Lemon Grass Part 2

It was about 1 year ago that i've visited Lemon Grass and now i'm back to have another authentic thai meal. You can refer to my previous visit here.

In terms of taste, this place still stands as one of the better thai restaurants i've been to in Singapore.
For this visit, the thai fried fish is the star of the day. The meat is soft and tender even though its fried and the chili sauce that accompanied it was superb. Extremely spicy and this got my parents pretty impressed. Definitely worth a try. The rating remains the same as per my previous visit.

Thai Express (Siglap)

After another long workday and seeking refuge from the daily storms through my stomach, we decided to throng Upper East Coast road for some food. Introduced by my gf, this is my first trip to Thai Express and this is what i have to say.

"Sa-nook!" Which means to enjoy and have fun is the philosophy for Thai Express which terms itself as "a destination for friends to convene and have fun" instead of being just another restaurant. Interesting concept and one that brought them to set up shops in various parts of Asia, including New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and even Saudi Arabia.

Location: 907 East Coast Road #01-03 Springvale Singapore 459107

Contact: 6244 3233

Website: http://www.thaiexpress.com.sg

Price Range: $15-20 per head

Menu

The interior of the outlet is rather spacious with 2 levels of seating. An estimated 40-50 patrons can fit into the restaurant with some al fresco seats located outside. Everything is in a rather fiery color palate with reddish orange dominating most surfaces.

Tom Yum Seafood Pot

A look at the ingredients

The clear tom yum seafood soup is spicy and had a reasonable amount of seafood tossed in for good effect. Can't say much apart from it being decent though.

Soft Shell Crab ($7.90)

I found this just plain bad. Overly oily with minimal meat because it was overfried and lacking any discerning taste whatsoever to commend. 1 crab at $7.90 is also pushing it since you can get the same item done better elsewhere for a smaller price tag.

Phat Thai Seafood ($9.90)

This was pretty much the best item i had that day. Its just very soft and tasty char kway teow to me actually but it was done well with the lime, seafood and the grounded nuts did loads to enhance the taste. It was also more towards the spicy side of things but i did enjoy this quite a bit.

Green Chicken Curry ($8.90)

Another look

I'd term this as mediocre at this point. To be honest, i've tasted quite a few renditions of green curry chicken and never did understand what was so special about them in the first place. This did not serve to change my opinion. It just tastes like chicken soaked in coconut soup throughout all my tries and the same goes for this rendition.

Complimentary Beancurd

This came complimentary due to a promotion at the time. The chilli and nuts went surprisingly well with the beancurd but the beancurd itself was fried for too long. It was thus rather dry and hard. Still possible to remedy this with additional chilli though.

Bill

A simple meal cost me $39.55 after a lengthy discussion with the supervisor on the wrong order of our tom yum soup. He graciously decided to amend our bill which managed to salvage the experience somewhat.

Final Score: 5.5/10 (7/10 for the Phat Thai Seafood)

Last word:
Wrong orders and quarrels aside. The food is average from what i've had or maybe i'm not very familiar with Thai cuisine since i can't take much spice. The phat thai is probably worth a try but i find it hard to recommend anything else i've tried. The supervisor is rather kind and funny which is what the restaurant is about and i do thank him for his help. However, in the end, a return is definitely not on the cards for this outlet.

Bali Thai

A long belated post which has lain dormant in my list for some time. However, the memory remains fresh nonetheless, fresh enough to provide a review and an accurate impression of the experience i've had here.

Location: Tampines Mall #04-01 Singapore 529510

Contact: 67871500

Price range: $20 - 25 per head

Needs no further explaination

Menu

Tables

To be honest, i've been past this place so many times, its amazing how i've never felt the urge to actually step in for a meal. The exterior looks rather dull and dark but the interior is bright and cheery with clean wooden tables and nice black chairs for a zen-like feel. Service was brisk, attentive and rather pleasant as well, which makes me wonder why the place was so quiet. It was peak lunch period when we patronized it and somehow, space was aplenty with a rather abysmal clientele.

The usual compulsory crackers ($3 each)

This was rather pushing the envelope for the rip-off department at $3 per basket of crackers but i must say, i actually liked it. The crackers were good, fragrant, strong vegetable taste but add in the chili and its a whole new game. Spicy, sweet and just good. $3 is still too much for it though.

