Detailed review by Caradawn
Caradawn
Adelaide, Australia97%
My first birthday in Australia was spent on the beach; which is quite a strange feeling when your birthday is in November! A decision was made to end the day with dinner at one of the beachside restaurants and the Thai Orchid was chosen. We were a hungry group of six which included two children and went in fairly soon after they opened. The waiter asked whether we had a booking and when we replied that we didn’t he said he would just check if he could fit us in leaving us gazing around at an empty restaurant.
The restaurant was quite large and decorated in those deep oriental reds with gold highlighting, giving it an air of old fashioned grandeur. We were seated at a big, round table with a thick, heavy table cloth. The members of staff were very polite and courteous and the menus came in the smart binders rather than on laminated cards. I wouldn’t go as far as to call it a posh restaurant as it had a slightly worn look to it and we could afford it. However, it comes fairly close in my eyes.
Children are not specifically catered for here, but they are made welcome and certainly accommodated. There was no children’s menu so we ordered a meal of noodles between the children and asked if we could have an extra plate. They not only agreed, but brought out two salad size plates and left the meal on the original plate for them to help themselves from. It must have been good, because there was a lot of it yet the girls polished off the lot and I normally struggle to get them to eat this sort of food. The adults had a variety of dishes, including a red and a green curry. We had to order rice separately to go with the curries and they brought out a bowl for us to share. My initial impression of my green curry was that it was a bit runny, but it tasted perfect. Everyone agreed that the food was excellent. The choices for desert were basically sticky rice or ice cream in various forms. These sorts of deserts have never really appealed to me, but we decided to try some. Unfortunately I don’t think anyone was very impressed with them.
The main courses were priced around the $20 mark, which is slightly above average, but well worth it. The menu had a good variety and selection. Toilets were easy to find and clean (I hate hunting for toilets in restaurants). There didn’t seem to be a dress code, which is probably a good thing when located near the beach. We wondered in with our beach shorts and T-shirts on and big bags with our beach towels in.
Friendly and cosy is not the right way to describe the atmosphere in this restaurant. Not that the staff isn’t friendly. I got the feeling that it is very much a place for the customers to be with each other while the waiters cater for their needs as unobtrusively and politely as possible. Comfortable and calm is probably how best to describe the place.
As we got up to leave I noticed that a couple more tables had been occupied. Other than that the place was still largely empty. I expect that if you wanted to dine later in the evening then you would probably have to make a booking. We are early diners though and don’t hang around all evening.
Thai Orchid9
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"Must See"-Factor
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Food
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