Anne Stevens had had a few good lunches at Siam, which opened in Umhlanga recently. Had I tried it? she asked. Well, in short, I’d been trying to get there for some months. She was happy to join me.
The restaurant specialises in the Ishan dishes of the north-east of Thailand, famed for their distinctively stronger flavours and individuality.
It’s an area that borders Laos and Cambodia and also features some elements of the cooking of those countries. But more importantly, it’s a style of cooking less likely to be tempered for Western palates.
Siam is a smart modern restaurant, sparse yet comfortable, and thankfully not given over to the kitsch one so often sees in Thai restaurants. There’s a bar area to the side and we had the early rounds of the Aussie Open to keep us company on the flat-screen TVs.
Anne knows the food from this region well, so I left the ordering in her capable hands.
For starters we opted for the pork skewers, fired off in a teriyaki glaze, and the prawn dumplings and pork buns that make up much of Thai street food. While the pork skewers were enjoyable, the pork and the prawn dumplings were exceptional – we fought each other for the last of the three. We’d come back for these.
And then there was the Isan sausage with chopped garlic, sticky rice and black pepper. Sadly that wasn’t available, so we opted for the sai oua: a spicy pork sausage with lime leaves, galangal, red curry paste and tumeric. It was served with cut green chillies. More a baby meatball than a true sausage, this had quite a flavour hit. I liked it. Anne even took home a portion for Dave, although he thought it dry. It certainly was interesting.
Mains might include a number of Thai style curries, but we never ventured that far into the extensive menu, opting for some interesting salads instead.
Glass noodles was an obvious choice and we chomped happily through a spicy seafood and minced chicken variety with ground peanuts and garlic. It was an enjoyable dish with plenty of seafood to liven it up. I took most of it home.
But then we had to have the green papaya salad, a dish synonymous with the Isan region. It’s a heady creation with plenty of garlic and fish sauce, certainly not something to share on first dates or Valentine’s Day.
This is one of those dishes with either fans or detractors. A sort of Thai kimchi, if you will, and I admit I’m not a fan of the Korean cabbage dish. It did little for me, but had no real frame of reference. Anne found it bland.
But I’ll be back again for those dumplings – and to try the curries.
SIAM
Where: Umhlanga Plaza, 4 Lagoon Drive, Umhlanga Rocks
When: Daily lunch and dinner
Phone:031 561 1237