The hidden retro Valley Thai brunch spot you need to seek out

It’s fun to get Kawid “Meek” Brikshavana started on Longtime.

We’re talking the original Fortitude Valley Longtime – not the yum cha spot in QueensPlaza that (weirdly, perhaps) took up the moniker long after the original rebranded to Same Same and moved down the road to Ada Lane.

“I don’t say Same Same, I still think of it as Longtime,” Brikshavana says. “If I had a million dollars, I would give them a prize for being so right in their own way. As someone who’s Thai-born, I 100 per cent applaud them for doing a great job right up until now.”

Brikshavana is a good one for talking about the evolution of Thai food in Brisbane and Australia towards something more representative of what you might actually eat in the South-East Asian nation. And he credits restaurants like Longtime, many of them with a DNA that stems from Longrain in Sydney via Martin Boetz (who in 2023 returned to Brisbane himself to open Short Grain) for helping drive that movement.

But Brikshavana’s new cafe, So What Stereo, which he opened in early July with partner Ratinan “Ploy” Rattanathai, also has links to other more under-the-radar Thai venues. In particular, Em Clare’s West End Coffee House, which for years has been a favoured Thai breakfast spot for locals in the know.

“West End Coffee House is like the mother of dragons,” Brikshavana says, referencing fictional character Daenerys Targaryen from Game of Thrones. “Every chef who went through West End Coffee House came out and spread their wings elsewhere.”

Brikshavana has also cooked at Jojo’s, where he says he learned about different Western cuisines, and in various other Thai kitchens, and went on to open his first venue, Mameek, in Hawthorne in 2022. It was while looking for a production kitchen for Mameek that he happened on the space for So What Stereo in front of The Valley Grocer in Fortitude Valley.

“We would get our produce from here and one day I talked to Aunty [owner Thuy Bui] and asked if she had a space where I could have a central kitchen.

“She walked us in here and there was just a kitchen and canopy among all this rubbish,” Brikshavana says. “We asked Aunty if we could take the room, sold the idea, and then spent nine months cleaning out the room. We opened July 4.”

Walking into So What Stereo feels like stumbling into your rich mate’s ultimate retro rumpus room. Indeed, Brikshavana says a lot of the items have come from his own bedroom or storage.

It’s a fabulous space, full of found furniture, mid-century layered pendant lights and vintage UBL speakers. In a corner, there’s a stack of vinyl and compact discs, and two vintage turntables.

It all speaks to Brikshavana’s background as a musician, and the influence of his father, who was a skilled potter. If we as diners visit eateries to be transported elsewhere, So What Stereo does it better than most.

For food, So What Stereo is serving a Thai brunch and lunch menu anchored by dishes inspired, in particular, by Brikshavana’s native Lampang province in Thailand’s north.

There’s Thai-style scramble with coal-grilled tiger prawns and nam prik num, Thai boat noodles, khao kai kon served with coal-grilled scotch fillet, crying tiger beef, and khao soi egg noodle soup that comes topped with either braised chicken or beef.

For drinks, there’s Single O espresso and filter coffee, and chilled drinks such as iced coconut matcha, iced coconut espresso and the like.

Going forward, Brikshavana says to expect the menu to change regularly, and the café to begin experimenting with dinner service.

Open Mon-Fri 7am-3pm, Sat-Sun 8am-3pm

4/15 Little Street, Fortitude Valley, instagram.com/so.what.stereo