St Hotel

To sum up the St Hotel in one word - 'nice'. The old St Hotel has been resurrected by the duo behind Hanoi Hannah, Saigon Sally and Tokyo Tina. Offering modern Thai cuisine, the venue has been decked out with indoor plants, wall / ceiling art and eclectic furniture, creating an overall funky vibe.  

The staff were incredible - friendly, attentive and helpful - definitely the highlight of the night. Unfortunately the food was, well, just 'nice'. To eat we had the pork ribs, corn on the cob, sweet chilli chicken stir fry, beef stir fry and smashed Papaya salad. 

The ribs had nice flavours but were quite fatty and the corn on the cob was ok, but lacked any sort of flavour punch or wow factor.

The stir fries were the best dishes of the night - fragrant, fresh and well cooked. Unfortunately the flavours were still lacking that wow factor that makes me come running back through a restaurant's doors. 

The papaya salad was the most dissapointing dish of the night. Papaya salad is one of my fave salads - I could easily chow down on a bowel from Chin Chin any old day of the week. But this one, although not terrible, lacked texture and complexity in flavours (which wasn't helped by a lot of the papaya not being shredded properly) and the crackling on the side was described by my friend  as "smoky tasting bubble wrap". 

Whilst the food didn't blow me away, due to its impressive décor and incredible staff, I would be happy to give St Hotel another chance to impress in the future. 

Décor: 4.5/5

Service: 4.75/5

Food: 2.5/5

Total: 11.75/15

Verdict: Like - get around to trying it at some point

style="border:none;width:130px;height:36px" />http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/761665/restaurant/Melbourne/St-Hotel-St-Kilda">