D'Elephant Thai

D'Elephant Thai is one of Chadstone Shopping Centre's newest restaurants, providing hungry shoppers affordable Thai cuisine in a casual and approachable space.

Moo Ping

Red Duck Curry

Pad Kee Mao

As excited as I was to welcome a Thai joint to my favourite shopping centre, I couldn't help but to feel rather underwhelmed with their dishes. Regrettably, D'Elephant Thai's muted flavours and less than service made a less than desirable experience.  Perhaps I was unlucky and just so happen to stumble in on a bad day ? Let's just hope it was my bad luck.

D'Elephant Thai

Chadstone Shopping Centre

1341 Dandenong Road  

Chadstone, VIC 3148

http://delephant.com.au

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Middle Fish

Middle Fish - A little piece of Thailand to put a smile on your face.

Tea with Condensed Milk

Breakfast Roti - Avocado, Barley, Herbs, Tahini Yogurt and Crispy Fried Egg

Kao Tom Salmon - Salmon, Ginger, Celery and Poached Egg

Som Tum Fruit Salad - Seasonal Fruits with Palm Sugar, Fish Sauce, Garlic, Chilli Flakes, Quinoa and Toasted Almond Flakes

confessions of a little piggy was invited to dine as a guest of Middle Fish

Middle Fish
122-128 Berkeley Street
Carlton VIC 3053

http://middlefish.com.au

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Middle Fish

Hip-hip-hooray ! Happy 3rd birthday Middle Fish ! And boy does Middle Fish know how to throw a party. Along with the Thai birthday brunch we indulged in, we also took part in a cooking demonstration where owner, Pla shared her secrets of Thai home cooking and the launch of Middle Fish's brand new shop featuring the eclectic works of international designer Khun Hem. 

The best way to describe Middle Fish ? If Thailand and Melbourne had a baby, Middle Fish would be the product - a fusion of industrial and modern art, large steel bench tops and exposed brick walls. Food wise, it's as authentic as it gets. Though I didn't manage to get my hands on each and every dish, here is a visual highlight of some of Pla's amazing Southern Thai dishes.

Kang Tai Pla

Chocolate and Almond Tea

Sa La Pao

Tiger Prawn Spring Roll

Mushroom Spring Roll

Mini Fish Cake Burgers

Salmon Salad

Thai Desserts

No doubt about, Middle Fish promises to bring the joys of Thailand cultures, customers and cuisines to Melbourne. In fact, I enjoyed my visit so much, I'm heading back tomorrow. Race you there ?

confessions of a little piggy was invited to dine as a guest of Zilla & Brooks and Middle Fish

Middle Fish

122-128 Berkeley Street 

Carlton VIC 3053

http://middlefish.com.au 

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Jinda Thai

Jinda Thai, located just off Victoria Street has made itself home in a beautifully furnished heritage-listed building - high ceilings, exposed brick walls and eye catching light fittings. The restaurant has a great vibe and is very hip and happening. 

The menu here is quite substantial - there are appetisers to nibble on, soups, rice, noodles, stir-fries, curries, salads, and a whole page dedicated to soft shell crabs (win). The menu is never-ending.

Cha Yen & Ka-Fe Yen

With our tongues feeling like sandpaper, we ordered drinks to help beat the heat. Both the Cha Yen (iced Thai milk tea) and Ka-Fe Yen (iced coffee), enhanced with condensed milk were refreshing, aromatic and pleasantly sweet.

Upon request, we were also brought a tray of condiments and sauces to play with - just like in Thailand. 

Moo Ping Sticky Rice

The first dish of the night were 3 succulent skewers of marinated bite sized pieces of grilled pork.  The pork was tender, bouncy and had a great char on the outside. Dipped in nam jim, we gobbled these down with sticky rice. This dish was extremely well received by my brothers - setting the bar high as this was only the first dish.

Som Tum Soft Shell Crab

A harmony of sweet, sour and spice arrived next - with the freshness of green papaya, carrots, snake beans and cherry tomatoes, the kick from the chillies, the sweetness and crunch of candied nuts and cashews, and tang from the dressing. The soft shell crab was satisfyingly crisp, and the overall favour was bold and tasty.

