Destiny Cafe @ Richmond, Melbourne.

During the recent Food & Wine festival, a friend and I attended the Thai Food Festival (More on that to come!). Amongst the many stalls that carried incredibly delicious foods and drinks, we found a stall named Destiny Cafe that had Pad Thai selling like hot cakes. We bought a plate of it ourselves, and our love for it was sealed upon the first bite.

Hungry for more, we decided to hunt down the actual restaurant. It turns out that Destiny Cafe was one of the tiny cafe-restaurants in Richmond. A dodgy looking exterior and very few tables. Not typically the kind of restaurant I would normally have gone into if I were walking by and looking for dinner. It was also not situated on a main street where all the other restaurants and cafe were, but along a very tiny block of shops somewhat away from the main shopping area. And after my numerous visits to the restaurant, I’ve never seen more than one to two other tables being occupied. More often than not, the place was deserted. And wrongly so.

The food. Oh, the food! Let me tell you about my most recent visit.

Destiny Cafe: Duck Salad.

Duck Salad (Larb Ped)
Sliced roast duck cooked with red onion, ground toasted rice, kafir lime leaves, lemongrass, lemon juice, fish sauce & coriander

The duck salad was exquisite. There was no other word for it. The meat was tenderly soft and cooked just right. The salad tossed together with just the right balance. And while I’m normally not a fan of red onions, it was not an issue this time round, for it added to the salad to create a beautiful harmony of taste dancing upon my tongue.

Destiny Cafe: Green Chicken Curry

Green Chicken Curry
Exotic Thai green curry cooked with chicken, lemongrass, kafir lime leaves, coconut milk, bamboo shoot, bean, capsicum & basil

Paired with coconut rice, this dish was an utter delight to behold. The curry was gentle and mild, perfect for the non-spicy lovers. The meat was tender, and the helping generous. While the dish of curry itself was small, it proved to be surprisingly filled with little delights and we found ourselves constantly going back to it to fish out little chunks of chicken and capsicum. The coconut rice that we got was another bit of heaven. Indeed, I dare say that I have never really tasted good coconut rice till trying it here. It was worthy to be a dish by itself!

Destiny Cafe: Pad Thai Prawn

Pad Thai Prawn
Traditional Thai rice noodle dish, cooked with prawns, broccoli, cauliflower, egg, tofu, bean shoot, garlic chive, chili, tamarind sauce & crushed peanuts

When one eats out often enough, you start to learn a few things. One of those things is to have low expectations of seafood dishes in terms of quantity. Usually something that claims to have prawns will have either tiny ones, or very very few prawns. However this was not the case with Destiny Cafe. Their Pad Thai Prawn was covered with the coveted King Prawns, each and every one fresh and juicy to the bite. The helpings were generous and every bite an explosion of flavour. The mixing of the lemon juice and the crushed peanuts through the Pad Thai only served to enhance the taste. It was absolutely divine, and every friend that I have brought to that shop since have coveted this dish, praising it for its capability in giving us the pure enjoyment in dining in such delicious ways.

It gets better. Destiny Cafe does delivery to the Richmond areas! So if you are staying in that area, don’t hesitate. I wish I did, I’d order from them every day. The service is friendly and very fast, and my only complaint is that their toilet is not very accessible, and reminds one of Alice in Wonderland. But that is no reason to stop going there, I for one, will definitely be back at one of their tiny tables very soon.

BTstars: 9/10

Destiny Cafe
71 Church Street,
Richmond East, VIC.
Phone: (03) 9429 2722