Thailand Thai
5/100 King William Rd
Hyde Park SA 5061
(08) 8271 1159
Open Tue-Sun for Dinner, Thur-Fri for Lunch
Well I’ve been pretty busy being on the social calendar so I haven’t had a chance to organise a review for a few weeks … my tastebuds were hanging out for some Thai nicities for sure! I’ve heard some good things about this place, and this place was also near our favourite Indian restaurant Raj on Taj, so perhaps we could find another gemstone in the ritzy stretch of King William Rd! Hopefully not too expensive!
Final Score: 7.8/10
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Beef Massaman
Thailand Thai, what a creative name! At least we know what we’ll be eating! This place is tucked in a side street off King William Rd so look out if you’re ever going there, and they have their own parking out the back for patrons so you don’t have to park your car on the street. I was actually on time for once in this review which is a big effort for me, and I was greeted by some very smiley and friendly wait staff … it reminded me a little bit like when we went to Indochina Thai a few weeks ago.
After the rest of the crew arrived we were immediately targeted for some refreshments orders, and not long after that we had our chance to order main meals. Some pretty quick service there I thought, and even after some umming and arrring by Lara during the ordering (come on, just choose the Tom Yum soup!), it was all over in a flash. The waiter had no reservations in recommending me the Massaman curry and understood my request for their “best dish” perfectly. I noticed that some other people who ordered green curries were offered a choice on exactly how spicy-hot they wanted it to be, which is something I haven’t seen since we did our Indian curry tour!
The interior was a converted old colonial style house just as most of the shops around Hyde Park on king William Rd are probably like. A few small tables at the front leading into a long eating area, and a corridor poked out to the left hosting a private function room. Everything was neat and tidy, kind of like a homestyle cafe, and sported some interesting Thai ornaments to spice up the plain white walls. We were seated in the long eating area next to the bar, and it was a bit tight moving around but they did well with the space they had.
I have been a bit hesitant about beef dishes as they are usually tough cheap cuts of meat … but tonight I enjoyed a pleasant surprise. The meat was very tender and full of sweetness and fragrance, and really reminded me of having a Beef Korma at Raj on Taj. It had a touch of peanut satay to it as well which was interesting and the addition of baby potatoes was a tasty find too. Massaman curries usually have brown sugar infused with the meat, and you can really tell it’s there, adding a great contrast to the saltiness of the curry sauce. The only downfall was the layer of oil from the chili/nutty sauce – but apart from that it would be one of the best dishes I have had for quite some time. I was really impressed with the serving size as well … plenty of meat in the bowl and I could have easily spread this out for a two person dinner with rice.
I think the two things I’ll take from tonight are the food and friendly service. At the end of the dinner I realised just how many wait staff were employed to keep this place running smoothly, as three waiters chimed in to offer to get our bill to the table. Prices were not too high and definitely not overly inflated considering the serving size, and on second thought really just reflected the ritzy area that we were eating in. There was happiness in the air from all my friends and we all concluded that it was a great place to eat. The owner of the place popped out to give us a final grin and goodbye which was a great touch before leaving.
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- Service [9.0/10] : Service with a smile is exactly how it was, great experience.
- Quality [8.5/10] : Apart from the oil, I can see why it was a recommended to me!
- Venue [8.5/10] : Nicely mood-lit and neat with tasteful Thai ornaments and pictures.
- Value [8.9/10] : I’ve paid more for much less elsewhere … the service and food is worth it!
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Beef Jungle Curry (Hot) (Brad’s Guest Review)
Thailand Thai is a nice, strongly air-conditioned eatery just off King William road. I ordered the beef jungle curry, purely because I was curious about what a jungle curry was. It sounded exotic and spicy which excited me in ways. Still, I’m not a young man anymore and I made a mistake when they asked if wanted it hot. I thought they were just asking if I knew it would be hot, and a error in translation ended with me getting an extra hot jungle curry. It was brutal, it was almost literally like living in a jungle compared to living in the city – in spice terms. Underneath the waves of chilli I could taste a delicious meal. It was obviously a good dish as I finished it despite halfway through blowing such a volume of snot through my nose that it came out the other side of a triple folded dinner napkin.
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I also got to eat some of their phad thai which I think was the nicest phad thai I’ve ever tried. Basically if I lived near Hyde Park this would be my local Thai takeaway place, so long as I didn’t mind spending $16 on a meal. It’s probably worth it.
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- Service [6.0/10] : No complaints.
- Quality [7.5/10] : Ingredients were great, some cooking secrets involved I think.
- Venue [7.0/10] : Neat and trim, also thaid in a nice gallery of furniture and trinkets.
- Value [7.0/10] : A little bit pricey however big serving sizes. $2 for a hearty serve of rice.
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