Pad Thai 

We also ordered a serving of Pad Thai - chewy, translucent noodles which were accompanied with a wedge of lemon and a handful of fresh bean shoots.

Grilled Beef Salad

Medium rare grilled beef on a bed of salad leaves, bright red cherry tomatoes, red onion and herbs that added a bit of zest and acid - all dressed in a lemongrass and chilli dressing that left our tongues tingling. This was gingerly scraped up to the last spot of chilli.

Green Curry Chicken

Chicken, bamboo, Thai eggplant, and baby corn all smothered in a thick and flavourful sauce. It was rich in coconut milk with just a mild hint of lurking heat. 

Boat Noodles

Also known as Kuai Tiao Ruea, these noodles were originally served from the floating boats at the market, hence the name. We opted for the traditional beef broth with glass noodles. The soup was dark in colour, complex and rich in flavour, and highly aromatic. The slippery glass noodles had a good bite to them and swam among tender beef slices, beef balls and golden curls of pork crackling. 

My mum absolutely adored this dish and said that they were just as she remembered having them in Thailand. Again and again, as she was slurping these noodles down did she mention how authentic and delicious they were. 

Jinda Thai promises good food. It's a comfortable space, where you can sit back, relax and enjoy authentic food that sure packs a punch - they're certainly not shy with chillies. Though it might take you a while to flag down a waitress for menus or your order to be taken, your patience will be well rewarded. 

Jinda Thai

1-7 Ferguson Street

Abbotsford, VIC 3067

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Paradai Thai 2

Paradai Thai 1, Paradai Thai 2 and Paradai Thai 3. Clearly, Paradai Thai know that they've gotten it very right. Three successful restaurants serves as good proof. So, with 3 siblings to choose from, who did we decide to visit? Middle child, Paradai Thai 2 of course. See, the middle child is not always neglected.

 

Yum Neau

This was a zesty and spicy salad that was a feast of flavours and textures. Wonderfully fresh, the majority of the grilled beef strips were tender and full of flavour and heat with each bite - ramped up by a lashing of fish sauce, lime juice and chilli. 

Penang Curry Beef

While I was enjoying the Yum Neau salad, C tucked into the Penang Curry. While this red coconut curry was very sweet, it also maintained a subtle and pleasant warmth of spiciness. A swirl around found us cashew nuts, capsicum strips, springs of lime leaves and basil among the strips of beef. This was great great for drowning our rice in.

Gang Keow Warn Chicken

The other curry we had ordered was the green curry with chicken. Again, we found this dish to be on the sweeter side, which may have been due to the addition of pumpkin that was included, and did not have enough spice to counter it. I tend to like my curries more on the savoury and spicy side, but it was still a tasty curry.

Pad Thai Chicken

The last dish was our Pad Thai. It really isn't Thai without Pad Thai. The noodles were perfectly chewy, bouncy and had a satisfying lick of fire from the wok. Tossed with tender chunks of chicken, fried tofu cubes, egg, bean shoots, spring onions and finished with roasted peanuts, these noodles were finished in a flash. 

For a long time, Paradai Thai 2 has seemed to have captures the hearts of the locals. Dishes are extremely generous in size, priced very reasonably and is sure to satisfy your appeTHAIte. Your wallet won't know what hit it.

Paradai Thai 2

62 Koornang Road 
Carnegie, VIC

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The Piano Restaurant and Bar

Owners Penny and Tommy (previously Longrain) are the guys behind The Piano Restaurant and Bar, offering modern Thai flavours to the patrons of Richmond. Having knowledge of this, coupled with an overdue catch up with T, The Piano Restaurant and Bar was really a no brainer.

Vegetarian Curry Puffs

The night started off with Vegetarian Curry Puffs filled with green peas, juicy corn kernels and sweet potato. Each bite of these golden pastries made both T and I hungrier and hungrier for more. 

