Restaurant review: Bo Rarn, a new Thai eatery in Adelaide

It’s the brainchild of three top chefs, but this Thai restaurant didn’t quite live up to expectation for SA Weekend food reviewer Simon Wilkinson.

Southern sour curry with grilled salmon and cauliflower at Bo Rarn restaurant, Adelaide

The mission statement for Thai eatery Bo Rarn tells the story of its three owners who, having eaten out at “nearly every cafe, bar and restaurant” in Adelaide, find they “always come home with a sense of what should have been”.

The service is too slow. Tinned products are used. A curry with broccoli! They challenge each other to do better “and to push each other to create the best Adelaide has to offer”.

Talk about setting a high bar. In footy terms, it is like a coach trash-talking the opposition teams pre-season and promising not to lose a game. The question, of course, is can they deliver?

The trio – Geng Sapphachai Woramayrat, Tatsanai Suwannarat and Phudisanat Ratanatilaka Na Bhuket – are all from Thailand and, after arriving as students, worked extensively in hospitality here and in Sydney.

In late 2022, they took over a prominent location in a laneway off Pirie St best known as the home of Pranzo, a highly successful Italian eatery in its glory days.

Now the mosaic feature and Amalfi pictures are gone. Bo Rarn means “ancient” and a Thai artist was brought over to create traditional wall motifs of mythical creatures and an old city (though how the coloured baubles hanging overhead like Christmas leftovers fit the brief isn’t clear).

Bifold doors connect an outdoor terrace with the room inside, while a bar runs along the opposite wall with the kitchen hidden behind. Furniture is simple timber.

The owners are clearly determined to make the most of the venue, opening seven days for breakfast, lunch and dinner with different menus for each sitting.

The morning selection promoted online looks a standout with rarely-seen Thai breakfast dishes such as pork-filled tapioca dumplings and coconut pancakes, though that is under revision and a pre-order may be necessary.

Lunch is designed to be cheap and quick – pick your protein and then add to a choice of curries, stir-fries and noodles. Dinner plates seem to be more elaborate.

Sticky rice with palm sugar custard and pandan cream at Bo Rarn restaurant, Adelaide

Wagyu beef in spicy curry sauce with kaffir leaves and basil at Bo Rarn restaurant, Adelaide

Dining room at Bo Rarn restaurant, Adelaide

Early on a Friday evening, Bo Rarn feels as if it is still getting up to speed. Orders are taken and delivered quickly but, beyond that, they seem to struggle with extra details about the cooking – and attracting attention for, say, a second drink can be challenging.

As for the food, what arrives on my plate didn’t live up to its menu description. Fluffy prawn cakes rate high on the crunch metre with their golden panko breadcrumb coating but the filling lacked a seafood taste and had no obvious crustacean character. They come with a “pineapple sauce” that doesn’t have all that much in the way of complexity.

Som tum salad nails the sour/salty/sweet balance of a dressing that coats the traditional mix of green papaya strips, cherry tomatoes, carrots and toasted peanuts. The unannounced addition of corn kernels and bulking out with salad leaves, however, is questionable.

Dining room at Bo Rarn restaurant, Adelaide

From the more substantial offerings, gaeng som pla is a southern-style sour fish curry with a thick, pulpy sauce sharpened by the double whammy of tamarind and lime juice.

Two pieces of salmon have been pan-fried separately resulting in nicely crisped skin but slightly dry flesh and they sit beside a bland chunk of steamed cauliflower (what was that about broccoli?).

The fried kale and shrimp eggs that are promised seem to be missing, though we do get a random strip of gold foil stuck on top as if it has been dropped accidentally.

The enticing aroma of two types of fresh basil and shredded lime leaves makes it to the table ahead of a stir-fry of wagyu beef slices in a curry sauce that plays it safe with the chilli. Still, it is the most vibrant combo of the evening.

To finish, what is listed as custard with black sticky rice, a classic Thai dessert, is made instead with a white long-grain variety, infused with golden turmeric but lacking the same textural interest. It is drizzled with pandan/coconut cream, before a roughly cut slab of palm sugar custard is laid across the top.

Bo Rarn opened with grand plans and high ambitions. But on this visit, my hope for more firework-burst flavours and knife-edge balance that characterises the best Thai food remained unfulfilled. To borrow their words, I returned home with a sense of what should have been.

46 Exchange Place, city

0449 622 338

borarn.com

Main courses $25-$42

Lunch, dinner daily

Must try

Wagyu beef, pad ped curry sauce, basil

VERDICT

Food 11.5/20

Ambience 13/20

Service 12/20

Value 14/20

Overall 12/20

As a guide, scores indicate:

1-9 Fail; 10-11 Satisfactory;
12-14 Recommended; 15-16 Very Good; 17-18 Outstanding;
19-20 World Class

delicious.com.au/eatout