Tahu Telur ($8.50)

Another look

A rather hearty portion if i say so myself. The tahu telur was overly hard at places but managed to remain acceptable mostly due to yet another excellently fragrant sauce. Its just the normal peanut sweet sauce with a little chili but it really makes this average dish taste better then it really is. However, paying $8.50 for it is something i won't soon repeat however.

Garlic Stir Fried Kailan ($14)

Kailan stands as one of my favorite greens and its a relief that they managed to at least preserve its good tastes with this dish. Nothing outstanding, its the casual garlic stir fried version but its fragrant and very appetising.

BBQ Platter ($48)

Fried whole fish, 2 grilled prawns, generous bbq calamari and squid, chicken and satay rounds up this huge platter of food. This is good. I mean its really pretty good in terms of overal quality. The prawns are grilled till there's a little char on the bottom but manages to make the shell so brittle, you can simply eat the entire thing without much fuss. The fish is huge and deep fried on the outside with the inside still thankfully moist and soft with sweet spices. This went really well with the balachan-like chili. The chicken was overdone which resulted in tough and dry meat but the overal was still nicely fragrant and sweet. The calamari was also done just right and like the rest of the package, is sweet and fragrant. The satay is acceptable and rather bigger portioned then regular satays. Overal, this is a rather good buy to me.

Asam Fish Head ($22)

This was something i touched very little of because i didn't want to sweat like a pig before returning to work. However, i couldn't resist eating the tender and sweet fish meat that was left over by my colleagues. The asam was actually slightly spicy but not overwhelming. The curry taste was rather strong but the fish head was definitely worthwhile at the meaty portions. Fishy taste is apparent but minimal as well.

Tom Yum Seafood ($24)

Their version of the oh-so-famous tom yum seafood soup. This is the clear version and it came packed with seafood. I mean it was literally bursting with ingredients like squid, fish, mussels, prawns and scallop. Its definitely strong in terms of taste and moderately spicy but if i'm not mistaken, still milder then the actual tom yum soup in Thailand. A pretty good rendition and value for money however.

Bill

Finally, a pleasing meal for 7 came up to a total of $141.95. I'd say this is rather worthwhile given the food we had.

Value for money: 7/10
Ambiance: 6/10
Food Quality: 6.5/10
Overall: 6.5/10 ( not an average)

Last Word: A pretty decent setting and decent serving of food. The pluses are the fact it came with good service and that the price of entry is rather low. For improvement, i'd suggest having more set meal options and tie ups with companies for catering and such to boost visibility.

Food in Thailand 3

One of the rare days that we managed to go out together to eat for dinner. This was near the hotel and in fact, was a mere 1 street away. However, its located behind in a small alleyway which more or less means you need someone to bring you there to eat. In my case, our good friend in Thailand brought the entire group for a meal here to try authentic Thai food. Special thanks to her since managing such a huge and rowdy group simply isn't an easy task.

Suda Restaurant

Thai Milk Tea

Recommended by our guide to try as its a Thai specialty, this didn't turn out too well. The shop made it too sweet and milky which ruined it somehow. According to her, the tea isn't of the right color nor the right taste so this can be discounted.

Satay

Thai Popiah

Thai Pork

Thai Chicken Cutlet

Pandan Leaf Chicken

Stir Fried Kai Lan

Sweet and sour fried sotong with cashew nuts

Egg Wrap rice

Thai Chicken with Cashew Nuts

Tom Yum Soup

BBQ pork with fried rice

Mango with glutinous rice

Hope you enjoyed the photos above. I'll just be talking about the standout items here. The pandan wrapped chicken was nicely tender and sweet with a thai twist which makes it worth a try, however, it is pretty oily. The thai fried calamari was well liked by all due to a unique fragrance and slight spice in it. The bbq pork and fried rice deserves a mention because it was my favorite item that night which hit all the right note. Splended meat flavor and sweetness coupled with rice to mild the sweet taste. The glutinous rice and mango was pretty good as well since the mango is fantastically sweet and juicy. The rest of the items were more miss than hit and a friend from China from the Sze Chuan province had major problems adjusting to the taste which is mostly sweet. Sze chuan is more well known for its spicy roots which explains why the food probably had no taste to her.

