LOCATIONNorth Melbourne
PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIALeela Wadee could easily be missed save for the eye catching signs that hang on both Chetwynd and Queensberry Streets. An inoffensive restaurant with plastic table clothes and an individual flower protruding from a glass bottle on each table, it’s not the decor that will have you returning or even the service, just good Thai food.
Start with the chicken tom kha (creamy chicken and coconut milk soup with mushrooms and tomato), followed by a selection of appetisers including Leela butterfly (cheese filled deep-fried treats with sweet chilli sauce and fish cakes). For main choose something light such as the chicken larb gai (a salad of minced chicken with mint, red onion, lemon juice, ground rice and chilli pepper). Curries are also offered like the masaman curry (a mild creamy peanut curry with potato, onion and peanuts and your choice of chicken, pork beef or tofu). Pad Thai is also a house favourite or try a different noodle dish like the pad ki-mao (rice noodles stir fried with basil and vegetables in a red hot chilli sauce and your choice of either prawn or squid). Desserts are limited, though the coconut ice-cream with warm sticky rice is ever popular. Leela Wadee isn’t licensed but serves a selection of soft drinks and coffee.
