Simon Wilkinson reviews new Thai restaurant Soi 38
A NEW Thai eatery in Pulteney St transports you to a kerbside grill on a steamy Bangkok night.
TWO lettuce cups are filled with a salad of flaked mackerel, shredded cucumber, and lip-stinging chilli. Squid is stir-fried with galangal and green peppercorns. The vegie special is morning glory with soy beans and oyster sauce.
Sound like the menu at your current Thai favourite? I didn’t think so.
Dinner tonight is at Sukhumvit Soi 38 and, if the name is a little cryptic, let’s just say for now that, in a year of significant openings in Adelaide, this new eatery is one of the most welcome.
The dearth of authentic, heartfelt Thai cooking long has been an anomaly in our otherwise exceptional ethnic eating. It’s time we had choices beyond places with names like “Thai-tanic” or “Thai Me Kangaroo” and their predictable line-ups of stir-fries and curries, all made with the extra spoon or two of sugar that is meant to keep we westerners happy.
For Soi 38 chefs Vee Kaeopoklang and Terry Intarakhamhaeng, the balance of sweet, sour and salt is a matter of second nature, not second guessing. And they aren’t shy about throwing in a healthy measure of chilli – fresh, dried and pastes – where appropriate. Yippee Ki Yay.
Along with Terry’s wife Daisy Miller, and experienced hand Frank Hannon Tan (Amalfi), the pair have taken over an unlikely premises next to Hungry Jack’s in Pulteney St and given it the name of Bangkok’s famous street food strip.
The dining room is decked out in striking black and canary yellow, with snaps of Thailand’s king and queen in all their finery on one wall. The slightly ramshackle kitchen is behind a counter at the back. It’s all pleasingly home-baked. And if there are the few odd problems with service – the riesling isn’t properly chilled, for instance – they are smoothed over with plenty of smiles all around.
A single folded sheet has a terrific list of snacks, salads, grills, stir fries, and a duo (yes, only two) of curries. Even better are the specials chalked on the wall between the gallery of royals.
That’s where you’ll find the mackerel, a locally caught fish you’ll be lucky to eat anywhere else in town. It’s fishiness stands up well in the mix of slippery cucumber “noodles”, red onion, herbs, peanuts and potent fresh chilli that we are instructed to roll in the iceberg leaf. Crunch, yum, boom.
A duck mince salad has plenty of chopped shallots and mint, along with a lime dressing, the grittiness of crushed roasted rice and little curls of duck skin “crackling”. It would be even better if the meat was more coarsely ground.
House-made pork sausage has been well charred on the outside, then sliced to show off a filling that is stained turmeric gold and studded with lemongrass and lime leaf. Close your eyes and let the smoke and aromatics transport you to a kerbside grill on a steamy Bangkok night.
That grill also does the business with first-rate king prawns, split along the back to expose the flesh. They reek of seaweed drying in the sun, but taste sweet and pure, splotches of red and green chilli pastes adding to their allure. More excellent local seafood turns up in a stir-fry of squid, galangal and a sauce spiked with chilli heat and the prickle of green peppercorns.
The green chicken curry? Rest assured it is there, with a good mix of veg and a well-constructed sauce, though the breast meat is a little dry.
And those jelly desserts, one coconut “noodles”, the other with water chestnut, are just a bit weird. The mango with sticky rice, on the specials board, is a better bet.
Give Soi 38 a crack. It is unlike any other Thai food I’ve found in Adelaide. And, once tried, it will be hard to go back to “Thai-Tanic” again.
MUST EATStir fried SA squid, with krachai, green peppercorn and prik pao chilli paste
ALSO CONSIDER
Golden Boy, city
Rena’s Thai Kitchen, Erindale
SUKHUMVIT SOI 38
54 Pulteney St, Adelaide; 8223 5472; soi38.com.au
CHEFS Terry Intarakhamhaeng,
Vee Kaeopoklang
FOOD Thai
SNACKS $9-$12
MAINS $12-$32
DESSERT $7-8
DRINKS Only recently licensed.
Tiny list of boutique labels with two whites, two reds and a rose. Riesling Freak #5 fits like a glove.
BYO $12
Soi 38 is open for
LUNCH Mon-Fri
DINNER Mon-Sat
The Score
FOOD 31/40 STAFF 7/10
DRINK 5/10 VALUE 17/20
X FACTOR 14/20
Total 74