Red Elephant @Sydenham is a Thai restaurant on Huxley Street in Sydenham, just south of central Christchurch, and holds a 4.4 rating on Google. Thai cooking is built on balance — sweet, sour, salty and hot held in check within a single dish. Heat is nearly always negotiable, and it pays to say how you like it before the first mouthful rather than after. Regulars tend to look past the familiar noodle dishes to the curries and stir-fries, ordering for the table: rice, a curry, a wok-fried dish and something sharp like green papaya salad to share. Freshness shows in the details — herbs that taste of something, curry pastes with depth, vegetables that still have bite. On its side street in Sydenham, Red Elephant is well placed for exactly that kind of generous, shared meal.