Yim Yam
12 Margaret St
Moonee Ponds VIC 3039
(03) 9372 8585
Google map
It does not matter that our Anniversary was last week. Happy Anniversary Hunnie!
Yim Yam was discovered by Mister about a month ago. He was quite excited to try it as Matt Preston has named the crispy rice salad as one of the 5 dishes that a person should try in Melbourne. That is a big call and I was equally curious to try it out as well.
It was our 9th anniversary but with our busy schedule and having to run back and forth while our renovation was going, we decided to keep our dinner plans a little low key this year. After we had a look at the progress of our house, we made an impromptu decision to have dinner at Yim Yam.
Yim Yam is set up by Lylah. She grew up in Bangkok and lived in both Thailand and Laos. She started cooking when she was very young. The influence of both type of cuisines are visible in the menu.
Yim Yam Moonee Ponds
We ordered 2 starters. The simple fish cake was accompanied by a sweet chilli sauce with chunky crushed peanuts. The sauce has a nice hit of chilli. The fish cake was well seasoned and I could taste a hint of grounded coriander. It was a light and refreshing start to our dinner.
Fish cake with sweet chilli sauce and peanut
Mister ordered the crispy chicken wrapped in pandan leaves. The chicken pieces were marinated in Thai spices then wrapped in pandan leaves and grilled to perfection. Again it was served with their own blend of sweet chilli sauce. The chicken was super tender and had a slight nutty taste. Delicious.
Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves
The next dish was what we came for. We had no idea what to expect. Would this toasted rice and coconut salad with Laos pork sausage live up to its high expectations? It is crunchy toasted nutty rice and shredded coconut flakes mixed with aromatic herbs, fresh crunchy vegetables and crushed peanuts. It was a fantastic play on texture. And of course, the flavours were so simple and yet so punchy. We could not stop eating. If you do visit this place, you have to try this. I will be surprised if you did not like it. And there is a vegetarian option as well. This dish is worth the travel.
Toasted rice and coconut salad
The chicken ferung is our least favourite dish. It’s stir fry chicken pieces with ginger, bacon and Mekong whisky. Despite the addition of whisky, it still lacked in flavour. Probably anything after the rice salad would taste quite ordinary. 
Chicken ferung
They do have a dessert menu that consists of grilled banana roti with ice cream, sweet Thai dumpling with ice cream, Thai custard with sweet sticky rice and bananas in coconut milk. We had too much and so will leave the dessert for next time. I will be back for more! Care to join me?
I am always lamenting that I am unable to find a reasonably priced Thai food in Melbourne. I found the place and now I can shut up. This will be one of the places that I will keep coming back. The service may be a little slow and the place a little rundown. But if it serves food this good, it deserves the wait.
Do you have a favourite Thai spice? Please share what it is and why.
Its such a joy when a dish lives up to its review. That salad does look quite tempting.
Mmmm – we had nearly all those dishes in Laos this summer. I really loved the crispy crunchy toasted nutty rice salad also. Glad you found a great “go to” place!
You’re right – that salad does look fantastic… to me, doesnt matter if Matt thinks it’s good – matters more if YOU think it’s good… so now I definitely have to try it!
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oooh! those fish cakes look good! Dip, dip away!
Sounds really tempting lol! Especially the rice salad…mm…mm…
Always a big fan of fishcakes. I may want to come if I didn’t live so far away.
Everything looks great. I love Thai food and I could overeat on rice with this cuisine. And that salad looks fantastic.
aww Happy Anniversary! I am just loving that chicken ferung dish, it looks so good. It is always great when a place lives up to expectations. I’ve been to a restaurant where the place had good reviews but did not live up to its expectations.
Yum! I would love to try the vegetarian option! Favorite Thai spice? So hard to choose! Of course I love anything hot, but I also love the fresh flavor that lemongrass gives… Thai basil is wonderful as well. I think I like these things together along with chilies.
You are always so lucky….eating all the great food all over. Lovely food….would love to have a share.
Yes yes I care to join you! Maybe not on your anniversary celebration though. And I guess the commute from Perth might be a little long. Hmmm.
I love Thai Food! I’m sure you know this already. The fish cakes looks amazing. I haven’t had them for two years now. I wish I could go back to Thailand today. You’re so lucky!
Chicken in pandan leaves sounds really good!!!!!!
Love Laos food! Not many around up here in Sydney though. Thanks for the review.
That toasted rice and coconut salad looks really divine! Like a burst of flavors in your mouth – very jealous you got to go there!
sounds like yim yam is the place for yum yum – sorry … the toasted salad does sound very tempting and if I were there, yep…I would certainly try it…
A very happy anniversary to both of you! May you have many more!
I would totally join you here if I could! The toasted rice and coconut salad with sausage sounds amazing!
@Maria – I urge you to try it. It is seriously good.
@Mardi – I must head to Laos soon.
@Trissa – I am sometimes skeptical about his reviews. But he got it right this time.
@Adrian – Come my way, let’s have dinner there!
@Kristy – I will attempt to make it at home… heh
@CruxieFaye – Come with Adrian…. have to try it
@Divina – We did overeat on rice!
@Jessie – I am sure you can make the chicken too!
@Trix – I love hot hot chillies too!
@maryMoh – Me too! It will be great if we could have a gathering
@Conor – No prob in joining at any time
@cheapappetite – Or try Bali next time
@Trisha – It was delicious and maybe you can try making it? Is it easy to get pandan leaves?
