Correction (1 October 2026): an earlier version of this page was written from map listings and directory text. It counted “Hot Pot & Shabu” as a separate restaurant when Kao Gaeng’s own website uses that name for itself, named dishes we could not find on the venues’ current menus, and carried price, rent and parking claims we could not stand behind. It has been rewritten. Each of the four picks below was checked against its own current website or ordering page on 1 October 2026, and every price was copied from that page.
Springvale sits 22 km south-east of the CBD, and its Thai eating is mixed in with its Lao kitchens, which is good news for anyone who likes a papaya salad. Two of the four picks below are in Springvale itself, on Queens Avenue and St Johns Avenue. The other two are in the next suburbs over: Noble Park to the south-east and Clayton South to the west. Each one is here because it publishes its own menu online, so you can see what a dish is and what it costs before you go.
A quick decoder before you read the menus. Som tum is green papaya salad, shredded and pounded with lime, fish sauce and chilli; menus often offer a Thai version (with peanuts and dried shrimp) and a Lao version (with fermented fish sauce and crab paste). Larb is a salad of minced meat dressed with lime, herbs and toasted ground rice. Sticky rice is glutinous rice, eaten by hand alongside those salads. Pad see ew (spelled Pad Sie Ew, Pad See Eww or Pad Siew depending on the menu) is wide rice noodles stir-fried with soy sauce, egg and Chinese broccoli.
The quick picks
| If you’re after | Head to | Order this | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lao dishes in Springvale | E.Laenoi Lao Restaurant | Nam khao (Lao crispy rice) | $21.80 |
| A papaya salad set with sticky rice | Kao Gaeng | Set som tum, kor moo yang and sticky rice | $20.90 |
| A restaurant that calls itself halal | Ghin Thai Restaurant, Noble Park | Pad Thai noodle | from $17.90 |
| Thai and Burmese on one menu | River Kwai, Clayton South | Burmese beef curry (takeaway menu) | $17.90 |
E.Laenoi Lao Restaurant — Unit 4/1-3 St Johns Ave, Springvale VIC 3171
If you searched for the E.Laenoi menu, here it is in short. The full menu is on its own ordering site, and it is the most Lao menu on this list: the larb is labelled “National Dish” ($22.10, chicken, beef or pork), and there is a Som Tum Lao ($21.10) dressed with crab paste, shrimp paste and padek, the fermented fish sauce, next to a Som Tum Thai at the same price. Starters include sakoo yat sai, steamed tapioca pearl dumplings with minced pork ($13.40 for eight), and the Tum Taad papaya salad platter ($39.05) adds boiled egg, chicken wings, fish cakes, pork crackling and more. Pad Thai and pad see ew are both $22.10 if someone at the table wants noodles. Its ordering site lists the restaurant as closed on Mondays and open 10:30am to 8:30pm on the other six days.
Region: Lao, as the menu says, with Thai dishes alongside.
Order this first: nam khao, $21.80. The menu describes rice seasoned with coconut and red curry, fried crisp, then tossed in a spicy citrus dressing with fermented pork, dried chillies and peanuts. Add small sticky rice ($6.70).
Kao Gaeng — Shop 13-14, 22-38 Queens Avenue, Springvale VIC 3171
Kao Gaeng’s website calls the business “Kao Gaeng Hot Pot & Shabu (Springvale)” and lists it as open Monday to Sunday, 11am to 8pm. Its ordering menu runs to more than 130 items, with a long salad section: Som Tum Thai with peanut is $17.90, and Tum Puu Plala, papaya salad with salty crab and fermented fish that the menu marks “Recommended”, is $18.90. Most of the noodle soups are $17.90, including Kao Pieg, made with house-made glutinous rice noodles, and Nam Tok Noodle Soup with pork or beef. Pad Thai and Pad Sie Ew are $18.90, and the Set Kao Ka Moo, stewed pork leg with rice and a boiled egg that the menu calls its signature dish, is $19.90.
Decoder: in Thailand, a noodle soup with “nam tok” in its name usually means a broth enriched with blood, the style best known from boat noodles. Kao Gaeng’s menu does not describe how its version is made, so ask at the counter.
How to order: start with the set menu section. Most of its twelve sets bundle a dish with sticky rice or rice, so one set is a whole meal.
Order this first: Set Som Tum, Kor Moo Yang and Sticky Rice, $20.90: papaya salad with Thai-style grilled pork neck and sticky rice, three things often eaten together.
Ghin Thai Restaurant — Shop 2/21A Douglas St, Noble Park VIC 3174
Noble Park is Springvale’s south-east neighbour, and Ghin Thai is the pick here for anyone looking for halal Thai food: the restaurant’s own website names it “Ghin Thai Restaurant(halal)”. Many dishes on its online menu are listed “From” a starting price. Pad Thai noodle is from $17.90, pad see eww from $17.90, and Thai spicy green papaya salad (som tum Thai) from $16.90. Tom yum noodle soup is from $18.90, green curry from $19.90, and larb gai, the minced chicken salad, is $19.90. The menu marks its spicier dishes with chilli symbols, so you can read the heat before you order.
