MEDIA REVIEWS AND TESTIMONIALS


Media Reviews

The Age Good Food Guide 2009

Paladarr Thai Issan

15 / 20

Paladarr’s location is so backstreet you may need a GPS to find it. Heat seeking missiles may also pick it up – because when owner-chef Chaloem Chaiseeha describes a dish as spicy, he’s not kidding. Hailing from Thailand’s northeast, where they like it hot, Chaloem’s zingy, herb-lifted prawn entrée pla goong might raise a sweat, along with the green pawpaw salad. For a controlled burn, try the DIY entrée miang karm. Tiny gilt bowls bear cashew nuts, dried shrimps, chopped lime and sliced chillies, to be dripped with tamarind-palm sugar dressing and rolled in a betel leaf. Complex Issan-style curries are joined by better-known mains such as red duck curry and stir-fried beef with chilli and Thai basil. An unusual steamed egg custard and taro pudding adds intrigue to a dessert list formerly restricted to (excellent) icecreams. Since taking over from an ill-starred venture in 2005, Chaloem and partner Bryan Derrick have gradually stamped their own style on Paladarr’s opulent interiors. Pink lotus-shaped tea lamps illuminate golden statues of Buddha and a fairy-lit rear courtyard is the spot for Issan-style barbecues. Certainly Melbourne’s most elegant Thai restaurant, if not our best.

Gourmet Traveler 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide

Bam! Pow! Kraprow! From a roll-your-own appetizer of chapoo leaves, cashew nuts, chopped lime, chilli, toasted coconut and sweet tamarind dressing to a fiery green papaya, peanut and dried shrimp salad (fermented fish optional), chef Chaloem Chaiseeha doesn’t pull his punches. Golden Buddhas and draped purple silk add a Thai touch to the sleek fit-out. Paladarr’s menu draws on the assertive flavours of Chaiseeha’s home province of Issan, in Thailand’s north-east, for herb strewn salads and earthy coconut-free curries, offered alongside lovely interpretations of better known dishes such as pad ped kraprow (chicken or beef stirfried with Thai basil, chilli and garlic), coconut-rich red duck curry, and pad Thai. Desserts have stepped up a notch, and may include unusual steamed egg custard and taro pudding with Ricketts Point lime and ginger ice-cream, made for the restaurant.

The Age Good Food Guide 2008

In a city where noteworthy Thai Restaurants are thin on the ground, the arrival of Paladarr Thai Issan in 2005 has given northen suburbsresidents cause for celebration. Chef Chaloem Chaiseeha specialises in often fiery, unequivocally authentic dishes that don't 'dumb down' for a neophyte audience. Expect to find drier dishes hailing from the Issan region of noth-eastern Thailand, although the wet base of coconut milk is still present in dishes such as an excellent roast duck curry. Regional starters include pla goong -prawns in a zesty salad of lemongrass, mint, chilli and coriander on a betel leaf. - and the Issan salad som tum, a bracing mix of shredded green papaya, peanuts and diced shrimp that might prove challenging for those accustomed to the watered- down versions familiar elsewhere. Super- fresh seafood such as rockling, meanwhile, may be kept simple with wok-mates of ginger and chilli; while desserts are limited to Ricketts Point icecream. The converted bank on a suburban back street also upgrades typical Thai restaurant decor with classic bistro touches, plus a pleasant fairy-lit courtyard. Service isn't always as deft as the food or surroundings.

Gourmet Traveller 2007 Australian Restaurant Guide

Paladarr is a winning match of stylish interiors and terrific cooking - no sign of salmon-pink napkins or milky, unbalanced curries here. The focus is on northeastern Thai cuisine of the Issan region, home to one of the most famous of Thai salads: the wonderfully hot and spicy som tum, which is not to be missed. Ditto the curries such as Kaeng Penang with lamb, peanuts, sweet potato, pumpkin and plenty of kaffir lime. Yum tua - a salad of whole macadamias and cashews, cucumber, spring onion, red onion, fresh chilli, ginger and a tamarind-based dressing - is an intriguing combination, as is pla goong - a knockout spicy entree of limey, salty seared prawns served on a betel leaf. Perfect. Most of the food here is clean and bright, with layers of flavour (the larb is excellent). A modestly priced wine list and gentle, if sometimes a little vague, service make this a highly rewarding dining experience!

