S&T Thai Gourmet Cafe

Yesterday I headed out to Northbridge with my cousin and his thai wife for lunch. For the folks who do not live in Perth, Northbridge is the party part of town, as well as where all the asian restaurants such as Chinatown are. Situated right next to the CBD, it is conveniently located and full of every asian cuisine under the sun.

Seeing that my thai cousin-in-law (?) has not had thai food in a while, we decided to bring her to S&T, my favourite thai eatery. According to Urbanspoon reviews, this is THE place to go for honest and authentic thai. And with a 91% rating, it should exceed expectations.

I went to Bangkok way back in February 2008 and from my experience, thai food is extremely intense on the taste buds! By intense, I mean that once you get too used to the strong aromas, going back to other cuisines is like eating plain porridge. Flavourless. Thai food is like having a party on the tongue!

That said, It's a pity that S&T don't have mango sticky rice! *insert depressed face* 

S&T is decked out in basic furniture and is another eat-and-vacate kind of place. Definitely not somewhere to take someone on a date! 

 Apologies for small photo, I was too excited and forgot to take a pic!
(photo courtesy of Google Images)

The exterior looks very insignificant and you would want to keep your eyes peeled for their little A-frame sign outside, it is hard to spot! But for reference sake, S&T is a few doors up the street from Moon Cafe. 

Anyway, I started off with dessert, because you know, Im weird like that. 

Milk pudding with mixed fruits

Entree/dessert was milk pudding with fruits. Not really sure how authentic this is but it was delicious nonetheless. Not too sweet and the pudding was silky soft, like tofu.

Now for the exciting part : MAINS!

I really wanted to have the pad thai but my companions decided against it. In the end, we ordered 3 dishes to share.

1. Larb with Sticky Rice

Larb is a savoury meat salad that originates from Laos, and is one of the most famous dishes they are known for. It is typically made of chicken, beef or pork, tossed with fish sauce, lime juice and fresh herbs. It is very flavoursome and one of my favourites. Here it is served with a portion of sticky rice. 

Larb with Sticky Rice

By the way, if you are squeamish about spicy food, be extra sure to inform the waitress as their interpretation of 'mild' is the equivalent of eating a handful of small red chillis. I generally have a high tolerance for spicy food but S&T obviously have a very generous hand when it comes to giving you the kick! Believe me when I say that this place will give you the ring of fire if you aren't careful. The larb today was not spicy at all, probably because I extra emphasized 'mild'. Still delicious nonetheless.

2. Som Tum with BBQ chicken.

Som Tum is thai for 'green papaya salad'. It consists of thinly sliced unripe papaya, mixed with beans, chilli and lime juice. According to CNN's World's 50 Most Delicious Foods, Som Tum comes it at #46. Our papaya salad came with sticky rice, chilli dressing, a random chunk of lettuce and a portion of BBQ chicken.

Unfortunately, the papaya salad was a major disappointment. I think I just ruined my cousin-in-laws life haha! I personally have not tasted a really good som tum so can't judge but she said it was a very big epic fail. I tried abit and although I got the taste, it was extremely sour and I believe it was a result of too much lime juice and dressings. Perhaps we just came on the chef's bad day!

The BBQ chicken was good though. Im usually pretty indifferent when it comes to BBQ meat, so I was not expecting anything great but this surprised me. The flavour was beautiful and it hard to explain in words but it was one of the best BBQ chicken Ive had.

Thai critic at work

3. Pineapple Fried Rice

Fried rice, you can't really go too wrong with fried rice. I thought this was good though. Very flavoursome as usual with thai food. and had big chunks of juicy pineapples. It came out piping hot and it was such a struggle to not salivate!

So, having brought a true blue thai along, Im sure we all want to know what a native thinks. I asked her, if native thai food was a 10/10, how would S&T rate compared to the real deal?

"Ummm... papaya salad...no rating. So bad! Everything else 1-2 out of 10. Sorry."

So there you go! Perhaps not as authentic as Perth people make it out to be, but in my experience of eating out around in Perth, no thai food has come this close. So even if the thai native doesn't like it, I still do :D

The total bill was :

$55, including the dessert and one thai ice tea.

My verdict :

Taste : 9.5/10

Price : 7/10

VFM : 8/10

(VFM : Value For Money)

You can visit S&T Thai Gourmet Cafe at : 349 William St, Shop 3. Northbridge.