The Thai Table

Passed by Thai Table the other day to do take-away Pad Thai, told myself I would have to come back soon to try the food. I need to support Thai restaurants that are coming up near my place so that I could satisfy my Thai food craving as and when it comes knocking at my tummy again. If you have read some of the older posts, you would probably have guessed that my latest food craze is Thai food. K anyway 3 days later and here I am at Thai Table, a 2 months old Thai restaurant near Simpang Bedok. We ordered the set dinner for 2 at $30 and we added $3 for a glass of ice lemongrass tea and a red ruby dessert.

This is the complimentary keropok, unlike most places, this is free!


Our first dish was the Chicken Feet Salad. I liked the chicken feet salad. The chicken feet has a nice bite to it and the sauce that accompany the salad had the right amount of sourness and spiciness.


Next was the Tom Yum soup, we requested for the version without coconut milk. I think i would prefered it if it was clearer like the kind you find in Thai Express. There seems to be a hint of tomato in this version. Maybe some would prefer this, but I like my Tom Yum soup with a more obvious taste of Lemongrass and Kaffir Lime leaves and without the sweetness of maybe tomato? Maybe they have adjusted the taste to suit Singaporeans.


The Olive Rice was not bad. In fact i thought it was the best dish.


Next up, mince pork with basil. It was okay if it is eaten together with white rice or even the olive rice, but on its own, it is way too salty, the chef probably added too much soya sauce or fish sauce. An improvement that could be made is by adding more basil leaves. If not it would be just ordinary mince pork.


Sambal Long beans: Am not a fan of long beans so i cant comment much.


The last dish was the Chili Prawns. The chili used for the prawns seems to be similar to the one used in the Sambal Long beans... hmmm but well nevertheless it is quite okay. We felt that since there were 2 of us, they should have either given us 2 prawns or 4 prawns. 3 seems to be an awkward number.


Finally dessert: Red Ruby. Aye once again, the can coconut milk taste spoil this Thai dessert. I know it is troublesome to have freshly squeeze coconut, but using can coconut milk really spoils the food. Can coconut milk has a weird distinctive smelly coconut oil taste. Hmm not sure if you get what i mean.. but uh well... it is good if one cant tell the difference.


Overall experience: Not bad, I think it still suffers from some teething problems and is constantly improving based on customers feedback. I gave my feedback about the Basil pork and the Red Ruby, hopefully they would look into it. Service was excellent and attentive. Impressive! I would go back again to give my support for my local community Thai food resturant cos i really do not want to see it fall due to lack of business. This place is one whom i can drop by easily to do take-a-way pad thai and fried rice!

The Thai Table
20 Jalan Pari Burong (near simpang bedok)
opening hours: 11:30-1500, 1730-2200
tel: 64433533

Big D's Grill revisited

First time visiting Big D's after it had made the move to Holland Drive.
I had the buah Keluak while wei had the Kurabuta pork. We decided to order the Chap Chye to share. Alas I was disappointed, very disappointed with the Buah Keluak. Okay to be fair maybe it was just me, I was not used to the taste, much prefer my mama version of Buah Keluak. The Buah Keluak at Big D's just didnt hit it for me, it is too sweet and there was a hint of coconut, I may be wrong about the 'hint of coconut' but there is just someting that is not right for me. Doesnt have that strong distinctive taste of Buah Keluak. But i guess whatever it is, for $12.90, there was quite a substantial amount of Buah Keluak. We all know that making Buah Keluak is alot of hard work, so well for $12.90 it is quite worth it. But really... it was too sweet! Maybe it would have been better if it was Sambal Ayam Buah Keluak? Instead of a heavy dose of just the nut?
K i shall stop rambling on about Buah Keluak.

I took a cut off Wei's Kurabuta Pork, and i must say i still love it. Tender, sweet (as in meat sweet n not sugar sweet) and juicy. Love the glistening fats that comes coated with the pork. Very nicely grilled, still pinkish n pretty.

Chap Chye was ok. Pretty normal, very home-cooked. But Wei didnt like it, said was too salty. I felt it was kinda overcooked, mashy. BUt yeah... there are many ppl who like chap chye that way.