The Age Good Food Guide 2007

Paladarr Thai Issan: 14.5/20

Paladarr Thai Issan is a “new” modern-Thai venture that comes with a past; it occupies the building that was the short-lived restaurant Paladarr, before chef Chaloem Chaiseeha and partner Bryan Derrick (who owned Issan in Trentham) took it over in 2005. The inherited several impressively renovated salon-style dining rooms, decked out chocolately browns with leather banquettes and an open fire. In warmer months, head for the fairy lit courtyard, where smiley waiters will proudly explain a menu that reflects traditional Issan cuisine from northeast Thailand and Laos, and “royal” cuisine from Bangkok. Most of it is one or two steps ahead of much of Melbourne’s undercooked Thai cooking: perhaps a special of fried scallops with a spicy tamarind dipping sauce’; “Chaloem’s famous minced pork”, a rich peanut and coconut dip with roti squares and crudités; or a more conventional tom yum goong, brimming with prawns and oyster mushrooms in a zesty broth of lemongrass, galangal, limes leaves, tamarind and chilli. If it’s on, try the yum neua yang, a delectable salad of rump steak. Dessert is a no-brainer; the Ricketts Point lime and ginger icecream makes an ideal palate-cleanser.

Pla Goong at Paladarr Thai Issan

By John Lethlean, The Age Monthly Magazine October 2005

John Lethlean shares his favourite dining moments of the month.
Paladarr's added to its name - and to its standing, thanks to food like this. It's the best of Thai.

In the backblocks of Alphington lies a solid old building that has, over the years, housed many restaurants. It would be nice to think this one will last longer than predecessors, because a Thai chef, Chaloem Chaiseeha, is doing some excellent food, much of it native to his Issan region. This dish stands out like coconuts on a palm tree: pla goong is an assembly of seared prawns, ginger, lemongrass, coriander, spring onion, fresh chilli, lemon juice and fish sauce. It arrives on an (edible) betel leaf. The balance of salt/sour/heat, combined with super fresh ingredients, absolutely rocks. Bonuses include very smart decor and pleasant staff. A Thai restaurant we don't have to be rude about.

Silk Thai

By Bob Hart, The Herald Sun newspaper, July 16 2005

Bob Hart finds the aroma of excellence in Alphington

It is not unknown for a Melbourne restaurateur to make a sea change and set up shop in a country town. But at this elegant and enchantingly aromatic establishment in, ahem, beautiful downtown Alphington, the reverse has occurred.

Bryan Derrick, a former schoolteacher, and his partner Chaloem Chaiseeha, a former buddhist monk, became the toast of Trentham when they established their first Thai Issan there some years ago.

But when one of Melbourne's most handsomely fitted out restaurants, Paladarr. hit hard times recently and the premises became available, the pair decided to move to the right place at the right time.

They tacked their old restaurant name onto the the existing one - a decision helped by the fact that Paladarr, a Cuban word for a small restaurant in a house, is also a Thai word meaning circle of friends.

And a circle of friends is precisely what Bryan and Chaloem, masterful operators, are going to build through this place.

Thai food is popular and cheap in Melbourne. But it is also, in general, pretty ordinary - stir-fried swill swimming in coconut cream sauces, mediocre curries of pre-cooked meats and grilled chinks of stuff doused in bottled sweet chilli sauce.

And if that happens to describe the way you like your "thai food, then this place is not for you. The food here is fresh, superbly ?prepared and delectably authentic.

My mate and I began, for example, with a superb cold offering - pla goong, which is a fiery dish of lightly seared prawns with ginger, lemongrass, coriander, spring onion and chopped chilli in a bracing dressing of lemon juice and fish sauce.

There is something very special, I decided, about a salad that clears the sinuses, brings about sharp intakes of breath and lifts your spirits all at once. Magnificent.

Chaloem is from Loei in the province of Issan in Thailand's north-east, and so os most of his food, in which he uses coconut sparingly, concentrating on layering his lighter, brighter flavours.

His chicken larb, a dish so good that you wonder just what it is you have been eating all these years, came with a curious, woven cylinder containing sticky rice. Chunks of this should be pressed into flat discs, apparently, and used to wrap the minced chicken. But, too hard. I just ate them together.

Then a dish which is another good test of any Thai establishment - the wondrous som tum or shredded green papaya salad laced with peanuts and dried shrimp, all exquisitely dressed. Here it is impeccable.

Now don't misunderstand me: I have nothing against those rich, creamy, coconut-driven Thai dishes when they are properly executed.

And Chaloem's kaeng penang - a glorious curry of impossibly tender lamb nuggets with sweet potato and pumpkin in a silky sauce - was just about as good as such dishes can get.

It was rich and gentle an worked a special alchemy on the steamed jasmine rice over which we draped it.

