Event – Brunch at Camile Thai Village Restaurant*

Photo: Camile Thai

Cookie FM Nirina Camile Thai #VillageRestaurant

Cookie FM Rating – 4/5

Late last month (April 23), I was invited to attend a brunch launch event at the new Village Restaurant by Camile Thai. I was very intrigued by this, as I know Camile Thai to only be a takeaway, but now they’ve opened up their first full-service restaurant as well as a brand new brunch menu! I brought my big Bro with me, and met my besties Mei Ling & Lorna, and we were seated in a nice corner beside the partition of the front dining room, with a great view of the restaurant. On welcome, we were also treated to a refreshing drink, and I opted for the Kir Camile; Prosecco and creme de cassis.

Well to start, at Camile Thai our nice chefs are hard at work creating our delicious food using amazing, natural ingredients. They love the tricky stuff like fresh galangal, delicate basil leaves and fresh chilies. Thanks to their passion and creativity, we’re able to offer you traditional delights like our classic Pad Thai as well as more interesting flavours that are only waiting to be discovered…

The new brunch menu includes classic dishes (Eggs Benedict or Florentine), as well as light options (Granola or Coconut Milk Pancakes), and then Thai style dishes like the Full Thai, Salmon Fish Cake Slider or Thai Omelette. I opted for the Bao Bun for my main, which is one of my favourite Asian treats, that originates from China. When arrived, I was impressed with how much food was on my plate, including a packed-in hoisin duck, pickled cucumber & daikon (an Asian radish) bao bun with sides of fried potatoes and an Asian shredded slaw. For a brunch, this was a great amount of food, and it definitely delivered on flavour too. The hoisin duck was extremely flavoursome, with the right balance of sweetness and tender melt-in-your-mouth meat. The steamed bun was lovely & soft, and complimented the duck, pickled cucumber and daikon perfectly. The accompaniments where are also lovely; the slaw refreshing, the potatoes a tasty contrast, although I think I would’ve preferred two bao buns and slaw only.

For dessert, I ordered the Mango and Apple Spring Rolls, because the minute I saw sweet spring rolls my mind was made up! These absolutely delivered too, as two warm & crispy spring rolls arrived, covered in cinnamon sugar with a side scoop of vanilla ice cream and a mango coulis too. The mango & apple filling was delicious with the crisp pastry, well-flavoured, sweet and well spiced too, enhanced by the cinnamon atop. I’d easily order this again!

Overall I was very impressed with the food, quality and service of the new Village Restaurant. It’s a great idea by Camile Thai to introduce their brunch menu, and the space within this restaurant makes it very accessible and easy for families with kids as well as groups of friends. If you’re in Dublin, the new Phibsborough venture is definitely worth a visit and only a hop-on-the-bus ride from the city centre.