Pad Cha: the sizzling stir-fry most Adelaide menus skip

10 July 2026 · 3 min read · Rim Thang Thai, Glenelg

Pad Cha gets its name from the noise it makes. When the garlic and herbs hit screaming-hot oil, the wok lets out a loud 'cha!' — and that sizzle is the dish. It's a fiery, aromatic Thai stir-fry with a flavour that doesn't turn up anywhere else on our menu, and you won't find it on many menus around Adelaide either. We think that's a shame, so it's on ours.

Here's what's in it, why it tastes like nothing else we cook, and how to order it.

Green peppercorn and grachai do the heavy lifting

Two ingredients set Pad Cha apart. Green peppercorns — the fresh, young version of the black pepper on your bench — give a sharp, almost citrusy heat that's a different sensation from chilli burn. And finger root, called grachai in Thai, is the herb most people outside Thailand have never met: a cousin of ginger with a cleaner, more peppery, faintly medicinal flavour. Thai cooks reach for it whenever a dish needs to stand up and be noticed.

Around those two we build the rest: garlic, kaffir lime, mushroom, capsicum, broccoli, carrot, zucchini, baby corn and a handful of basil thrown in at the end. It's a crowded, fragrant plate — every forkful lands a little differently.

Why you don't see it around Adelaide

Simple: the ingredients. Grachai and green peppercorns aren't things you pick up at the supermarket, and they don't keep the way dried spices do. Most Thai restaurants outside Thailand quietly leave Pad Cha off the menu and lean on the basil stir-fry instead — a great dish, but a much tamer one.

We keep it on because it's the kind of cooking the name over our door promises. Rim Thang means 'roadside' — the food of street stalls and night markets, where the strong, herbal dishes live. A menu of only the safe orders wouldn't be honest to that.

Yes, it has heat — but you're in charge

Pad Cha is a spicy dish by tradition. In Thailand it's a favourite with seafood, because the strong herbs hold their own against prawns and squid. But we make every plate to order, so tell us where you sit: mild, medium or Thai hot. Even dialled right down, the green peppercorn and grachai keep all their character — you lose the sweat, not the flavour. Order a gentle Tom Kha or an egg fried rice for the table as ballast and everyone wins.

If this flavour profile is your thing, our drunken noodles in the noodle section run on the same engine — finger root, green peppercorn and basil through thick rice noodles.

How to order it

Pick your protein: vegetables and tofu or chicken at $20.50, seafood at $23.50 — the traditional match — or the combination at $25.50. Add jasmine rice ($4 small, $7 large); you'll want it for the sauce. We're open for dinner seven nights from 5PM at 39 Jetty Rd, Glenelg, with a later close on weekends.

You'll find it with the rest of our stir-fried dishes. Eat it in the room where you can hear the wok working, or grab it as takeaway — though the sizzle, fair warning, stays with us.