Let's Go Thai

The problem with being a foodie is that there is never enough time to try out all the eateries that seem promising. (Even HM says so, which, considering how food isn't exactly the highest priority for her, is saying something.) This is especially so when one, with an eye on the waistline and the pocket, has to limit food adventures to the weekends. Moreover, we don't always feel like eating out and/or trying new stuff on weekends either. Some weekends we'd rather eat at home or go back to familiar favourites. Hence there will be restaurants that we have to forgo. These are usually those which we may have heard good things about but for which there are also many alternatives. Given the plethora of Thai food in Singapore, Lerk Thai was one such casualty. We only redressed that particular injustice the other night, and even then because we lucked out on our first choice of dinner venue!

We had gone in search of pho, or more specifically, Pho 24, the Vietnamese fast food outlet that serves nothing but its namesake. When we got to the Millenia Walk outlet though, it was closed, possibly because it had run out of stock (pun intended). Regrettably, we turned back to Marina Square. There, we were walking past the Lerk Thai outlet when we caught sight of a signboard advertising pineapple rice at $2, instead of the usual $8. If that's not a sign from heaven, I don't know what is! (Hey we're Singaporean after all...)

One look at the menu and we were heartened. The repertoire of dishes looked like the real thing, right down to those herbal drinks the Thais are so fond of.

iced centella asiatica (pennywort) drink (left) and iced lemongrass drink (right)

som tam thai (green papaya salad with prawns)

nuer prik thai dum (beef with black pepper)

khao ob sab-pa-rot (pineapple rice)

tom yam talay (seafood tom yam)

mango sticky rice

steamed tapioca drenched with coconut milk

For a first visit, we stuck to the familiar, so that we have some basis of comparison with other Thai restaurants, and were pleased with what we ordered. The food was unpretentiously good, simply made with fresh ingredients. The tastes were well-balanced. Kudos to the - we hear - Thai chefs. We liked the fact that no attempt had been made to position it as upmarket fare, unlike restaurants like Thai Express, and in that sense, the food was as close as we can get to the real thing. And at S$47 (inclusive of taxes and service charge, but less the $6 discount for pineapple rice), it didn't burn a hole in the pocket. That's good enough for me.