Sam Phannoraj, the owner of South Melbourne’s SugarCane Thai Restaurant, knows a lot about Melbourne’s love affair with Thai food.

Just over twenty years ago he started his restaurant career as a kitchenhand in Melbourne’s first ever Thai restaurant. “It was packed every night. I used to wash up and dream of owning my own restaurant,” he says with a smile. After training with some of the best Thai chefs in Melbourne he opened Narai Thai in Northcote in 1990. It is now a local icon and has featured in every good food guide imagineable, from The Age Good Food Guide to Mietta’s. Cheap Eats summed it up best when it simply wrote: “Narai Thai rocks.”

His customers feel the same way and voted Narai Thai the best Thai restaurant in Victoria (and fourth best in Australia) in 2001. “It is a big honour. We take great pride in our food and our service,” he said. “SugarCane has the same award winning menu as Narai Thai and is a great looking restaurant. Everything is freshly cooked and our customer feedback has been very positive. We have a new specials menu with a very tasty Duck Curry that is proving to be really popular. Our new wine list is also worth a look.”

An upstairs function room is available for corporate or social functions. Group bookings of 15 or more will receive a free $50 banquet. This special offer is available for both lunch or dinner bookings. Takeaway is available and there is free Home Delivery for orders over $25.

SugarCane is open for dinner nightly from 6pm and for lunch Tuesday to Friday. Dinner mains are priced between $13 to $21 and entrees range from $5.90 to $9.90. Licensed and BYO (wine only). For reservations call 9699 3637.