Elephant visit during dinner

A more interesting event was that many peddlers entered the restaurant to sell items, from dvds to jumping stones to even an elephant which begs you to feed it. Needless to say, for all the foreigners there and my friends alike, the elephant was the star. Incredible stuff, now this is something you don't see everyday.

The entire meal only clocked in at THB 222 which is absurdly cheap for the amount of items we ordered.

Last Take: Enjoyable due to the company and the fried rice but otherwise horrible service and rather normal offerings. Still, the cheap price tag means its always going to be patronized and packed as it is now. I still suggest giving it a try for the fried rice alone. After all, its cost is minimal.

Siam Kitchen

Had the good fortune to be treated once again by my nice boss when it was Secretaries Day. I'm not a secretary but i tagged along and shamelessly got myself a free meal. Ahhh....its the little things in life that make life beautiful doesn't it? Thanks boss!

Location: Parkway Parade #B1-126

Contact: 6766 4766

Price range: $19 - 24 per head

Website: http://www.siamkitchen.com.sg/

Started in 1997, Siam kitchen is committed to bringing authentic Thai cuisine to Singapore without compromising the taste and quality of the transition. After 11 years, has their food been palatable for the majority of Singaporeans or are they going down the slippery slope marking the end?

Crackers

As with most meals, an appetizer begins the day and this time, its a bowl of crackers. Vegetable crackers if i'm not mistaken. Light, crispy and fragrant, it managed to set the mood for the meal to come. In fact, it was good enough for us to get it refilled at least once but maybe we're just cracker people.

Salad

Fish cake

Chicken Wings

Whilst waiting for the rest of the team to arrive, we went ahead to get ourselves a few ala carte items which you see above. Surprisingly, the best items turned out to be the salad of which i've forgotten the actual name. Either way, the salad was drenched in the usual sourish and sweet sauce that thai food is known for and the cold "cucumber?" and other items made for a refreshing and interesting taste. The wings were hot and tender while the fish cake was rather lackluster.

Buffet Lunch Set with free flow ice lemon tea($15.90 +1.99)

The buffet Spread

Green Curry Chicken

Tom Yum Soup

More On the Buffet

Pineapple Rice

The buffet spread came with a multitude of items which you will get to have at one go. These include, thai spicy squid salad, lemongrass chicken wings, prawn balls, tom yum prawn soup, thai fish cake, green curry chicken, chicken satay, fish fillet in yellow curry, sweet and sour prawn, beef massaman in dry curry, minced chicken in chili and basil, tofu in oyster sauce, baby kailan with garlic and mushroom, fried kangkong and pineapple rice.
In all respects, that is a pretty big variety and everything is done ala carte. The catch is that they'll serve everything once and after that, you'll get to re order whatever else you wish to have seconds of. The tom yum is more sourish then spicy while the green curry had an overdose of coconut milk which isn't to my taste nor waistline. The only item good enough to mention was the chicken wing and thats at a discounted size from the actual ones that could be obtained from the ala carte menu. Still, the other items weren't all bad per se, just not up to the standard i would like. And anyway, its a buffet so this is more or less expected.

Beef Guo Tiao

Sweet and Sour Fish Guo Tiao

More Guo Tiao

Red Ruby, Water Chestnut and Coconut milk in Shaved Ice

Glutinuous Rice, Vanilla Ice Cream and Mango

The above items were had by my colleagues who opted for the ala carte menu instead of the buffet. All of the guo tiao items received positive feedback which more or less confirms that the ala carte served much better food. The red ruby however, had too much coconut milk and was exceedingly salty, yep, salty is the word. The mango and glutinous rice also turned up too salty but was balanced by the mango and the ice cream in the end. Maybe thats how the authentic items tasted like in Thailand?

Overall Score: 5.5/10

Last Word:
In terms of value for money, the buffet is generous and definitely filling enough although quality is compromised somewhat. The desserts and a few other items really felt like there was excess salt added which was quite disconcerting. Otherwise, the service was pretty good and no additional rules were enforced when the buffet customers and the ala carte customers sat together which i took to be a good sign. It wasn't terrible and the ala carte items definitely got better reviews.