THAI GOURMET CAFE

I had promised some friends not to blog about this place but after my second visit I think it's too good not to be shared. The Thai Gourmet Cafe is on William st in Northbridge, almost next door to the Viet Hoa. This is some of the tastiest Thai food you will ever eat.

Last time I visited I bemoaned the lack of wine glasses, that's no longer an issue, now they just need a ice bucket or two for our pinot gris and chardonnays. A small complaint and I think my only one because everything else was fantastic last night.

Last night was to be the final of I think 253 events to mark Chris's birthday and the closing event of the festival of Chris. Although we will need an official announcement of its' closure on facebook Chris. So I'd been talking the place up all week. Fingers crossed it wasn't a one off thing last time. I suggested we all share a bunch of stuff for mains and we pretty much wrapped that up instantly, then a suggestion for some starters resulted in an order of Thai fish cakes and spring rolls, adventurous no, excellent yes. "The best Thai Fish cakes ever eaten" "Definately home made and not the bought rubbery crap" Both comments on the money, good stuff. The spring rolls were very different, instead of the usual 5-6 cm long oil ridden roll you expect they were in fact around 18-20 cm long, crisp and tasty. You have to order them to fully understand them, for me though as nice as they looked they were the least flavoursome of any of the dishes and yet still better than any before.

everyone tucked in so fast I almost failed to get a pic

So for mains we scored curries and stirfries and "the best Pad Thai I have ever had" with the standard bowl of steamed rice. Now with the mains comes a warning for the uninitiated, the chili uninitiated in particular. This place loves the chili, in fact it loves the short Thai chili. So if you see the words spicey or hot, hmmm or even mild for that matter, in the dish description then expect hot hot chili. If you are not a chili expert, like myself (I had to step outside for a bit last night to cool down from some chili I ate without knowing, man I was sweating), then ask for less chili. I'm not saying you'll get less chili but you'll feel better asking. Don't get me wrong, most dishes don't have a chili element but I'm just warning you on those that do.

"It cost how much?"

At the till we were all forced to cough up the huge amount of $20 each for all that food, I know, crazy, but get in now before they realise they're under charging. And to my friends who think that if I blog about this they will no longer be able to get a seat there I apologise. But I don't think the readership of YeLPar is such that this will be the cause for now.

Highlight: The pad thai
Lowlight: Ice buckets please

Scoring: 7 thai chillis out of 10