skin, mint and more. Crack a cold Singha and that’s your death-row scran sorted right there.

When the season is right, I’d stake my job on the quality of the mango sticky rice; the combination of warm rice, palm sugar and coconut milk sauce, ripe mango and vanilla ice-cream is bold, balanced and uncommonly wonderful, just like Isan food itself. But swiping a hunk of freshly steamed milk bread through a rich, custardy pandan sauce is the dreamy substitute you’re after in these colder months.

I’ve logged a bank of core memories at Zabb Nua in just eight visits. Some details will fade; the room is unremarkable: split-level, squeezy seating, aggressive fluoros overhead. Its position, just north of Lonsdale on King Street and just out of the action, is forgettable. Service is quick, polite, fit for purpose, and the focus is on getting you fed fast. The powerfully delicious Isan cooking, however, is tattooed on my brain.

Good Food reviews are booked anonymously and paid independently. A restaurant can’t pay for a review or inclusion in the Good Food Guide.