While driving down Brighton Road aimlessly, I came across Pranee Thai which is located in a small shopping complex in North Brighton. Unlike other Thai restaurants that have dozens of dishes on their menu, Pranee, the Thai chef, chooses to focus on only 18 popular Thai dishes. All of the dishes are gluten free, lactose free and contain no MSG. Both dine in and take away prices are the same, however, they do offer cheaper lunch packs for those that don’t want to blow their budgets but still want a Thai fix.

The decor is modern and yet authentically decorated. The highlight for me are the beautiful Thai statues standing in the corner of the room. The floor to ceiling windows maximise the amount of natural light that flows through the frontage giving this place a casual relaxed vibe.

As I do at just about every Thai restaurant I visit, I ordered the Pad Thai. The dish was ready less than 10 minutes after ordering and was nicely presented.

The noodles were perfectly were perfectly cooked; firm, flexible and solid, and not soft, expanded and clumped together. The prawns and chicken were succulent, and the scrambled egg was evenly distributed. The bean sprouts and peanuts added a nice crunchy texture, while the tofu well absorbed the flavours of the dish. The colour was a beautiful reddish brown tinge, and the dish had plenty of depth and balance. It was a perfect Pad Thai.

The staff were friendly and welcoming, and the service was very good. Drinks and meals arrived promptly and plates were cleared as I finished. They even went as far as opening the door for me as I left. The atmosphere was relaxed and the pricing was reasonable. The Pad Thai set me back $12.50 which was good value considering it was a generous serving size, used good quality ingredients and was well executed. With the most expensive item on the menu being $18.50, that’s still pretty good in the scheme of things.

I found very little to fault with this place and had a thoroughly enjoyable dining experience. I can’t wait to visit this place again.

WHERE: 296 Brighton Rd, North Brighton