MELBOURNE | The owners (they wish to remain anonymous) of Thai Somboon opened their small restaurant in October late year. Located just up the road from Macaulay Railway Station, it’s in an industrial part of the suburb that’s rapidly filling up with apartments and a new wave of quality food and drink spots. Recently, I went in to take a look for What’s on Melbourne.
One of the owners moved from Northeast Thailand’s Isan region to study in Melbourne in 2013, and found himself working in a kitchen during the summer break. He fell in love with it, and went on to work as a cook in several other kitchens around town before deciding to take the plunge and open Thai Somboon with his partner, who is also from Isan.
The duo’s aim with Thai Somboon is to share honest, homestyle dishes from across Thailand with their customers. From the moment you walk through the door, and are welcomed, you get that special vibe that you only find at small owner-operated spots.
On the menu, you’ll find all of you favourite salads, rice, noodles dishes, and curries. Things like massaman curry, pad kaprao, roasted red duck curry, and pad see ew. You get the idea. There’s nice wok char on the pad see ew, and the spicy, zesty pad choo chee fried fish curry is fantastic. Overall, flavours are vibrant and well balanced, with a solid level of heat that teases, but never extends, into blow your head off spicy.
For dessert, there’s a single option of mango pandan sticky rice. Drinks wise, its Thai milk tea, lemon tea, iced coffee, and soft drinks. There’s no liquor license, but if you are in the mood for a drink, Nubilum Distilling and Bonehead Brewing are both less than a 10 minute walk away, both let you bring in food from nearby restaurants, and Thai Somboon’s entire menu is available to-go.
Thai Somboon
431 Macaulay Road
Kensington
Victoria 3031
Australia
Telephone: 0403 989 994
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Mon – Fri: 10:30 to 3:00pm, 5:00pm to 10:00pm
Sat – Sun: 5:00pm to 10:00pm