And finally, another dish that separated Chaloem's Issan food from the Thai tucker of the masses - kaeng om gai, which is an entrancing offering of chicken pieces cooked first in a lively paste, then finished in a light chicken broth in which they are served. Light, clean and deeply satisfying.

There are, of course, many more conventional dishes on offer here, including the inevitable tom yum goong soup and pad thai noodle offerings as well as some fine vegetable dishes - not necessarily vegetarian, though, because of the use of fish sauce.

A thai version of Cantonese yum cha will soon be introduced at lunch time, as will Thai steamboats in the courtyard over summer.

In Summary, Thai food in Melbourne has moved up a notch with the opening of this comfortable, admirable place.

And within a year, I predict, no serious Thai food fan will ever again have to ask: "Where the devil is Alphington?".

Paladarr Thai Issan

By John Lethlean. The Age newspaper, June 28 2005

Finally, a smart Thai restaurant worth taking seriously. 15/20

So, here we are again. Driving down leafy Yarralea Street, Alphington, past that famous wine shop where we've all practised a little retail therapy, heading towards the big restaurant near the railway line.

It was only a year ago we made just the same detour off Heidelberg Road to a brand new place, Paladarr. Sadly, things went pear-shaped all too soon, the restaurant closing early this year.

A bundle had been spent on lavish renovations and improvements, so what the buyer of the original Paladarr got was a flash set of premises, all chocolate carpet and brown leather banquettes and cedar Venetians and snazzy flying-saucer light fittings. And when it was sold, for a variety of reasons, the name Paladarr was retained, to which was added "Thai Issan". It reflects two things: a restaurant these same people once ran in Trentham, and the chef-partner's origins, the Issan region of Thailand, in the north-east.

I would have distanced myself from the name of the failed place, but if the proprietors keep doing what they're doing, it won't be long before the carcass of Paladarr mark I has returned to the soil while the strapping, healthy mark II becomes known as a fine place.

Yes, readers, I think I've found a Thai restaurant that I like. Not only is the place elegant, in a relaxed manner, with open fire a-crackling and interesting (Thai) music a-wailing, and friendly waiters a-smiling, and smart crockery a-glistening, but the food is really good.

Melbourne Thai restaurants have tended towards the gloopy, the sweet, the overly coconutty and the not particularly complex. Labour is undoubtedly a factor; there's a lot of prep involved in great Thai dishes.

I suspect a lot of Thai restaurants are not employing vocation chefs, either, but people who have fallen into cooking because it's something they can do; and that there is a general underestimation of what Westerners might and might not be interested in.

I claim no great expertise in Thai food, although I like to cook it when I have the time to hunt and gather the fixings - and the patience to slam away at a mortar and pestle for hours - but I've eaten enough to happily go along with the widely held view that the collective cuisine of the regions that make up Thailand is one of, if not the, greatest. Thai inspiration informs some of the great modern Australian cooking (I'm thinking Ezard, Pearl and the soon-to-arrive-in-Melbourne Longrain).

So here's the thing: I determine en route to throw caution to the wind and for once really, really try to get to the soul of a chef by asking that he simply prepare food for us. Forget the menu.

"We're adventurous eaters," I tell the waiter. "We surrender." Just one rider: it must include som tum - green papaya salad - which I adore and which is an Issan dish now popular throughout Thailand.

Our waiter is charming, sweet and undoubtedly Thai, but doesn't really embrace the mission. It's his first night, we learn later. I know there are other dishes we should have tried. Still, what we see shows balance, style, complexity and fine produce. Rarely have I determined to return to a restaurant with such immediacy.

First out is the sublime entree pla goong, an assembly of smallish seared prawns, ginger, lemongrass, coriander, spring onion, fresh chilli, lemon juice and fish sauce, all mounted on a big (edible) betel leaf ($13.50). Now, any mug can go to Victoria Street and buy this stuff: putting it together as Paladarr's chef does, with a deft salt-sour-heat balance and dazzlingly fresh ingredients, requires skill and commitment. It is clean and bright, with layers of flavour and a proper level of chilli power.

Larb - in this case larb gai (chicken, although the same dish can be had with pork or beef, $16.50) is another Issan salad that has spread. You know it: minced meat poached very gently before seasoning with lime, roasted chilli, fish sauce, chopped shallots, mint and coriander. It's mixed - here - with a little roasted ground rice.

Often larb gai is overcooked, thin, overly acidic, wet and one-dimensional: Paladarr's is, again, balanced, with a succulent warm richness to the liquid absorbed by the meat, which is chopped, not ground, offering a marvellous aromatic lift. The best larb gai I've eaten, although serving it on a big flat plate isn't how I'd do it.

