Erawan is a little Thai restaurant on the corner of High street and Parkville road. The word Erawan itself is the Thai name for the three-headed mythological elephant in the Hindu religion. This cosy restaurant had a relaxed atmosphere with an interior painted in shades of purple with dark purple curtains and royal purple napkins. It wasn’t too busy when we dined so it was easy to have conversations and be tendered to when we asked for service.

When we sat down, we were immediately catered to, water was poured and we ordered. The first entre we had was the Tom Yum Gai with mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, baby corn, onion and bite-sized pieces of chicken, we thought it was supposed to be a little more sour but it was sweet and nice regardless.

The next entre was Nam Zod which was spicy minced pork  with really stong ginger, cashews, onions, and lemon juice. The dish was a little cold and we weren’t sure if its supposed to be served like that. The roasted cashews smelled great and started to make us really hungry. Next was Thai spring rolls with a minced pork filling, called Por Pia, served with viscous sweet chili dipping sauce on the side. They were surprisingly thin, similar to the size of a wafer stick but they were hot, crispy and had the right amount of crunch needed for a good spring roll.

Our final and probably the best entre of the night, was the Chicken satay skewers topped with peanut sauce and sesame seeds. The chicken was tender, you hardly had to chew and the peanut sauce was sweet and smooth, it was so good that we started scooping the leftover sauce to have with our rice.

Next were the mains, this dish wasn’t a very big serve, it had thinly sliced beef stir-fried with broccoli, carrots, onions and tomatoes. The meat was a little chewy, but other than that it was a pretty standard dish.

Next we had the Thai egg salad with fried bean curd, cucumber, tomato, lettuce and egg covered in the same peanut sauce that accompanied the chicken satay skewers. The beancurd was really crunchy and the vegetables were fresh, but again the serving was a little small, a little disappointing when the dish looked pretty easy to make.

The third main was the Charcoal grilled pork. This was liked by all, the pork was so lean, not one bit of fat could be seen which was good, the meat had a lovely smoky grilled flavour and it was a little charred and crispy around the edges. It was a little dry but the sweet chili sauce took care of that. Definitely one of the favourites for the night.

The last main was the Chicken Massaman curry, with cubes of potato and carrots topped with fried shallots. This dish was a pretty decent serving, or maybe we were already full from all the previous dishes. The potatoes could’ve been cooked for a bit longer, the curry was also little too sweet, more chili would’ve made it perfect but we finished it all off anyway.

For dessert, we finished off with two different flavours of icecream-  French vanilla which was standard and coconut which we quite enjoyed, the coconut flavour wasn’t overpowering and there were desiccated coconut pieces throughout, we could’ve easily gone for another scoop.

It was a pretty good dinner overall, although they could’ve made some of the dishes a little more spicy. We were pretty full by the end of it only because we ordered quite a few entres. Another thing we might like to point out is that the serving sizes of some of the mains could have been larger. Don’t know if it would score highly for the authenticity of Thai food, but it was enjoyable none the less.

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(03) 9853 7636
8 Park Hill Rd,
Kew VIC 3101
www.erawanthai.com.au

Opening hours: open for dinner, seven days a week 6pm – 10pm

Price range: $15-25
Service: fine
Interior: purple, traditional Thai decor