Thai Orchid

Last night, we had dinner with Miss food hunter's cousin and her friend who have flown from Sydney to Brisbane for the nationals synchronized swimming competition. The competition was held over the Easter weekend at the Sleeman Sports Complex and thus, their team resided at Chandler's. Due to the location, we thought we'd head out to Royal Thai at Springwood as we remembered the food to be pretty good...this was about 8 years ago! And so, armed with a bottle of Marlborough Sauv blanc we marched in ready for a feast for four!

Tom Yum Goong - We were each served a bowl ($8.50ea) and came chockful of button mushrooms and a few big prawns that were slightly over cooked. The tangyness of the soup with the lemongrass & lime leaves came through but was lacking the much needed heat! Well, this comes from the point of view of Miss food hunter who is fearless with the chilli padis....

Yum Thalay- The Seafood salad was absolutely fresh, brimming with lightly steamed succulent seafood pieces (prawns, scallops, squids) and an array of colourful vegetables (red capsicums, celery, mixed salad leaves, red onions). The balance of sweet & sour in the dressing was good but again, lacked the chilli kick.

Kai Yang- The Grilled Chicken brushed with a special marinade, was one of the Chef's suggestions. They were really tender moist morsels of chicken with that bit of char-flavour. The marinade was subtle and really needed the accompanying sweet chilli to lift the dish.  

Festive Royal Thai with Beef- We opted for beef as our protein in this special stir fry of spices, green pepper and herbal fragrances as described. The slithers of beef were tender and the creamy gravy was indeed rich with a plethora of spices. This is unlike most stir-fries which are usually dry....good choice Mr food hunter, something different ;p

Gang Keo Waan with Pork- For the Green Curry, we thought pork would be a good choice. Again, a well-balanced dish without being over-whelmed by coconut cream. Typically, baby eggplants are found in green curries and we have not found one Thai restaurant that has exactly that!

On the whole, we had such an enjoyable time catching up with our guests and thankfully, all the dishes were above average...let's see, we were there for about 3.5 hrs starting at around 6pm. Service was friendly, adequate and we were never rushed to leave. A waitress accidentally knocked over 1/2 a glass of wine and we were immediately compensated for a full glass of the exact varietal. Thai Orchid has a second outlet in Milton which is more accessible for the brisbane city dwellers! If you can't take the heat of chillies and are looking for authentic flavours, do give Thai Orchid a go!



Thai Orchid Springwood

Exit 20, 3374 Pacific Highway

Springwood

Opens daily (1130am to 230pm & 5pm to 10pm)

Closed for lunch saturdays & sundays