Because of the unsatfisfying meal and as fate would have it, the XO fishhead staff walked pass our table n i decided to conveniently order a bowl of fish soup. Now.... this is what i call satisfying... This XO fishhead soup really live up to its name, and it still remains as the best fishhead soup in Singapore. Love the obvious, distinctive hint of brandy!

Oh yesh! n guess who was came along and sat beside us during our meal?? Bobby Chinn from World Cafe Asia!!!! haa if only he could erm recruit me and get me to be his food taster. U know like go around the world to reccee the place n eat?

Yeah we did strike up a mini conversation like this:

Me: Oh yeah the chap chye is not from the fishhead stall, it is from Big D.
Bobby: ok (ordered his fish head soup and went to Big D to order chap chye)
Wei and I: (after he ordered his chap chye) Oh actually the chap chye is not very good!
Bobby: Oww why didnt u say so earlier! it cost be $12.90!

Opps!

Big D
Blk 46 Holland Drive (9662 7040)
Opening hours: 1200-200, 6:30 - 9:30 (Closed for lunch on Thu)

XO Fishhead soup (same cofffee shop)

Mei Tai Ramen

Skipped to Mei Tai Ramen quite a few months back for its famous bowl or Ramen. This is the menu... apparently it uses some pork bone as stock for the soup. Brewed for many many hours.

Here is my yummy bowl of Ramen. It is good! very delicious. Love the soup base.


Men Tai Ramen
61 Robinson Road
01-01
64384140
Opening Hours: 11:00-15:00, 18:00-22:00
Close on Sat, Sun and Public Holidays

Yhingthai Palace

Ms Sit had craving for Thai food, it was either First Thai or Yhingthai along Purvis St, consulted hungrygowhere, and the vote was cast, we decided to opt for Yhingthai as it has higher rating. Actually we ate this a long long time ago, but i was too lazy to blog hence it is only after 3 months that this is here! So anyhow, i kinda have forgotten how the dishes taste. All i can conclude is that this outlet has got to be one of the best Thai restaurants I have been in Singapore!

The Padthai here is of course much better than Thai Express.

Green Curry Chicken, never liked green curry cos of the heavy coconut taste. And the pieces of chicken in the curry is kinda pathetic. Still prefer the indian version of curry chicken where you get solid parts of the chicken and not small pathetic pieces. ($15 for small)

The Olive Rice was very very good, very fragrant, not too salty, one of the best I have eaten. ($20 for medium)

The stuffed chicken wing was really good, filled with lots of stuffing like mushrooms and asparagus. Served really hot. But of course this doesnt come cheap at $3 per piece.

Tom Yum Soup with coconut and Clear Tom Yum Soup ($6 per bowl). I very much preferred the clear tom yum soup. Hot and Fiery, wonderful taste of lemongrass. I think i could just go there especially for the clear tom yum soup. Mama would truly love this.

Fish maw soup ($8), another recommended dish, but as i am not a fan of fish maw, so this soup is kind of forgettable. Okay but i am sure my mama would love it too.


Mango salad. Quite a unique dish.

This is a strange dish recommended by the waitress. Erm strange weird name too. This dish is called Condiments. It is some ikan bilis, small shrimps, mango, chili padi and onion on top of a leaf. U roll the leaf up together with the condiments and dip it into the bowl of chili. Unique and refreshing taste.


Overall experience, I love this place, would definitely come again. In fact after the dinner the first thing that came to my mind was that I need to give my mama a treat here soon! So fat boy, if u are reading this, lets treat fat mama to this place soon!

Yhingthai
36 Purvis St
63371161
11:30-200, 600-1000

First Thai Food

Had a quick dinner with the Owl at First Thai, a corner coffee shop along Purvis Street.
This is our first dish, Olive rice. Not bad, love the taste of olive.

Next up was the Tom Yum Soup. i love the spiciness of this mean bowl of soup and the sourness is just nice for me.

Basil Pork: I always love basil pork or basil anything. Love the fragrance of the basil leaves. Too bad it was way too salty and we had to order a bowl of white rice just to go with the dish.