@joey@FoodiePop – I thought that Syd. has many nice Thai places to eat? And many claim that it is better than Melb!
@Shelly – It was a burst of flavours and textural delight
@Drick – Yum yum it was
@Shirley – Thanks! We shall do
@Natasha – It tasted amazing and I wish everyone could try it
We made the trek over to Moonee Ponds for Yim Yam the other night after so many positive reviews. It was quite good, but I’m not sure it lived up to all the hype.
Spring rolls were fresh and homemade with a really nice tamarind sauce and their peanut sauce was awesome — which already puts it above your average suburban Thai joint. Unfortunately, their website menu said they did tofu satay skewers, but they didn’t have them, so I was limited to just sneaking some of the peanut sauce off my boyfriend’s plate.
Their Tom Yum was more of a Tom Kha — came with coconut milk, even though they said it didn’t when I asked. It was quite nice, but not quite hot and spicy enough for my tastes.
We tried the vegetarian version of the famous rice salad. In fairness, I’m not a huge rice fan anyway, but it didn’t blow me away. It was nice.
They nicely did a vegetarian version of the basil stir fry for me (it was basically a Pad Krapow [minus real krapow basil, as with all Aussie Thai]), which was really tasty and had a good mount of chilli and a fairly ho-hum assortment of vegetables and fried tofu.
My partner ordered a chicken dish (not sure which), but the chicken smelled really off. They said it was just the spices. Not sure who was correct. Either way, it didn’t smell very appealing.
Overall, it was definitely much better (and more authentic) than your average local Thai, but I’m not sure I’d make the journey out there again specifically to go. I’d definitely go back if I was in the area. They do have a lot more vegetarian options than most Thai places, which is a big plus if you’re that way inclined. Though Yim Yam’s menu is more extensive, I think Minh Minh on Victoria St is better for Thai/Lao, and MaMaNee in Collingwood is better for authentic hot, spicy Thai.
@Ruth – We didn’t read any reviews and only found out about the raving reviews when we tried it. I was in love with the peanut sauce but was not a big fan of the chicken dish. Maybe we ordered the same? But I am a big fan of the crispy rice dish. Every mouthful was delightful.
I will need to make my way down to Minh Minh and MaNeMee to check it out. Always in search for better Thai! Thanks for the great feedback.
[...] Larb Gai but not for dessert. So my local seems a little more promising now. With the discovery of Yim Yam just round the corner, Yemeni on Union Road, Sunrise India on Mount Alexandra, I wonder what else [...]
Hi,
Lylah (my wife) and I own Yim Yam. I don’t know if it is kosher for restaurant owners to participate in your blog, however reading all your reviews both positive and negative is a fantastic though sometime sobering experience. And I really thought that I need to voice our own concerns rather than be a bystander.
By and large Lylah’s vision is being fulfilled with our restaurants providing truely authentic, high quality and diverse Thai and Laotian cuisine in a fun and pleasant environment- this is some of the food that we ourselves like to eat.
Often guests will say that our food is not ‘typical’ for their experience of Thai food. The truth is of course that ‘Thailand’ itself is the World’s biggest restaurant and the truely wonderful and in many ways unique thing about Thais is their universal passion, knowledge and skill in every aspect of food. Thais are the french of Asia! There is a huge variety among the standard Thai dishes- despite what we all say there is no single ‘authentic’ pad thai or chick green curry.
We know from our own eating credentials in Asia that our food is on a par with quality restaurant cuisine in Thailand. Though it will be different to what you can buy on the street or in other restaurants. The only ingredient we can’t buy here or approximate (eg basil not hor-ra-pah) is fresh coconut milk. Would love to import it folks but our menu would double in price!
Anyway, we were both very disturbed to hear the comments on the chicken and wish so much that they had reached our ears on the night. Firstly we would not have charged you for the dish, secondly we would have prepared something else and probably wouldn’t have charged you for that either- for us it is paramount that ‘the customer is always right’ and our staff are counselled to always be polite and not reactionary. Thirdly we would have immediately reflected on what the issue was and sorted it out! Unfortunately our staff don’t always relay things to us- it is a very rare waiter who cares as much as the owner!
I don’t know about other owners but for us- Please if there is ever a next time tell the staff to ‘please inform the owner immediately’!
We want your comments- love the complimentary ones for sure but we also need to hear the not so fabulous one too.
Thank you all for your patronage and I promise not to get involved in your blog unnecessarily. Which was the chicken dish? We’ll deal with it!
Guy
Hi Guy
I like Yim Yam but I do not expect all dishes to be extraordinary. The rice salad is pretty amazing and have even brought friends there for dinner. The peanut sauce of the fish cake was another big plus. However, I thought the Chicken Ferung was ordinary (that is just my personal and honest opinion). Other customers may like it and I feel that it is hard to please every single patron as they have different likes and dislike.
Maybe on that evening, the whisky was not cooked down and the chicken was a little dry even though it was sliced quite thin. I thought it was a little under seasoned. It was not offensively that we needed to return the dish and did not feel the need to leave any feedback with your staff.
Overall, I thought I gave Yim Yam a pretty good review and please keep up the good work with what you are doing.
Cheers,
jeroxie
Thanks for this information Jeroxie.
All good. The chicken ferung was always going to be an unusual dish. Lylah will ensure the staff are giving its preparation full attention and we hope to welcome you again to Yim Yam.
Guy
Hi guy
No probs. Shall be back for sure
Always supporting the local
jeroxie
Don’t forget they have a restaurant in Yarraville too – and the fishcakes are just as good there…