Restaurant and food reviews from Perth, Australia

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Dusit Thai, Northbridge

Dusit Thai Northbridge reviews, blogs and photos
You may have already noticed that when I go to a Thai restaurant, I am almost certain to order a Thai curry - a curry where I tend to ensure most if not all of the sauce is not "wasted".  On this occasion my Thai curry eating led me to Dusit Thai, a long standing Thai restaurant with a good reputation.

Dusit Thai has won quite a few awards since opening in 1988, including no less than 10 Gold Plate Awards since 1997.  The number of people I have heard talk about Dusit Thai as their favourite Thai restaurant in Perth or for being one of the best Thai restaurants in Perth only gave me more encouragement to try out this restaurant.

Dusit Thai's menu, unsurprisingly filled with a good range of Thai dishes, covers meats and seafoods, a variety of curries and non-curries, vegetarian dishes, and entrees and desserts.  As many of the dishes are spicy, Dusit Thai gives you the option of having it the standard way or else mild or extra hot.

To accompany Dusit Thai's fine dining experience is a wine list offering wines that range up into the Grange.  Other drinks are also available including some Thai named beverages, a small selection of cocktails, and there is also an option to BYO wine at $10 per bottle (which is the welcome option I chose).

Ma hor (Galloping Horses) - $15

Forgive my food-cultural ignorance - I don't know about you but "galloping horses" gives me thoughts of something big and something that packs a punch.  When this colourful dish arrived I realised this wasn't the case.

These galloping horses started with a slice of fruit (strawberry, orange and kiwi fruit) which was then topped with the savoury-nutty mixture of ground chicken, shallots, peanuts, palm sugar and coriander roots.  The mixtures' ingredients were finely ground; the taste was a combination of sweet and savoury infused into a nutty mixture; and the texture was a pronounced crunchiness of the peanuts.

Overall, this was quite a different and light entree.  It didn't pack a big flavour punch as an entree for me, but the flavour and texture combination was interesting.

Satay chicken sticks - $15

These chicken satay sticks were pretty standard fare in so much that marinated chicken was grilled on sticks and accompanied by a satay sauce.  An addition to this was a cucumber relish that was a sweet and vinegary sauce that had diced cucumber and red onion.

The satay sticks were good in so much that the chicken was decent and grilled quite well, but it wasn't grilled like those Malaysian or Indonesian satay sticks I've had where you get that yummy grill-infused taste and texture to it.  The satay sauce was also comparatively not as nutty and full on with flavour either.  However, if you aren't comparing to those satay sticks, these were well made.

Larb Gai - $24.50

This meat salad, the Larb Gai, was minced chicken with red onion strips cooked with spices giving each of a chilli, sour and savoury (fish sauce) flavour.  We ordered "mild" and the level of chilli was noticeable but still relatively light.  However, it would be very noticeable if you struggle with spicy food.

In comparison to curries and dishes with sauces, this meat salad was relatively light (including the level of seasoning) on the palate with the flavours of each of the components of the chicken and spices working together.

Gang peg (red curry) roast duck - $28.50

I ordered this dish mild and unfortunately for someone who doesn't eat a lot of chilli this was on my more adventurous side however still edible without reaching for water.  Not necessarily an unwanted level of spice, but surprising given it was ordered mild - maybe I just have delicate taste buds!  Beyond the level of spice, I thought this was a nice rich and creamy curry with a great blend of curry-spice flavours that made the sauce worth soaking up at the end.

The curry was made with diced tomatoes, peas, lychees, pineapple pieces, and kaffir lime leaves helping to further enhance the complex depth of flavours in the dish.  The roast duck was nothing special (I found it didn't quite have the full flavour of roast ducks I have eaten before and the skin was a little soft and bland), but still I enjoyed the rich and complex curry flavour of this otherwise well made curry dish.

Kae tord (lamb shanks) - $32.50

The lamb shanks dish was slow cooked with herbs and spices, then lightly fried and topped with Dusit's spicy tangy sauce.


The lamb shank was cooked so that the meat easily came off the bone.  The meat was tender though not quite up to melt in the mouth.  The spicy tangy sauce was like a chilli infused sweet and sour plum sauce.  Combined, this was a strongly flavoured meaty dish, largely with the strong flavours of the generous amount of sweet, sour and spicy plum like sauce.

Kao phat (Thai style fried rice) - $20.50 (chicken)

The fried rice was fried with eggs, spring onion, and chicken.  In my opinion a pretty ordinary (but well made) fried rice, I personally thought this was overpriced for a fried rice.

A place of larb gai (front), with red duck curry and fried rice.


Mor gang - $6.50

This "mor gang" cake was made with mung beans, palm sugar and coconut cream.  Rather than a moist baked flour cake, the mor gang was very moist - like a warm baked custard slice with a texture made grainy with mung beans, and a sweet taste completed with the flavours of the egg and coconut cream.

Filling the large plate that could look a little boring with just the mor gang, Dusit Thai also drew a flower on the plate with chocolate and strawberry topping.  I'm not sure if the "topping" flavours really matched the mor gang but it did add some colour to the plate.

Park thong sang-ka-ya kao-neow - $9.50

This was also a "custard" dish made with pumpkin, palm sugar and coconut cream.  The custard was served with sticky rice.

Though the menu described this as being a custard, it was far from being an English custard. The dessert started with a base of a sweet egg cake, similar to the mor gang above but with a smoother texture, topped with thin sticks of pumpkin on top.

The sticky rice was cooked soft, though not mushy.  It was both sweet and salt in flavour and had a coconut cream taste.

Again, the plate was decorated with a flower drawn using chocolate and strawberry topping.

Fresh mango with sticky rice - $12.50

This dish was pretty simple - fresh mango slices, served alongside sticky rice.

We liked: Rich flavours without being too heavy; well made and nicely presented dishes with attention to detail; many ingredients seemed fresh; BYO (wine only - $10 a bottle).

We didn't like: Some dishes seemed quite pricey for what they were.


Other things to note: If you can't eat very spicy food, watch out for the level of spice in the dishes; vegetarians are catered for with a separate page of offerings including vegetable and tofu version of dishes.

Dusit Thai
249 James Street
NORTHBRIDGE WA 6003
(08) 9328 7647
http://dusitthai.com.au/
Menu: http://dusitthai.com.au/food-drink/

Trading Hours
Tuesday to Sunday - from 6pm

Dusit Thai on Urbanspoon

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I have been to dusit thai before and I also noticed that some dishes were overpriced aswell.

The larb I had there was pretty tasty so that kind of made it worth the trip.