Piano Crispy Duck 

The basil's gentle fragrance danced through the entire dish, pairing well with a slightly spicy soy dressing that glazed the duck. Having been slow cooked for 4 hours, the duck meat was tender and moist. At the same time, the skin was still nice and crispy, as suggested in it's name. It was easy to see how this dish has earnt its place as the signature dish.

Crispy Fried Whole Snapper

One of the Specials of the Day was the Crispy Fried Whole Snapper - a dish that we could not look past. The snapper came deep fried with a superior crunch, accompanied by a fresh mango salad. Unfortunately, I did find that said crunch meant that the snapper was a tad on the dry side and was slightly overcooked. The mango salad and the lime wedge did offset this though, offering flavours of spicy, sweet and sour that brought a refreshing zing to the dish. 

Pad Thai

It did not require much thought at all - of course we had to order Pad Thai. Though, I would call this a prawn dish with noodles, rather than noodles stir-fried with prawns. Look at all those prawns ! Together with warm cubes of tofu, the roasted peanuts added a welcomed nutty flavour, and the bean-shoots introduced bursts of crunch and freshness.  

Dishes at The Piano Restaurant and Wine Bar are well portioned and are sure to satisfy any Thai cravings. Unfortunately, I did find that majority of the dishes did sway towards the sweet side. New to Bridge Road, I believe that, given some time to find their feet, The Piano and Restaurant Wine Bar will be hitting the high notes in no time.

confessions of a little piggy was invited to dine as a guest of The Piano Restaurant and Wine Bar.

The Piano Restaurant and Wine Bar
18 Bridge Road
Richmond, VIC

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Little Thai Cafe

Little Thai Cafe is the first choice for many of my friends local to Bentleigh. This little spot has popped up in our conversations countless times, and I decided it was about time I see what all the fuss was about.

Mini Thai Spring Roll

For entrees, we went for the Mini Thai Spring Rolls. Served piping hot, these Little Thai homemade spring rolls were filled with minced chicken. We crunched and munched on these dipped in sweet chilli sauce as the other dishes rolled out.

Satay Chicken Skewers

Our next entree were the Satay Chicken Skewers - a generous serving of six hefty sized chargrilled chicken skewers marinated in coconut milk and satay flavours topped with a thick homemade peanut sauce. I found the chicken to be a little on the tough side, and rather stringy, whilst the peanut sauce was too sweet for my liking. Tough I was assured by S that the skewers that we had that night were not the delicious bites she was accustomed to on her regular visits to Little Thai. Unlucky for us - perhaps it was just one of their off days.

Pad Thai

Now, who goes to a Thai restaurant and does not order Pad Thai? Certainly not me. Wonderfully chewy noodles with good smokiness from the wok was tossed among tofu, lean chicken, bean shoots, spring onion and a nice spritz of lemon. Topped with crushed roasted peanuts, and you have yourself a satisfying plate of good old Pad Thai.

Penang Curry 

S recommended the Penang Curry, which was her number one choice for curry here. A sweet and thick  coconut based curry coating slices of capsicum, carrot, broccoli and chicken. I shovelled steam rice on my plate before dousing it all in this rich Penang Curry - yum !

Pad Khing Tofu

For something to cut the fried factor of our mini spring rolls and the richness of the curry we opted for a more simple dish of vegetables. The Pud Khing Tofu was an asorrtment of vegetables and bean curd stir fired with ginger and onion. Again, I found that the chefs had added a little more sugar than I would have preferred. 

To me, Little Thai Cafe is just another one of your typical local Thai restaurants. You've got your spring rolls, curry puffs, Thai green curry and everything else you are familiar with. The prices are affordably prices and whilst I question what the uniform the staff are required to wear, they are friendly and efficient. However, the flavours I found were were too westernised, resulting in dishes being much to sweet for my liking. But having a look around, majority of diners were Caucasion, and so I guess they hit the nail on the head.

Little Thai Cafe

99 Centre Rd 

Bentleigh East

And of course, we finished the night off with some refreshing froyo. Toppings of choice this time round were blueberry compote, fresh strawberries, pineapples, and strawberry popping pearls with good old original frozen yogurt.

Yo-Chi

292 Carlisle St 
Balaclava

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