Forget everything you know about meatballs. The rules have been rewritten at BKK Laboratory,a charming and creative cafe in foodie hotspot Carnegie.
Owned by Nopparluk Pratyasanti and her husband Pai Ruangrit,both from Thailand and with years of experience in Melbourne hospitality,BKK Lab is their baby,born in 2022 and on a mission to expand ideas about what Thai food might mean.
Spoiler:it goes way beyond curries and noodles. Instead,we’ve got fancy eggs,fluffy pancakes and tasty flavour bombs like the wagyu meatball sub,a juicy,spicy knockout.
The wagyu meatball sub is an Italian-Thai flavour bomb.Penny StephensTo make this marvel,minced meat is tumbled with massaman curry flavours including cumin,coriander,lemongrass,coconut and chilli,formed into firm balls and braised in a rich spiced gravy. The base is Italian,the flavours are Asian,as though you took nonna and her saucepan to Ko Pha Ngan. The meatballs are then stuffed into a squishy potato roll,topped with finely grated parmesan,and sent out to do their work of bringing joy and satisfaction.
There’s more to love at this modest but colourful cafe. Chilli scrambled eggs are an Aussie brunch staple;BKK’s take sees sourdough subbed out for roti,garnished with shallots and chilli jam.
Souffle pancake with pandan sauce.Penny StephensSouffle pancakes are a Japanese craze that’s fluffed its way to Thailand,as well as Australia. The extremely bouncy renditions here are airy but not eggy,folded into half moons and served with typical Thai dessert elements such as pandan sauce,coconut ice-cream and the syrup-soaked yolk strands known as golden threads. There’s a durian and sticky rice special pancake for winter.
Slow-cooked rice porridge is a win in any weather – I recently sweated over a bowl in steamy Bangkok and it was a thrilling culinary interlude. Nevertheless,there’s nothing like a crisp Melbourne winter’s day to sink into this particular expression of hot,wet rice,especially when it’s as good as the version here. Gently gingery and studded with soft-poached egg,the congee is served with puffed rice paper and – if you like – five-spice-roasted pork belly with lovely crackling.
Not feeling it? They’ll smash an avo,whip up a smoothie bowl,and definitely make you a good old Melbourne-style flat white.
The tiramisu Thai milk tea.Penny StephensBut will you want a coffee once I’ve told you about the Thai milk tea tiramisu? Milk tea is probably the most famous Thai beverage:brewed very strong and sweetened with condensed milk,it’s a sturdy,brain-buzzing drink.
To turn it into BKK’s Italian dessert offering,the team whips cream cheese and cream into a frothy topping for the tea,and balances a ladyfinger biscuit on the rim. It’s more than a mouthful but it finds the balance between tannin sweetness and lactic tang to create an indulgent but compelling pick me up.