The Wealthy Thai

Surprise! Another Thai post!

This little Thai restaurant was certainly a surprise…for good reasons!

After an impromptu dinner date was announced we were forced to find somewhere for dinner in the Vic Park area. Thai was a favourite by most diners, so after Urbanspoon pointed me to the highly rated Thai restaurant in Vic Park called The Wealthy Thai. We were more than willing to give this restaurant a shot!

I hadn’t actually heard of The Wealthy Thai before. Being the Thai lover I am, I thought I had sussed out every Thai restaurant in WA. Apparently not.

The Wealthy Thai is on Berwick Street and is easy to miss. I think the Google address for this restaurant actually takes you to the wrong address, but after a small mishap, we found it. The Wealthy Thai is suited in a random building off from Berwick Street and isn’t well lit. After a close look, I noticed the sign out the front, but you could easily drive by without ever knowing there was a restaurant here at all.

There was quite ample seating in this place, I noticed a few other tables, but after all, it was a Wednesday!

We were served quite promptly, but due to being so busy catching up with each other, we hadn’t had a proper chance to see the menu.

It seemed the poor only waiter was run off his feet as he rushed around and although took our order with care, you could tell he was very stressed. We had to ask them to give us a few mnore minutes to decide.

All very reasonably priced, we ordered the Tom Yum vegetable soup for entrée. This came out after a little wait, but was well balanced in sweet/sour/spiciness and hit the spot. Nothing too amazing, but certainly above average. 

Tom Yum Soup

For mains we had the Panang Curry with Prawns and vegetables (As far as I can remember, prawns and veggies were not on the menu but when I asked if this was an option, they replied yes without hesitation).

We also ordered the chilli/garlic vegetables and tofu stir-fry and stir-fry vegetables in oyster sauce.

The others on the table ordered Vegetable Spring Rolls, Chicken Thai Green Curry, Chicken Pad Thai and Beef Massuman Curry.

As there is no menu online, I cant remember the prices exactly…but the main dishes were all under $20, The Chicken Pad Thai being about $13 and some seafood dishes in the mid $20’s.

The prawn and vegetable Panang Curry was absolutely delightful! Rich, creamy and peanutty in flavour with a subtle spice kick (not very chilli). The prawns were cooked to perfection. Fresh, large and just popped in your mouth with a fresh crunch! There were about eight prawns which were generous considering we had vegetables and rice as well, plus this was relatively cheap.

To be honest I don’t care whether this Panang Curry was not the most authentic curry I’ve ever tasted since Thailand, but oh my god - it was the tastiest! With those perfectly cooked prawns and veggies – I was in heaven…almost licking the bowl clean with every last drop of creamy curry goodness!

 Prawn & Vegetable Panang Curry

The two stir-fry’s we ordered were very similar in flavour. I preferred the simple oyster sauce with the vegies and prawns, however Jack liked the “chilli” stir-fry which wasn’t really spicy in flavour but had a distinct oyster/chilli sauce flavour.

Chilli vege and Tofu Stirfry

Vegetable Stirfry with oyster sauce

The vegies were fresh and tasty and we cleaned up these dishes regardless.

I tasted the Thai Green Curry sauce and although our friend thought this was “the spiciest/hottest sauce he has tasted” I didn’t taste one bit of chilli. So either I am very immune to chilli or he is very sensitive (or both!). The green curry flavour was lovely though. Also very creamy in texture.

The Massuman Curry was nice, it had a strong beef flavour throughout the curry sauce which I could taste quite prominently. The flavour was rich and tasted just like a Massuman should!

I didn’t get a chance to taste the Pad Thai as this disappeared quickly as a favourite. Nor did I taste the spring rolls, so I cant give an indication on how they were either.

Our meals came out quite stagnated. It was awkward to know if we should start eating or whether we should wait for the rest of the meals to come out. After waiting about 5 minutes or more, we decided to start…eventually, all the meals were brought out, but the timing wasn’t great.

We were so full we couldn’t fit in any desserts. But I do like being offered the option of the dessert menu. There’s nothing more annoying to me when desserts/coffee are never offered and you feel they are just trying to get you out so they can refill the table or close.

This was not the case at The Wealthy Thai.  Such a lovely meal all round.

Highs: Panang Curry heaven

Lows: Service was not consistent.

Overall: Wonderful sized meals, fresh food, tasty and affordable!

Will I return? I’d have to go back for the Panang Curry! But also to try some more dishes.