Between the new Soi 38, barbeque spot Aunglo and near countless restaurants at the top end of Bourke Street, Thai dishes like boat noodles and pad see ew are easy to find in the city.
Much harder to track down are the fiery curries, herbaceous stir-fries and pentai bean dishes – nicknamed “stink beans” for their bold flavour – typical of southern Thailand.
When uni friends Thunyaluk “Palmmy” Aninpukkanuntin and Duangdao “Kana” Bannakorn, a former commis chef at Yakimomo, opened their first restaurant, Nora Thai, in South Yarra in 2023, they set out to serve the food they missed from their home of Surat Thani province in southern Thailand. Crowds flocked to the tiny 20-seater (and the buzz hasn’t subsided). Aninpukkanuntin says turning away walk-ins has become a daily occurrence.
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SIGN UPNow, the duo have opened a second, much bigger, restaurant on Lonsdale Street with room for 100 guests. The menu has grown, though you’ll still find South Yarra favourites like kua kling, a fiery, dry red curry that uses turmeric, lemongrass and makrut lime leaves and pork mince. There’s also bai liang pad kai, a stir-fry of egg, malindjo greens and a sweet-savoury sauce with a heavy hit of garlic.
“We want to represent more kinds of food from southern Thailand,” says Aninpukkanuntin, who notes the small size of the South Yarra restaurant made it nearly impossible to add more dishes to the menu.
In the city, you’ll find gai tom kamin, a comforting chicken soup made with fresh turmeric and lemongrass; moo wan, juicy braised pork belly with sweet and savoury flavours from palm sugar and soy sauce; and nam prik kapi, a shrimp paste dip served with fried mackerel and a colourful array of vegetables including raw Thai eggplant, cucumber, snake beans and steamed pumpkin.
There’s also a cocktail menu and wine list, as well as desserts such as boiled sticky rice dumplings with a palm sugar filling served in coconut cream, and coconut jelly with coconut ice-cream and fresh fruit.
Aninpukkanuntin and Bannakorn have been looking to open a CBD location since the beginning of 2024. They say reports of the city’s death are greatly exaggerated. “What we hear on the news is incorrect, people [have] come back to work in the city,” Bannakorn tells Broadsheet. And while they know the CBD’s Thai restaurant scene is competitive, they aren’t worried. “We’re also quite confident with our customers … they keep coming back to us.”
Nora Thai CBD
111 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne
03 7073 3582
Hours:
Sun to Fri 11am–3pm; 5pm–10pm
Sat 11am–10pm