Thai Patcharin, West End

Prior to last night my last Thai dining experience was a positive one and as a result I wanted to try other Thai restaurants.  This, coupled with the fact that Thai Patcharin is directly on my route home from work, was my reason for dining at this restaurant last night.  I perused the menu and there were a few dishes that seemed appealing to me, but I decided to go with what I know and ordered the beef massaman with satay chicken skewers as an entree.  I am consistently amazed that a dish as simple as satay chicken skewers can have so many different interpretations, and I was very happy with Thai Patcharin's take.  First of all, the entree consisted of four skewers, when two is usually the norm.  Under regular circumstances, four skewers would have been too much for me (unless I was particularly hungry), but I was dining with a friend, so we shared them.  The chicken was cooked really well, possibly the best I've encountered in such a preparation.  Had I sampled the satay sauce on its own, I might have thought it to be slightly sweeter than I would like, but it was used sparingly and complimented the chicken nicely.  As for the main dish, my first concern was that the menu described the massaman as containing onions (something I tend to avoid whenever I can).  However when I asked for the meal to be served without onions, I was pleased that the waitress indulged my eccentricity.  When the massaman arrived I noticed that the chunks of potatoes were on the large side.  In my experience, sometimes this is an indication that they are not thoroughly cooked all the way through.  However, I was wrong, and the potatoes were cooked very well, and the flavour of the potatoes managed to assert itself and mixed with the massaman sauce in quite a satisfactory fashion.  The sauce itself was a little on the thin side and I would have appreciated some dipping bread to accompany it.  However, Thai Patcharin offer no such bread.  The flavour was good, but I would have liked it a little spicier; in fact it wasn't spicy at all, but I suppose proprietors of South-East Asian restaurants have to accommodate the Australian palate.  The beef was of a good level of tenderness; I've had more tender beef massaman dishes, but I'm not complaining.  While this was not a perfect beef massaman, it was worth sampling.