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While finding Thai food in Busan has become a lot less of a struggle over the years, finding a quality restaurant with the authentic tastes from the Kingdom can sometimes still be a challenge.
Saint Augustin, an upscale Thai restaurant on Dalmaji Hill, also falls into one of those challenge categories.
With prices on dishes ranging from 16,000 won to 30,000 won, my fellow diners and I ordered a variety of dishes from the menu, which for some disheartening reason, had no Thai curry on it.
The dishes didn’t lack in taste and were quite good, but inexplicably added seafood and clams to dishes.
Though an Indonesian dish was offered at a Thai restaurant, we tried the Mie Goreng which came with three different kinds of seafood, none of which I have ever had or seen on the dish on my travels to Southeast Asia. The noodles were also a thicker noodle than usual, but overall again, after the initial disappointment, it tasted fine.
The spicy beef which the waiter warned us of was not spicy at all, though it was quite delicious and well-prepared.
The highlight of the dinner was a 16,000 won spicy chicken dish that looked like lahp but wasn’t. It had a nice kick and may have been more akin to a Holy Basil seasoning paste that you get from Lobo and was the clear winner at the table.
Overall, the meal was delicious but not quite the authentic we were looking for or were expecting. For 90,000 won, it didn’t really do the nice atmosphere justice.
It does do well on the presentation and the ambiance on the hill, so expect to pay up if you decide to give it a go.
Restaurant Information Address: 97 Dalmaji-gil, Jung 2(i)-dong, Haeundae, Busan Phone: 051-747-0053 Open: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
