Aubergine Cafe adds a Thai restaurant option to downtown
The eatery is situated in the former location of owner Phatchrin Wanna’s Kiin Essentially Thai.
Photo by Jessica Rapp
Aubergine Cafe opened last month in the downtown space previously occupied by Kiin Essentially Thai. The restaurant is a stylish, more laidback concept than its predecessor.
Owner Phatchrin Wanna, who also runs Fork & Stix, says she closed Kiin shortly before the coronavirus pandemic. “I wanted to redo the name and the interior,” she says. “I wanted to have more of a homey feel and change the menu.”
Photo by Jessica Rapp
Wanna reimagined the décor, trading Kiin’s modern aesthetic in favor of a more relaxed ambiance. Patrons are greeted with calming splashes of sage green and indigo, while vintage china cabinets, painted by Wanna herself, add to the inviting atmosphere.
The menu is intentionally concise, limited to 10 main dishes, five small plates, and a few sides. “I love small menus—that's just my style,” Wanna says. “I don't like to eat at a place with a huge menu. It's too much to decide.”
Photo by Iain Shaw
In Thailand, for instance, the Phuket braised pork would be made using pork belly, but Wanna says many customers in St. Louis respond better to pork loin, with just a little of the fatty belly. Similarly, Wanna makes a northern Thai dish that she's dubbed Thai Bolognese without traditional ingredients, such as cubes of pork blood and edible dried flowers. Even absent those, it’s a wonderfully rich mix of flavors, with ground pork stewed in a tomato-based sauce, thin noodles, pickled mustard greens, and raw beansprouts.
The street-style beef noodle soup is a highlight, with chunks of tender beef in a silky, densely flavored broth. “We braise the beef for a long time and get the flavor of the bone and beef,” Wanna says. “We finish it up with Thai sweet basil. Anise, cinnamon—you have all those flavors.”
Photo by Jessica Rapp
Photo by Jessica Rapp
In terms of curries, the Beef Kaeng Te Po is a spicy red curry with spinach, enhanced by a tart kick of tamarind.
Alternatively, Wanna recommends the Dancing Prawns, which include Argentinian wild red shrimp with toasted rice powder, dried chillis, and more. “It’s really spicy, and I love lemongrass and herbs," she says. “It’s a take on a Thai dish that I remember I had when I was a kid. I went fishing with my uncles and my brother late at night. They had mixing bowls and all the seasonings mixed already—lemongrass and chilis and lime juice. Once they cut the shrimp, they would put them in a bowl, and the shrimp would jump; that's why it's called 'dancing shrimp.'”
Photo by Jessica Rapp
The chargrilled aubergine, or eggplant, is a Bangkok-style dish with a pleasantly smoky flavor that's served with red onion, crispy shallots, mint, cilantro, and a chili-lime dressing. “It’s summery, and very light,” says Wanna.
For dessert, Aubergine Cafe offers a rendition of a Thai ice cream sandwich. Choose from vanilla or coconut and almond ice cream, served on sweet bread, drizzled with crushed peanuts and topped with condensed milk or evaporated milk.
The drink list includes Thai iced tea and coffee, as well as one of Thailand's best-selling lagers, Chang. There are also local beers from the likes of 4 Hands and Urban Chestnut, and Wanna plans to add simple cocktails flavored using juices and herbs such as lemongrass, mint, and Thai basil.
Photo by Iain Shaw
Wanna, who grew up in Chiang Mai in northern Thailand before moving to Japan and later Ohio, says Thai food has come a long way in St. Louis since she arrived here as a teenager. Back then, menus were dominated by the cuisine of central Thailand—pad Thai, red and green curries, tom yum soup. Now, the metro area is seeing restaurants that offer a greater variety of regional dishes, and Wanna says some customers will ask for off-menu dishes that they’ve tried in other American cities or in Thailand.
“You'd be surprised how many of the customers we have that speak Thai, people who taught English or lived in Thailand” she says with a smile. “They will even order in Thai."
