Skyscraper

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Rose of Thailand

Rose of Thailand is located opposite Syndal station. I had never even noticed it before despite driving past it a million times. Our requirement for Thai food that was close was met when Dennis suggested this restaurant. We didn't really know much about it so just went ahead and booked anyway. Lucky we booked because the place filled out during the night.

The restaurant is a long room with tables in three rows. The decoration is sparse and the place has a relaxed feel. We were greeted by an old Thai woman (the owner I assume) who did a courteous bow with both hands pressed together.


Upon browsing the menu, we finally decided on the $29 banquet as we weren't sure what we wanted anyway. The amazing part about the banquet is that you can get unlimited refills on the mains dishes after you finish two of them. How amazing is that?

After Kevin, Candy and I got Thai beers and Dennis got a strange looking Thai milk tea, the entrees arrived. There was a plate containing a curry puff, vegetarian spring roll and a yummy thai fish cake. We nibbled on those whilst chatting away and catching up.


Not soon after, we got our Tom Yum Prawn soup. Kevin requested a chicken one as he doesn't eat prawns. The waitress remembered and brought that out for him. The Tom Yum soup was really good, sour and spicy with a couple of prawns and vegetables.

It was about at this point in the meal when the table right next to us was seated. It was 3 middle aged women, and a man, who was obviously the husband of the lady sitting next to him. What intrigued us about the group was that one woman was able to talk non-stop, I kid you not, all night whilst the others mainly listened and chimed in occasionally. The husband did not say a word all night, and we were actually thinking he might be mute or something. Finally, when the woman went for a smoko, and our ears got a break, the man actually started to talk a lot to the other remaining people. Then as soon as the lady got back, she again dominated the converssation. We heard everything about her, from her kids and their schooling, to her holidays, to what she thought about certain people, work, food and a lot of things I forgot. She was able to carry this monologue for most of the night. She was pretty loud so we just could not not lissten. By the end of the night, we had pretty much had enough and ready to go home.

Anyway, back to the food. Mains arrived in very large dishes and an even larger serving of rice. The mains consisted of green curry prawns, stir fry beef, pad thai and chicken larp (minced chicken). The stir fry beef was good, curry prawns better and pad thai excellent. Only the larp wasn't so nice. When we finished two of the dishes, we got another pad thai. The second pad thai was even bigger and better. It tasted even more of that wok flavour and had lots of meat in it.


Finally, we got desserts and tea as well. I got a banana fritter, which was good. The ice cream was creamy and not icy like at a lot of places that do banquets. Kevin got a pineapple fritter and Dennis and Candy got Lychees with Ice Cream. A tiny delicate pot of green tea was shared.

Service on the whole was good. They remembered things and cleared plates quickly. The only slightly strange part was when we asked about Dennis' Thai milk tea. It looked pink and smelt like strawberry. Usually its more orange and just taste like milk tea with a slightly more fragrant smell. A waitress walked over, we asked her about it, and then she walked away without saying anything. A moment later, we ask another waitress and she too goes away. Finally, she does come back and confirm it's a milk tea. It didn't taste like milk tea but was nice nonetheless.

The atmosphere is not too bad, with noise levels not excessively high. It has a nice comfy feel to it. Only the constant loud talking from the lady on the next table spoilt it slightly.

Overall Rating: 14/20, Banquet is great value and tasty.

Scores: 1-9: Unacceptable, don't bother. 10-11: Just OK,some shortcomings. 12: Fair. 13: Getting there. 14: Recommended. 15: Good. 16: Really good. 17: Truly excellent. 18: An outstanding experience. 19-20: Approaching perfection, Victoria's best.

13 comments:

  1. I hate people who spoil the experience of others by thinking that the whole restaurant needs to listen in on their conversations. Mel and I call such people "Qi-f**kers", as in f**king up one's Qi(気).

    We had dinner one time at Flower Drum. Great food, but the experience was tainted by the boorish behaviour of a woman at the next table, who proceeded to tell her life's story to the whole restaurant. The more she drank, the louder she got. Felt like going up to her and saying, "Feel like a drink? How about a steaming cup of shut the f**k up?"

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  2. Danny, I like the term Qi-f**cKers, that's very original and funny.

    You should have probably said something to that woman. It's not everyday that you get to eat at Flower Drum, and to have that spoilt but some drunk woman is no good.

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  3. Unfortunate about the lady ... but seems to have had some bearing on your judgement of the restaurant - equally unfortunate. We tend to go there quite regularly and the food and service are consistently excellent. Testament to this is the fact that they have survived for so long in a non-premier location. I'd give it a 17.

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  4. Hi Bairdt, the food and service is good. The lady talking the whole time was unfortunate, but I didn't deduct any points from the review for that as the restaurant have no control of that.

    To give a restaurant 17, nearly everything would need to be perfect for me and the food of exceptional quality. I think I have only given that to one or two restaurants I have been to so far.

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  5. Dear thanh7580

    My name is Aim, I am a manager at Rose of Thailand, I am appreciate about your comments, and would like to thanks you for dinning and specially gave good comments on us.

    I also have to make an appology to Dennis too, that the drink he got is not THAI ICE MILK TEA. I think he got THAI ICE MILK SALA (thai sala flavour). I am investigating what happen on the night, will let you know. Also an appology for the first girl that dissapear after you ask her.

    So we owe Dennis a real Thai Ice Milk Tea for his next visit to us.

    Also if you could please help me with the date you actually had dinner.

    Best Wish to everyone
    Aim

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  6. Hi Aim,

    The problem with the ice milk tea wasn't really a problem. We were all just curious as to why the ice milk tea looked pink and smelt more like strawberry than the ice milk tea we were used to at other Thai restaurants.