Menu says: Pad Thai noodle, from $17.90, marked “Recommend”.
Order this first: Pad Thai noodle, from $17.90. It is one of the dishes the menu flags “Recommend”, and the easiest way to compare a kitchen with the one near home.
River Kwai Thai & Burmese Restaurant — 3/1310 Centre Rd, Clayton South VIC 3169
Clayton South borders Springvale to the west. River Kwai’s website describes the restaurant as Thai and Burmese and offers separate takeaway and dine-in menus. The takeaway menu says it has “special pricing”, so the prices here are takeaway prices. On that menu, Pad Thai is $17.90, Pad Siew is $17.90, Som Tum Thai is $16.90, and green curry is $18.50. Beyond the Thai noodles there is Khaw Swe Kyaw, egg noodles stir-fried with chicken and vegetables ($17.90), and a run of curries the menu labels Burmese.
Region: Burmese and Thai, both named on the menu.
Order this first: Burmese beef curry, $17.90 on the takeaway menu: slow-cooked beef in a sauce built on onion, ginger and garlic with Burmese spices. Burmese dishes do not appear on the other three menus here.
Also on the Springvale map, without a price
Three more Springvale kitchens with Thai food are listed below. None of them publishes a menu of its own that we could read online on 1 October 2026, so they have no prices here. Ring ahead before you make the trip.
- Lan Sen Noodle Bar & Street Food, Queens Avenue. Time Out reviewed it in 2020 at 38A Queens Avenue.
- Sabb Der Thai and Esan Food, 1/1-3 St Johns Avenue. Esan (also spelled Isan) is north-eastern Thailand.
- Papaya Pog Pog, 12B Balmoral Avenue, listed in Yellow Pages as serving Thai dishes. If you searched for its menu: we could not find one published by the restaurant itself.
Quick answers
What is on the E.Laenoi Lao Restaurant menu?
Lao and Thai dishes. On its own ordering site on 1 October 2026: nam khao (Lao crispy rice) $21.80, larb “National Dish” $22.10, Som Tum Lao $21.10, sakoo yat sai (tapioca pearls with pork, eight pieces) $13.40, and Pad Thai $22.10. It is at Unit 4/1-3 St Johns Ave, Springvale, and its site lists it as closed on Mondays.
Where can I get halal Thai food near Springvale?
Ghin Thai Restaurant at Shop 2/21A Douglas St, Noble Park, names itself “Ghin Thai Restaurant(halal)” on its own website. Its menu lists Pad Thai noodle from $17.90 and som tum Thai from $16.90.
Are there Thai boat noodles in Springvale?
None of the menus we could read uses the words “boat noodles”. Kao Gaeng on Queens Avenue lists a Nam Tok Noodle Soup with pork or beef at $17.90; in Thailand “nam tok” in a noodle soup’s name usually means a blood-enriched broth like the one used for boat noodles, but the menu does not say how its version is made, so ask.
Is there a Papaya Pog Pog menu online?
We could not find a menu published by Papaya Pog Pog itself on 1 October 2026. It is listed at 12B Balmoral Avenue, Springvale, so ring ahead for dishes and prices.
What is the difference between Thai and Lao som tum?
Both are pounded green papaya salads. On the menus here, the Thai version comes with peanuts and dried shrimp, and the Lao version is dressed with crab paste, shrimp paste and padek, a fermented fish sauce. E.Laenoi lists both at $21.10.
How we checked
On 1 October 2026 we read each restaurant’s own website or online ordering menu and copied every dish and price exactly as printed. E.Laenoi’s menu is its TuckerFox ordering site; Kao Gaeng’s prices come from the menu data behind the ordering link on its own website; Ghin Thai’s from its online menu page; River Kwai’s from the takeaway menu on its website. We confirmed each address at a second, independent source (OpenStreetMap, the Australian Good Food Guide or a restaurant directory). Distances and neighbouring suburbs are from Wikipedia. We left out Google star ratings and review counts. Online ordering prices can differ from counter prices, and a “from” price is the starting price the menu shows. The photos are illustrative, from Unsplash: they show the kind of dish, not the restaurant’s own food.
Seen something out of date? Email [email protected] with the page link and what has changed, and we will check it again.
Sources
- E.Laenoi Lao Restaurant: ordering site and menu; address also at Best Melbourne Restaurants
- Kao Gaeng: kaogaeng.com.au and its ordering menu; address also at OpenStreetMap and Best Melbourne Restaurants
- Ghin Thai Restaurant: ghinthairestaurant.com.au and its menu; address also at AGFG
- River Kwai: riverkwai.shop and river-kwai.square.site; location also at OpenStreetMap
- Lan Sen Noodle Bar: Time Out review (2020) and OpenStreetMap
- Sabb Der Thai and Esan Food: OpenStreetMap and DoorDash listing
- Papaya Pog Pog: OpenStreetMap, Restaurant Snapshot and Yellow Pages
- Springvale location and neighbours: Wikipedia
