Wayside Thai Cafe sounds like this rustic little Eden cafe that no one really knows about. A sort of personal haven that’s your own little secret. Which, essentially, it is.
Ambience
On the side of the road, this little cafe bears no resemblance to the normal generic “”Cafe””. But don’t get us wrong, it’s not a bad thing. Located in the garden of a family home, it boasts a homey vibe (duh!). With bits of clutter everywhere and Blacky the Wayside Cafe doggo lounging around with her piece of butter-slathered bread, we immediately fell in love with it.
Nonetheless, we suggest going when the sun isn’t so strong. While the umbrellas do help with keeping it out, it can get very annoying.
The Food
The food menu at Wayside Thai Cafe is quite big. Including options of varieties of rice, noodles, soup and salads, cooked in Thai-style. We decided to go with the Stir Fried Prawn & Calamari with Thai Basil and Fried egg (Rs. 540) and the Chicken Pad Thai(Rs. 390).
This is the Stir Fried Prawn & Calamari with Thai Basil and Fried egg. Warmly served with a giant portion of fluffy white rice taking most of the space, it was lovely. The stir-fry turned out to be a deliciously saucy, incredibly spicy portion of prawn and calamari. Its gravy wasn’t thick, but that’s the only thing that we found fault with.
Packed with flavour and spicy enough to keep you reaching for the saving grace of steamed rice, it’s a must try. Plus, there was enough seafood to last you right to the end. Huzzah!
With a gorgeous heap of well-cooked noodles and oodles of spring onion, egg, cabbage and slices of chicken, the Pad Thai was one of the best I have had so far. Served with a bit of lime, peanuts, another citrusy sauce type concoction and chilli flakes on the side, this blew us away from the very first bite. It wasn’t spicy (thus, the sauces on the side) or overly packed with flavours either. Instead, it focuses more on the main elements.
Even if you’re not planning on going here, we strongly urge you to do so, so you can have a bite of this excellent Chicken Pad Thai. Trust me, you won’t regret it.
Our dessert was this Sticky Rice with Mango (Rs. 390). Sticky as promised, coconutty and adequately dense, it seemed like a wonderful take on milk rice, combined with the fresh mango.
However, we do suggest getting just one and sharing because this is pretty heavy.
Drinks
The drink menu at Wayside isn’t very large and unfortunately, they had run out of their varieties of soda. Thus, we decided to opt for a Thai Milk Iced Tea (Rs. 140).
Cool, moderately milky and boasting strong hints of tea, this was brilliant. While the milky and sweet elements were well-balanced, it was not heavy and quite ideal for a sunny day. Plus, look at how pretty it is!
Service
The owners were super friendly from the beginning right to the end. From helping us choose what to get, to checking up on us at random intervals and asking us how they could improve, the service was stellar.
They brought our food within 5-10 minutes of ordering and did we mention that the food is cooked by a Thai lady? It doesn’t get more authentic than that ya’ll.
Conclusion
Well, we LOVED it. The food was fantastic and impossibly affordable. The people were incredibly friendly and the ambience had a charm of its own.
Plus, added brownie points for Blacky the dog (pictured above). But, don’t worry, she’s very friendly and doesn’t stick around much if you’re not a giant fan of dogs.