Saowanee’s Place Thai Restaurant

There’s a fantastic pink sign out the front of Sawonee’s that declares it to be Perth’s best Thai — and that’s a claim that I’ve never contested after many visits for dine-​in & take-​away.
You’ll find a green curry fish on the menu that almost transports you to SE Asia with a decent kick of spice, loaded with flavour in the creamy curry and perfectly fried pieces of white fish. Their Pad Thai is an excellent accompaniment to the dish.

Consistently quality delicious Thai cuisine that is pretty close to authentic, with a touch of anglicisation (if that’s even a word). Saowanee is often floating about, calling people darling, and serving up some of the best variety of Thai food this side of the river. Her husband is very slow on the till, but the cost will leave you as satisfied as the food does.
If you need any more indication of how good it is, look around at the clientele. Most of them are Thai. What does that tell you?
I’d recommend booking a dinner slot, unless you turn up close to opening time. It’s busy every night it’s open. Plenty of free street parking, right outside the door.

Wow is this place overrated. I write this review sitting in this restaurant where we have had probably the worst service in Perth and that’s saying something…
After sitting with our curry going cold having asked twice for the rice we ordered it finally comes. microwaved sticky gloop with browned bits all over.
We are so hungry we eat it anyway. The massamam beef was ok a bit soupy but the beef was good quality.
The special grilled chicken paw paw salad arrives eventually too but this is not grilled chicken it’s like Kentucky Fried chicken but really poor quality blah. Shame as the dressing on the salad is nice and spicy.
We have now further been ignored by the staff so no desserts.
Seriously drive a bit further and go to Full Moon Thai on Walcott St.
So much better for food décor and most especially service.
It’s cheaper too…

WOW! An impromptu visit (my first time) with my beautiful lady and WOW is all I’ve got!
Crispy chilli chicken, beef massaman, chicken satay all 5 star! Lols like the local Thai place in Mt Hawthorn is going to play second fiddle to this fine restaurant.
Thinking a buffet next time to get around more of the menu.

Little to fault, good quality Thai food.
I have been here several times with my family and friends and enjoyed it each time. The food is great and service is friendly. The décor inside could do with a bit of a face lift, but the food more than certainly makes up for it.
Definitely worth inviting a group of friends to try this place so you can order a variety of dishes to try!
This place is always busy so best to call ahead!

Amazing Thai food! We have been searching for a place like this in Perth and finally found it! The food is not only delicious it was reasonably priced too and the service was great. The highlight for my partner was the spicy prawn crackers which you get for free as soon as you order drinks. We have not been able to find another restaurant that does these since leaving the UK. We had the specials of spicy prawn salad and crispy pork belly, not you traditional this dishes but amazing none the less and with Thai flavours! The beef golden triangle starter was also great, little crispy somosa style pastries filled with massaman curry and packed with meat! We also had a pad Thai to try something more traditional and it was good! Overall great experience and will definitely come back again to try more of their dishes!!! If you live Thai you have to try this place. It’s also BYO wine only.

Best Thai food outside Thailand.
After a Thai relative invited me to dinner here, I observed carefully everything she ordered – and then brought my friends and family back again!
Get there while the pork belly and fried kailan special is still on – you won’t be disappointed!
Make sure to get the clear Tom Yum soup – it is spicy (not too bad compared to most foods in Thailand) but so good.
Also try the Paw Paw Salad (Som Tum) which is also known as papaya salad. To be honest, I enjoyed Saowanee’s version better than the various Som Tums I tried while in Thailand.
Saowanee’s Place ranks on my favourites in Perth.

This is some damned fine Thai!
The spices and flavors in all the dishes are spot on, and the portion sizes are ample enough for 2 – 3 persons per dish, especially on the curries.
I’d highly recommend the Pla Rad Prik (fried fish with curry paste) and the pork panang, with good reviews from friends for their red curry and massamun beef.
Pick up is easy with ample street parking nearby — there are a couple of loading zones, so unlike other businesses in the area, you’re not looking for parking for 10 minutes while trying to pick up some takeaway.
I’ll be back for more Saowanee!

The Thai restaurant journey continues and my goal to try all the pad thai in Perth is coming along nicely! Having passed Saowanee countless times, I ask myself why I hadn’t visited earlier.
After promptly being seated, we looked though an extensive 20-​something page menu! Ok, the wine list was included in that menu too but still, it was huge.
True to fashion, we ordered Pad Thai and Chicken Green Curry for mains and decided to try the Beef Golden Traingles for an entrée. The waitress was really sweet and asked how spicy we wanted our food, on a scale of 1 — 10. She said anything above 7 would be considered Thai standard so I told her to go ahead and make it 8, or 9, or 10…
The beef traingles were a surprise to me. Samosas are usually filled with mince and potatoes but these had shreds of beef so it was a really hearty appetizer.
The mains came out shortly after and I absolutely loved the green curry. First of all, it was huge and the sauce was so tasty I actually drank it like soup :0) There was so much of it that I was able to pack the leftovers for lunch the next day. The Pad Thai was just ok for me and not spicy enough! *le sigh*

Returned to Saowanee’s recently after what had been too long between visits, and I can report the food is as sensational as ever.
We managed to narrow in on two dishes — Thai Beef Salad and Penang Curry with fish. Between the two of us this was *more* than enough. The servings are HUGE. I was particularly seduced by the spicy creamy curry. Holy deliciousness. This is the kind of dish that you can’t stop eating once you’ve started. Ignoring all signs of fullness, you just keep chowing through. Food comas will most certainly ensue.
Saowanee without a doubt cooks some of the best Thai food in Perth.

And on the eighth day God created Saowanee’s.
This is why I love Unilocal.It brings me to the front doors of some of the most amazing restaurants on earth and let me tell you folks, Saowanee’s is stupidly amazing. I’d even go so far to say it is probably the best Thai food in Perth.
Went here with a few friends and thanks to an awesome tip on Unilocal that mentioned the portions are enormous, we ordered three things to share. With four people, two of them being boys that could bench a small car, we still struggled finishing three dishes.
We ordered the Red Curry, the Massaman Curry and the Pad Thai. I’ll probably get lynched for this, but I’ve never had Pad Thai before in my life. I remembered our lovely community manager Laura is a Pad Thai maniac so I took the dive and ordered it. I know I say sweet Jesus a lot, but sweet Jesus. I want it in and around my mouth all day every day.
Everything was so mindbogglingly good, especially the Massaman and Pad Thai. I could not, for the the life of me, stop shoveling food into my mouth. Everyone needs to stop what they are doing and immediately make your way to Saowanee’s. It is the best meal I’ve had in a long while.

The food here is always fantastic and the portions are very good. The quality and taste is superb, the ingredients they use seem to be very high quality.
I’ve eaten here twice and each time it’s been very busy, but the service is always fast and polite.
They do take Visa and MasterCard