Hey people!
Thai food lovers, anyone?
Last TGIF was a well spent one with an enjoyable tasting session with my blogger friends at Cha Thai.
This Thai restaurant is situated conveniently along Telok Ayer Street and right across Downtown MRT Station. If you're staying or working in Central, you can consider dropping by this restaurant to satisfy your Thai cuisine cravings.
Cha Thai strives to distinguish its food from cheap street food which people might mistakenly deem as 'authentic'. According to the owner Leah, authentic Thai food involved simple cooking using palm/coconut sugar and coconut milk but this way of cooking might not be suitable for the modern palate. Thus, it is essential for Cha Thai to move with the times and utilize premium Thai ingredients to prepare traditional recipes using modern methods of cooking.
Check out the containers used to store condiments! Don't you think it's interesting that glass bottles with droppers were used to store their sauces?
In Cha Thai, only Thai condiments were used. Additionally, their gravys, sauces and pastes were made entirely from scratch. :)
Before food was served, we were asked to select our drinks first.
Christina recommended us to try the Thai teas so we went for the Thai Green Tea ($2.90) and the Thai Black Tea ($2.90). I finally got to satisfy my curiosity for Thai Green Tea, hurray!
Crispy Prawn Cake ($15) was the first to be served and I basically attacked the food after snapping this picture because I was SO HUNGRY. It tasted mad delicious especially when paired with sweet plum sauce but alas, I could only stop at one piece.
One thing to note was that tiger prawns were used to create this Prawn Cake. In fact, tiger prawns were used to create every single prawn dish in Cha Thai. Holy mama!
Creamy Crab Roll ($15) was an ultra addictive snack because I couldn't stop dipping my spring roll into the tasty crab cream sauce.
I could just eat the entire sauce on its own but that would be way too sinful.
Next up, we had the Lemongrass Prawn Salad ($28) which had generous helpings of prawns piled atop the salad. The prawns used were fresh and sourced locally from their own kelongs.
I must say that this dish looked better than it looked on the menu! :D
Now for the curry dishes.
I really liked the Signature Tiger Prawn 'Panang' Curry ($28) because the curry wasn't too hot for me and made a perfect combination of taste with the tiger prawns. And if you dig around, you might discover a few lychees within the curry.
Pineapple Red Curry with Pork Loin ($18) was pretty good by itself but it paled in comparison to the Signature Tiger Prawn 'Panang' Curry which had a more memorable taste.
After feasting on tiger prawns, I realized that we were hardly eating vegetables so I was glad when Saute Kai Lan with Roasted Pork ($16) was served.
The roasted pork was nice and crispy but I helped myself more to the veggies because I need the fiber and the nutrients!
Garlic Pork with Bird's Chilli ($18) was immensely tender and that was largely because lots of time and effort were put in to sous-vide the meat before cooking so as to ensure its tenderness.
The green Bird's Chilli that you see on top of the pork was FIERY so try it if you dare. I was so relieved that the spiciness of the Bird's Chilli did not affect the taste of the pork very much.
Unfortuately, Boat Noodles ($18) failed to meet up to my expectations.
While the noodles were springy, I wasn't too pleased with the pork because it had a very strong smell and didn't sit well with my tastebuds. I guessed I wasn't accustomed to the taste of the herbs that were used to prepare the pork.
That said, some of my fellow tasters loved the Boat Noodles though so for all you know, you might like this more than me.
When it comes to Thai food, one must certainly check out its Pad Thai ($22).
Although the ingredients used for this dish were largely simple, I really liked Cha Thai's noodles because they were always so springy and full of flavour. The 'icing on the top' was the delicious piece of tiger prawn which truly adds to the taste and presentation of the dish. In sum, a huge thumbs up from me! :)
By any chance did you notice how ADORABLE the tiger prawn looked?
It seemed to be saying ,'I'm Gonna Be Eaten? WHEE! Can't Wait!'.
The last course that was served was the Premium Giant Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles ($159) where the Giant Tiger Prawns were in a luxurious size of 35 to 40cm.
The portion of Glass Noodles might be mega huge and the price might seemed costly but the dish was actually meant for sharing among 4 to 5 people. It's in Thai's culture to gather so their food is usually in large portions for sharing.
Although I was super full from the tasting, I had to admit that this was one amazingly yummy dish that I would recommend all to try. I would have gone for more if I had more room in my stomach. Nonetheless, if you don't mind the price, you can consider ordering this to share with your family or friends.
We may be full from our main course but when it comes to desserts, we have a different compartment in our stomach.
We got to try 5 types of desserts as seen above. The top 2, from left to right, were Tropical Paradise ($12) and Emerald Jade ($8). The bottom 3, from left to right, were Red Ruby ($8), Summer Potato ($8) and Sweet Corn Herbal Jelly ($8).
The most outstanding dessert and everyone's ultimate favourite was the Tropical Paradise. You would probably not expect it but Tropical Paradise was actually mango sticky rice with ice-cream. It might looked plain, simple and not as pretty as the other desserts but my, the taste was enough to win us over. A must-try if you are visiting Cha Thai!
Thinking of visiting Cha Thai one day?
You can visit the restaurant at its address below. Feel free to check them out on their Official Website, Facebook Page and Instagram too. Enjoy!
Cha Thai
80 Telok Ayer Street
#01-01, Singapore 048466
Disclaimer: Reviews are based on personal experiences.