In Australia’s Vast North, an Oasis Serves Thai Food

On first look, Border Store’s menu seems fairly standard, if you discount the fact that there is almost nothing to eat this far into the wilderness, let alone lovingly cooked Thai classics. But Mr. Brown and Ms. Mana grow their own herbs. Vegetables are fresh and never frozen. Curries are made from scratch.

Ms. Mana’s pad Thai is darker and richer than the classic version, but no less inhalable. Her jungle stir-fry has a bright, low burn to it, which doesn’t distract from the clarity of flavor of the vegetables and protein. (You have your choice of silken tofu, beef, chicken, prawn or squid.)

When you order at the counter, the cashier — often one of the couple’s daughters — will warn you when something is especially spicy. They may recommend a cooling drink as counterbalance. In the Kakadu heat and humidity, I cannot think of anything more revitalizing than Border Store’s watermelon cooler, which tastes of fruit and ice and nothing else.

Ms. Mana’s cooking has a slightly cultish following among the full-time residents of Kakadu. The Northern Territory is so immense and sparsely populated that it seems reasonable for a modest pub in Alice Springs to run advertisements on television in Darwin, a 16-and-a-half-hour drive away.

The most common way to get to Kakadu is to fly into Darwin, drive south, then turn east at the town of Humpty Doo. There are sporadic gas stations along the way, and places to camp, but mainly you’re looking at wide red desert vistas punctuated by rivers. Termite mounds rise from the ground like nobbled alien gravestones, and brush fires often burn along the side of the road, usually as purposeful back-burning to keep the threat of deadly bushfires at bay.

There are no electricity lines out here; Border Store is powered by a generator. When I visited, one of the toilets out back was closed. Or maybe it wasn’t? A sign on the stall door read, “Snake in the toilet! Beware.” Welcome to Australia.

With all that in mind, you can understand how Border Store might inspire intense dedication from locals with limited dining options. People I spoke to who live and work in the area talked about the excitement that mounts each year as Border Store’s opening approaches. That opening is not always set in stone — the couple generally aim for mid-May, but this year the road to Ubirr was flooded through May, and Border Store did not open until early June.

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