Restaurant Reviews: Saowanee's Place

http://www.saowaneesplace.com/

Driving past this restaurant almost every day, I have always wanted to try it. So I finally did. Saowanee’s Place has won several awards spanning over 7 years which include WA Favourite Asian Restaurant 2 years in a row.

As you enter the restaurant, you’re greeted by staff with a smile and surrounded with traditional Thai décor, you can’t help but feel that this is a good start to a wonderful evening.

Water was quick to be delivered to our table and drinks order were taken. Shortly after ordering, a basket of prawn chips were delivered which were quite delightful whilst waiting for the entrée to arrive.

Satay Chicken

The first of our entrée arrived only minutes after ordering. The Satay Chicken. The chicken was tender and moist, nothing worse than getting Satay Chicken and the chicken has been dried out completely. The satay sauce was different to what you would normally taste in a satay. The peanut flavour was fairly mild but had an interesting tanginess and sweetness to it mixed in with coconut cream. The aroma of the dish alone was enough to get your mouth watering.

Our next entrée arrived shortly after, the Beef Triangles. A Thai style beef somosa. Massamun beef filling made this extremely tasteful and different to the traditional curry somosas. It had spicy kick to it but not enough for you to break a sweat. I thought the balance of flavour between the massamun, chilli, onions were just right and makes it the perfect choice for a starter.

What’s an evening at a Thai Restaurant if you don’t try the Tom Yum Soup. There were 2 types: a Saowanees Tom Yum Soup and the traditional Tom Yum Soup. The difference, coconut milk in one and clear broth in the other. I opted to try the Saowanees Tom Yum Soup. I did not regret it. The flavours, the aromas…perfect. It wasn’t too sour and it wasn’t too hot and was accompanied by plenty of ingredients. Just right so you can enjoy the whole bowl and still have room for mains.

Staff were quick to clear the table and before we knew it, our mains starting coming out. The Red Duck Curry was one of the mains ordered. The duck was cooked well and the curry flavour wasn’t overwhelming. As with the other dishes so far, plenty of ingredients.

We also tried the Paw Paw Salad. This was a nice salad. With generous size King Prawns mixed in. Very interesting dish. If you are someone who does not like the heat much, avoid this dish or ask for a mild version as it does pack quite a punch.

Then we come to our next main course, the Omelette Thai Style. This dish was a let down. Having had it from other Thai Restaurants, this dish fell well below par. The omelette was plain and bland in flavours. Chicken was an ingredient but I failed to consume any after 3 attempts. It was drenched in oil and could easily have come across as an ‘egg soup’. This was a dish you will not find me ordering from Saowanees again.

The last of the mains arrived, the Pineapple Fried Rice. Again, nice balanced flavour with nice crunchiness from the cashew nuts. The pineapple added a nice sweetness to the dish without being overpowering.

To finish off the evening, we shared a Coconut Ice Cream dessert. Nothing ‘wow’ about it. It was what it was, Coconut Ice Cream. What did stand out was you could taste actual bits of coconut in the ice cream. Given it’s a Thai restaurant, something like condensed milk (popular in Thailand) as a topping would’ve given this dessert the finishing touches.

The service of Saowanee’s was inconsistent. It started off brilliantly and would even go as far as saying flawless. Unfortunately, this declined as fast as the stock market during the economic crisis once our mains had been delivered. Dishes were cleared while we were still eating, wine glasses empty and not checking to see if we wanted any more (we were pretty much drinking water only after the wine glass was finished and was left empty on the table till we left. Might still be there). To top off the disappointment, our dessert menus were taken away from us … without our order.

Overall I do believe it is worth visiting and even re-visiting for the other dishes. Poor end of night service and 1 disappointing dish would be harsh to rate this restaurant low. Although, I would seriously question the judges if any more awards, other than food based awards, are handed out. The let down was service. But a restaurant needs to have the full package. For me, above average, JUST.