REVIEW: Thai Wi Rat

Surely a name ripe for puns?

I have to be up front here and declare my bias when reviewing this restaurant. I've been coming here for years. When I lived in The Valley, we'd have Sunday drinking sessions round the corner at The RG and end up at Thai Wi Rat for a pad thai and a bottle of wine or two. They're BYO too, which is awesome. So I have a long relationship with this place.

Good old Chinatown. Good old The Valley. I love you, Fortitude Valley.

I visited with a couple of girlfriends on Wednesday night to this perennially popular restaurant without reservations and found a table quickly. This is not the usual scenario during the weekend and I would recommend a reservation if you're visiting on a Friday or Saturday night.


Making use of space.

We ordered at the counter and sat near the water feature to people watch while we waited for our food. The tables and chairs at Thai Wi Rat fit the rest of the décor - cheap and functional. Don't be scared off by the look of Thai Wi Rat, inside is worn, a little tacky and they use whatever storage space they can find but this isn't fine dining. It's budget at it's best.


There are blue lights everywhere so the food looks a little better than it does in these photos...

The food arrived quickly, coming out as it was ready. For entrée we shared Chicken Satay skewers ($7.90), Coconut Prawns ($8.90) and Vegetable Spring Rolls ($5.90). The chicken satay skewers had plenty of satay sauce on them and were made of good quality breast meat. The were also nicely charred and generous in size.


A little too uniform to be freshly made.

The coconut prawns were fairly typical of what you'd get in any lower end restaurant. I suspect they could be the ready-made frozen variety. But hey, they're real prawns and you get four of them for under $10. They're not my favourite thing on the entrée list but that's not to say I won't ever order them again.


Get in mah belleh!

One of my favourite things on the entrée list is the vegetable spring rolls! I love these spring rolls, they're full of veggies and always a reliable go to. They come out piping hot so beware when you bite in! I always order the vegetable spring rolls without fail.


Oh Thai Green Curry, why don't you want to look pretty for my camera?

For mains, my friends choose to split the Thai restaurant classic - the Thai Green Chicken Curry for $10.90. The curry had a good heat and a decent amount of chicken in it. The flavour was good, but it didn't exactly knock anyone socks off. Which is good cos none of us were wearing socks and that would have been awkward if it had tried.


Hot and sour soup, who would have thought that combination would be so yum? Tom yum, to be precise.

I ordered the Tom Yum soup with seafood for $8.90. The serving was massive and very fragrant with lots of calamari and scallops  but only two or so prawns. But what can you reasonably expect at that price. The soup was definitely hot and sour, just like a good tom yum should be.


Tried to get an artistic shot of the lanterns. Could be worse?

Thai Wi Rat is not going to get any Michelin stars or Chef Hats in this lifetime or next. Don't come here expecting fine dining or even matching chairs. But some of my best meals have been had here, with lots of laughs, drinks and a full belly. It's cheap, it's BYO and it's decent food with some great flavours. Did I mention it's cheap?

Food: 4/5
Service: 3/5
Price: 4/5
Atmosphere: 3/5