You will find Wang Thai Somerset West in a beautiful corner of the Helderberg. It is a well decorated and appointed venue, where the staff are polite and knowledgeable about the menu. Unfortunately it has a sound dampening problem and so it is quite noisy. The tables are laid out in straight lines, and are quite close together. I would recommend going there if you want an upmarket Thai experience.
APRIL 2011
On offer is a very good wine list that is a bit short on Rosé’s. We chose a Zonnebloem Merlot for R120. The wine was excellent as to be expected.
The menu is extensive and begins with 3 set menu options ranging from R120 to R195 per person. Included in the menu is sushi and soups as well as starters. We chose crispy wantons (R32) and prawn blankets to start. We shared our starters and it was the first time I had ever tried wantons and I will try them again. The prawn blankets are one of our favourite starters on the menu.
Then there is a choice of light meals, curries, Thai specialties, wok fried meals and noodles. If you want rice this needs to be ordered separately – which we did. A bowl of egg fried rice costs R16. You also have to use the confusing dot system to order your meal medium / hot (one dot) or mild / medium / hot (two dots). I chose the sirloin (R84) which is a Thai specialty and ordered it mild as I do not like hot food. The sirloin was really tasty but had far too many sesame seeds for my liking. Dave ordered the beef angry wok (R72) mild as recommended which was a good thing.
Desserts are available and they have finally moved away from the preprepared, bought in options which is a positive.
My one observation for the evening was that we did not get any chopsticks with our meal.
March 2010
I won a meal voucher from Wang Thai in a competition held on The Giggling Gourmet’s blog. After much organizing, our voucher was arranged to be left at the Somerset West branch. We went on a Thursday night, at 7.30pm and there were a few tables. The staff greeted us at the door and were very pleasant. I did not like the table we were shown to, and they changed it with no problem. The restaurant was not full the entire time we were there, so I cannot understand why they would seat anyone next to the toilet door, until that was the last table.
Our waiter was really knowledgeable and pleasant. We ordered a bottle of red wine which needed a wine bucket – no fault of the restaurant, just the immense heat we have been experiencing. Dave and I always share a starter, but we ordered two to share – the sweat corn cakes which I love, and duck spring rolls. The spring rolls were awesome – the first time I have tried them.
As we eat more often at Simply Asia than Wang Thai, I wanted to try something on the Wang Thai menu I cannot get at Simply Asia. I had the chicken in ginger dish – the ginger was very overpowering and made it too hot for me, even though I had ordered it mild. It was tasty and I polished off the entire plate. Dave had the Thai Green Prawn curry which was fantastic. I tasted the sauce, and the rice just soaked up all the flavours and made it taste like more.
I asked to see the dessert menu – which is a platter of pre-prepared desserts and nothing appealed to me. Dave had an espresso to finish off his meal and then it was time for home.
A lovely meal in a really stunning venue – with well appointed decor and good staff – what more could one want for a night out. Thanks Jenny and Wang Thai for the experience.
Tandy
No chopsticks – how rude.
🙂 Mandy
it was weird to eat Thai food with a fork!
I also won a voucher and completely forgot about it 🙁 Sounds like a great place.
find your voucher!