This Seafood Otah was my favourite dish of the night! Dont know why, but i just love it. Maybe I just love otah in general. =)


First Thai Food
23 Purvis Street
63393123

Bali

Our breakfast in Bali @ some hotel in Ahmed


Our dinner at Jimbaran
Kang Kong

Grilled Fish

Grilled Prawns

Sweet Sour Sotongs

Satay

This had got to be our favourite meal, Babi Guling at Ubud

Finally on our last day, we had these at the airport
grilled sambal chicken rice and satay chicken rice

Thai Express @ esplanade mall

Had Thai express before running off to catch CATS. Think i told myself and another friend before that i would never ever eat at Thai Express again, but as always, when i have to catch something at Esplanade, there is not much choices so ... yet again Thai Express. Anyway I was also craving for Thai food, so uh well, no harm breaking my promise. SO here is what we had:
Tom Yum Soup to share, it looks deceptively innocent, but it is one mean fiery bowl of soup. I kinda like the fact that it is so overpoweringly spicy!

Next up my main: Tom Yum Hor Fun. I love this simply because it is spicy. I think i just love the taste of tom yum with the fragrant taste of lemon grass and kaffir leaves. Hmm but i really cant quite comprehend why cooks are always frying cuttlefish in such a way that it is too chewy and unfriendly to the jaws.


These are my friends' mains:
Pad Thai

Green Curry with Rice


We also had the Banana fritters with ice cream of which i couldnt take a photo cos we were running out of time. Anyway there was a funny, or rather smelly, stale oil taste to the fritters. Maybe they fry n refry it with oil which were stale?? hmm

Esplanade Mall 01-13D
Sun - Thurs: 1100 - 2300
Fri - Sat: 1130 - 2400

Anyway it opens till late, so well... one of the places you can visit after a performance in the Esplanade

Came here for this thick broth of crab bee hoon soup. Owl and I are not crab people, to us, the effort that goes into digging the flesh is not worth the taste. But well as both of us are uninspired as to where to head to for dinner, here we are at Uncle Leong.

We had the 3 eggs spinach

and the crispy fried toufu. Not bad, but too many for just the 2 of us


Uncle Leong
Blk 233 Ang Mo Kio Ave 3
01-1194
6554 3453

*this place was given rather poor ratings in Hungry Go Where, but it is really not that bad =)

Taste Paradise revisited

Once again, here we are at Taste Paradise. Thanks to M, we got a delicious treat! 

Here are the 2 sauces that company the entire meal. Her bee hiam (spicy prawn paste) and green ginger.

The usual appetizer - Prawns with Mangoes

Next up the Famous XO carrot cake. It is available for $1 if you spend more than $100 on the total bill. I love the soft and mushy carrot cake, it is of course unlike what you get in hawker centres where you can hardly taste the white carrot. The carrot cake here has a distinctive carrot taste and it is nicely fried with XO sauce. 

Next up the Peking Duck. Also another lunch time promotion. $28 for the duck. Guess most would consider $28 as rather worth it, but I'm not a fan of duck  nor duck skin, so well... and with just the 3 of us, it can get quite boring eating slabs and slabs of duck skin. 

Next up is what we came for, yes yes as with previous post, this is certainly the highlight of the meal. I admit that theoretically I have sworn off shark's fin, but once in a while, i break my 'vow' by indulging in a superb bowl of soup. Hmmm if only someone could replicate the taste without using shark's fin. I am sure it is possible, shark's fin itself is probably tasteless. 

okay this may seem really offensive to people who ban shark's fin in their tummy. Sorry guys! I am really trying to stay clear of those fins!

Next up a toufu dish, toufu with mushroom and scallop. Nothing fantastic, although the scallop sauce was pleasant, but the toufu was rather disappointing. Worse than many zi char stall i would say.

The final meal before desserts was a bee hoon dish, fried with the meat of the Peiking duck. Also another disappointing dish. Then again maybe because we were too full to find pleasure in it.

Finally desserts: We had the almond cream in papaya and avocado cream with walnut ice-cream. Take my advice, just stick to the avocado cream next time. The almond cream and previously the mango cream that I had is nothing to rave about. The avocado cream on the other hand is very unique, the walnut ice-cream and avocado cream is indeed a perfect match.

Total bill for 3

Taste Paradise
48-49 Mosque Street
6226 2959
1200-1430, 1730-2230