    We will definitely go back to your restaurant for more meals in future. The food was very good and the service good too.

    We had dinner there on January 19th.

    Thank you for reading my blog and commenting. It's great to know that restaurants pay attention and try to make their restaurants better.

    Thanh

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  7. Dear Thanh and your friends

    As I expected, your orders are
    set B for 4
    Beer Chang 3 bottles
    1 Thai Ice Milk(sala flavour).
    for $1XX.XX(for your privacy).

    That is on 19 Jan 2008.

    Yes they gave you the THAI ICE MILK (SALA FLAVOUR)(not Thai Ice Milk Tea), they even charged you for that drink, that is in the bill for your table, the last table on the row against the right hand walls, where you took the photo from.

    There are 3 staffs from that night working tonight, one of them remembered your table, but they couldn't remember who served you. It must be two of the other 3 that are not working tonight that served your table.

    Please note very few Thai restaurants in Australia will serve Thai Ice MILK flavour, which had confused some of our customers and our staffs. Since we have both Thai Ice Milk and Thai Ice Milk Tea.

    Actually our captain, Chai, had encountered the same problems identical to your case, but he did confirm the mis-understanding with customers.

    But in your case it is our staffs' fault that they gave you the wrong answers. But they did gave you the right bill (from their view though).

    More important, I admited that I have had many complains from customers about LARB CHICKEN, since I work on the tables too. I DID complain that dish myself a few times. Larb Chicken is one of our few most difficult dishes to have quality control.

    I have personally requested the stop on serving LARB CHICKEN for our Lunch Buffet, due to this reason.

    Yes, it is our unsolve quality control for LARB CHICKEN.
    But it is so popular and we still have to risk that part.

    So, to all my customers, regarding any dishes, not just LARB CHICKEN, if you are not happy please tell us immediately. We will replace that dish with some other dishes or redone the same dish for you.

    Please tell us when you visit us again, and claim your free Thai Ice Milk TEA for Dennis and LARB CHICKEN for all of you.

    I would like you to try our Friday, Saturday and Sunday $13.50/adult LUNCH BUFFET, 11.30-2.30 pm.,
    with 19 Thai dishes, Thai salad minibar and thai desert.

    Thank you Thanh and your friends, and those other customers for supporting us.

    Best Regards
    Aim
    www.roseofthailand.com
    (we are updating the website soon)

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  8. Aim,

    I must say I am pleasantly surprised. Firstly, I didn't expect to actually hear a reply from you again.

    Secondly, the fact that you could identify our meal from your records means you must run a very good restaurant. Everything you said is right. We were the last table near the wall. And we were a bit confused about the Thai Milk Tea as we have never seen the other pink drink at any other restaurant.

    The Larb Chicken was a bit too bland from memory. I had one other larb chicken at another Thai place before and that was better, but still not great. So larb must be really hard to get right.

    The lunch buffet sounds really really good. I'm always looking for a Thai restaurant that does lunch actually. I will come and try it out with my friends and work mates for sure. I will ask for you when I'm next there, just to say hi, not to claim a free meal hahaha.

    Also, I will update my post to include your website.

    Thank you so much for commenting and giving your point of view. I wish more restaurants would do that and fix up the problems that they may have.

    Thanh

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  9. HI Thanh

    I thanks you again for visiting us the other week.

    I still confirm that I owe Dennis a Thai milk tea.

    And we did discuss further about your comments on our Larb chicken with your set menu B.

    So for your group is also entitle to a free test of our Larb Chicken again, just in case that we made mistake like Denis's Thai Ice Milk Tea.

    Please also request extra chillies, fish sauce and lemon juice, just in case that our medium blend is not appeal to your test.

    In Thailand we always have that extra fish sauce, lemon juice or vinegar and chillies available on the tables.

    But in Australia customers do intend to just take what is on the plate, so we do not have much chance to give a customer blended on the table.

    Also Thai fish sauce give non pleasant smell to many customers, so we only bring out very small amount when requested.

    Hope to see you again.
    Thank you very much.

    Aim

    Ps. www.roseofthailand.com has online order for Takeaway and Home Delivery active now, also ONLINE BOOKING - not fully automatic confirmation though.

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  10. Aim, whenever Dennis next goes, I'm make sure he gets his Thai milk tea.

    I really like fish sauce and don't care about the smell at all, so next time I'll try some more on my food. I also really like my food hot, so extra chilli for me please.

    I'll be going back to you restaurant again. The food is really good and not too expensive.

    Thanh

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  11. We have been enjoying our "GIRLS NIGHTS OUT" at The Rose of Thailand restaurant for YEARS! We love the food which I feel is delicately flavoured when necessary and rich and strong in other dishes. We have been trying to "eat our way through" the entire menu for ages , but never get tired of their delicious food. The service is very good, the owners and waitresses are always considerate, polite and remember everything you ask for! The atmosphere is gentle and relaxed and they always seem to have plenty of customers.You must check out the intricately hand carved light ! They have gradually added to the decor over time and we are looking forward to going there again next week..
    Diane W

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  12. We dined at the Rose of Thalland with four friends who had never eaten Thai food before. They were delighted with the food and the service. The steamed lemon Barramundi my husband I shared was beautifully flavoured and cooked to perfection. The staff are very polite and friendly and the prices are very reasonable especially considering the quality of the food.

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  13. Hi Diane, thank you for your feedback. I hope you keep enjoying your girls night out there for a long time.

    Anonymous, glad you had a great time.

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