For us, there were more misses than hits with the Thai Gourmet Cafe. We headed off to Northbridge for an early lunch at the cafe one Saturday morning. The place wasn't that busy at 11am. The picture menu convinced me to order the BBQ chicken set (thai: gai yang & som tum). My sister ordered the chicken pineapple fried rice and my brother-in-law the pad thai.
While we were waiting, we asked if they have some desserts we can look at (the menu didn't show any). The waitperson pointed out that they would be starting to stock up and display the desserts in the glass cabinet near the cashier. I found that their selection of dessert was not very appealing, so we didn't get any. There was this concoction of sticky rice topped with shavings of dried fish (or was it prawns?). It's probably quite authentic, but maybe too authentic for us.
Gai yang & som tum set - $15
From that disappointment, I moved on to another disappointment. My BBQ chicken set didn't come out exactly like what I imagined. The chicken, though beautifully charred, was boneless and already pre-cut, rather than the enticing chicken thigh and drumstick on the bone as shown in the picture. OK, maybe I'm nitpicking here. I tried to console my disappointment with a spoonful of the sticky rice, but even that was another disappointment. The rice tasted like it has been left out to dry for a day, it was so dry that my throat was tortured and scraped from eating it. The papaya salad was the saving grace, it was fresh and it had great balance between sweet, sour and spicy.
Chicken pineapple fried rice - $13.50
My sister's pineapple fried rice was loaded full of spices. If overwhelming a dish with spices means it's authentic, then it certainly was that. The pineapple did help counteract that somewhat.
Although, one thing we did agree on was the fabulousness of the pad thai. It ticked all the correct boxes. The rice noodle was just the right consistency, the bean sprouts blanched but still had that crispness, the crunchy sensation of the peanut sprinkles made the dish interesting and they got the flavour combination of slightly sweet and slightly sour right.
Pad thai (chicken) - $12.50
Sis’ child-friendliness rating: 6 out of 10
The high chair was not very kid-friendly, quite fiddly and awkward
S & T Thai Gourmet Cafe
Unit 3, 347-349 William St
Northbridge WA
Open 7 days 11am-9pm
While we were waiting, we asked if they have some desserts we can look at (the menu didn't show any). The waitperson pointed out that they would be starting to stock up and display the desserts in the glass cabinet near the cashier. I found that their selection of dessert was not very appealing, so we didn't get any. There was this concoction of sticky rice topped with shavings of dried fish (or was it prawns?). It's probably quite authentic, but maybe too authentic for us.
Gai yang & som tum set - $15 From that disappointment, I moved on to another disappointment. My BBQ chicken set didn't come out exactly like what I imagined. The chicken, though beautifully charred, was boneless and already pre-cut, rather than the enticing chicken thigh and drumstick on the bone as shown in the picture. OK, maybe I'm nitpicking here. I tried to console my disappointment with a spoonful of the sticky rice, but even that was another disappointment. The rice tasted like it has been left out to dry for a day, it was so dry that my throat was tortured and scraped from eating it. The papaya salad was the saving grace, it was fresh and it had great balance between sweet, sour and spicy.
Chicken pineapple fried rice - $13.50 My sister's pineapple fried rice was loaded full of spices. If overwhelming a dish with spices means it's authentic, then it certainly was that. The pineapple did help counteract that somewhat.
Although, one thing we did agree on was the fabulousness of the pad thai. It ticked all the correct boxes. The rice noodle was just the right consistency, the bean sprouts blanched but still had that crispness, the crunchy sensation of the peanut sprinkles made the dish interesting and they got the flavour combination of slightly sweet and slightly sour right.
Pad thai (chicken) - $12.50 Sis’ child-friendliness rating: 6 out of 10
The high chair was not very kid-friendly, quite fiddly and awkward
S & T Thai Gourmet Cafe
Unit 3, 347-349 William St
Northbridge WA
Open 7 days 11am-9pm
haha i can't agree more about the pineapple fried rice. WORST thing ever. But everything else was delicious!
ReplyDeleteright right? gosh... it was seriously chockers with spices.
ReplyDelete