The som tum - a market and street snack throughout Thailand but native to the north-east - was our caveat, my peccadillo, and again, something that's brilliant when done properly; savoury and refreshing, clean and assertive all at the same time. Arguments rage about the appropriate constituents of the salad; it varies. The great Australian sin of bulking som tum out with carrot isn't committed here, although there is a little to augment the shredded papaya, tomato, snake beans, peanuts, dried shrimp and sweet-sour-salty-hot dressing. It's intriguing in flavour and a textural gem: not too wet, and hot without being ridiculous. But I'd like to see it served differently: it arrives resting on a soft butter lettuce leaf ($14.50).

The final dish chosen for our brief (along, of course, with jasmine and sticky rice, the latter an Issan staple and here presented in a marvellous woven reed "capsule") is kaeng Penang. A lamb dish, it is fine too: a curry in which the paste is fried in coconut cream, there is a pronounced peanut flavour to it, the tender meat interspersed with sweet potato and pumpkin pieces and plenty of kaffir lime ($17.50).

An unusual "salad" of whole macadamias and cashews, cucumber, spring onion and red onion, fresh red chilli and ginger, with a tamarind-based dressing, is intriguing, but probably best ordered as part of a spread with a number of people ($16.50).

Desserts ($8 per serve) are simple: a choice of two Ricketts Point ice-creams. The unique-to-Paladarr varieties are lime and ginger (sensational) and tamarind with honey and candied ginger, which is pretty excellent, too.

The wine list is limited, but you can BYO for a reasonable corkage.

As we left we spoke to the owner, who conceded he would have made different choices if he'd been on our table. He wasn't. But the quality of what we did eat is all the incentive I need to go back.

Paladarr Thai Issan deserves to outlive the ghosts of Paladarr's past.

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.

Clarke Kermond, The Age Epicure, June 20 2006

In Alphington, a tiny suburb tucked into a bend in the Yarra River and enjoying big swathes of parkland near the water, there are a growing number of good eating options……

Paladarr Thai Issan Restaurant at 7 Rowe Street, although in an old bank building tucked away from the main streets, is no local secret, having received plenty of praise from food critics and satisfied customers.

This is a lovely tranquil setting for a special night and the food is beautifully presented.

Customer Testimonials

"To all at Paladarr,
My partner and I dined at your restaurant last night . It was our first visit to your restaurant and it certainly won’t be our last! The atmosphere was calm, the food delicate and the service warm and considerate. The unexpected gift you presented to my partner for her birthday was one of the most memorable gestures I’ve encountered when dining out. Thanks again for an enjoyable evening, we look forward to joining you again soon. "
- Andrew, June 2006

"This is truly an elegant retreat, and the food is irresistibly delicious."
- Suzanne Corbett, Alphington, 2005

"Beautiful Thai - all rounder! I had heard of Paladarr Thai Issan when I read John Lethlean's review in the Age (he gave it a happy 15/20 and was quite impressed too). The service was friendly, warm and kind - without being interfering and the decor is modern, thought out and with high quality cutlery, linen napkins and stunning glassware. The food was delicious, fresh, and delicately flavoured - and you can't go past the Appetiser plate where you make your little mouthfuls of bliss yourself..with helpful 'leaf folding' instructions from your waiter if required.. I am so happy to have discovered this wonderful restaurant just around the corner (literally) - its only downfall is its location in the back streets of Alphington - meaning more people will not chance upon it!"
- Zoe Warne, Alphington, September 2005

Note: This review is also on www.yourrestaurants.com.au

Cooking Class Testimonials

"Sensational food, sensational teacher, sensational surroundings. Thank you Chaloem"
- Ms MH

"Dining at Thai Issan is a delightful experience. Actually having a go at making/cooking the recipes myself is extremely satisfying and a lot of fun. Chaloem is a wonderful chef, teacher and person."
- Ms TR

"A great insight into Thai cooking. Chaloem's quiet and considered approach is wonderful without the unnecessary chatter and showing off."
- Mr DH

"Anyone interested in Thai cooking, this is the place to learn."
- Ms SW

"Thank you for the opportunity to learn all about my favourite food and restaurant."
- Ms DL

"I thoroughly enjoyed the cooking class. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to cook the meals and how authentic they tasted. It has given me the confidence to go home and cook these dishes which I wouldn't have attempted before."
- Ms JG

"If you loved Thai food but can't get the art of cooking it right, this is the course for you. A fantastic experience with Chaloem done in a simple, no fuss way...and you actually get to enjoy the fruits of your labour!"
- Ms AW