Mata Thai (Bishan)

Mata Thai is a Thai restaurant located at Bishan Street 11; a stone throw away from Bishan MRT station and CPF building (Bishan). 

Signature Curry Fish Head Promotion

They are having a promotion for their Curry Fish Head. It cost only $10 instead of $18! Nearly all the tables ordered Curry Fish Head.

Pandan Leaf Chicken $8

The Pandan Leaf Chicken was disappointing. There was no pandan flavour and it was oily.

Signature Curry Fish Head $10

The Signature Curry Fish Head cost only $10, Thai style. The curry was very nice and robust, best eaten with Rice! There were too little curry given! The fish head was very fresh! Despite the fact that only half the head was given and the curry was very little, it was amazingly value for money. 

Thai Style Fried Kangkong $5

The Thai Style Fried Kangkong was a simple but delicious dish! The vegetable was well fried and still had a crunchy bite to it. In terms of flavour, it was light yet tasty. Moreover, there were slices of tiny chillies which provided it with a spicy kick. 

Fried Garlic Squid $10

The Fried Garlic Squid was average.

Tom Yum Prawns $6

Tom Yum Prawns $6

Interesting way to serve the Tom Yum Prawns! Allows the Tom Yum soup to be kept warm constantly.

Tom Yum Prawns

The Tom Yum soup was cloudy and orangey. Although there was no chilli oil, do not be deceived by its appearance. It was quite spicy and sour with lemon-grass fragrant. It was served with prawns and Japanese mushrooms. The Tom Yum soup was delish however, the prawns were not fresh.

Fresh Young Thai Coconut $3

Fresh Young Thai Coconut ideal for cooling down on a warm day.

Carlsberg $6

Carlsberg $6

Carlsberg to cool my friend down from the warm humid day.

Overall, I would say Mata Thai is very value for money. Moreover, the food quality was good too! The Curry Fish Head is a must try! At such a price, where else can you find such quality curry fish head! In terms of service, it was very good. In fact overly-friendly.

Mata Thai (Bishan)
Blk 508 Bishan Street 11, #01-390
Tel: 9276 2629
Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 1030pm
Location

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Aroy Dee Thai Cafe (Sunshine Plaza)

Aroy Dee Thai Cafe is located at the first level of Sunshine Plaza facing NAFA. Ever since I tried the Tom Yum over here, I have been back several times. Over the few visits, I have noticed that Aroy Dee Thai Cafe is always very crowded during lunch time.

Aroy Dee Thai Cafe

Thai Royal Family Portrait

Thai people are very patriotic. Thai Royal family Portrait are proudly displayed in most eateries, restaurants and shops in Thailand. Recently, I have noticed that most Thai restaurants in Singapore are displaying the Royal Family Portrait too.

Set Lunch Menu

Set Lunch Menu

If you are there during lunch, they have the Set Lunch Menu (rice/noodle) that includes a main course and a drink (Lime/Guava/Mango/Freshly Brew Lemon Grass/Roselle Flower) for just $5.50.

Tom Yum Chicken with Steam Rice $5.50

I ordered the Set Lunch 'Tom Yum Chicken with Steam Rice' and my choice of drink was lime.

Tom Yum Chicken

Tom Yum Chicken

The Tom Yum (Tom Yam) Chicken was delicious! It was not oil and did not look spicy (not fiery red or orangey in colour). But well, appearances are deceiving... it was very spicy. Still it was so addictive  that I finish everything! In addition, they were generous with the ingredients (button mushrooms, chicken chunks and tomato). The chicken chunks were tender and soft! A must order! Shiok!

Drink - Lime

Aroy Dee Thai Cafe although is not very accessible; not near any MRT stations. The nearest MRT stations are Bugis and Dhoby Ghaut stations. Despite this, Aroy Dee Thai Cafe is very popular. The place is frequently packed. Well, the reason is because the food is great! 

If it is too crowded, no worries, there is Victor's Kitchen (great dim sum place) nearby! 

Aroy Dee Thai Cafe (Sunshine Plaza)
91 Bencoolen Street
#01-12 Sunshine Plaza
Tel: 6336 8852
Opening Hours: Mon to Sat 12pm - 10pm
                         Closed on Sun

*Editor Note (Mar 2013): Aroy Dee Thai Cafe has shifted to a new and bigger location which is just 5 minutes away from Sunshine Plaza. 

New address: 262 Middle Road, Singapore 188989

Tel: 6336 8812

Opening Hours: Daily 11am to 10pm

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Location*

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Ah Loy Thai (Shaw Towers)

Ah Loy Thai is located in Shaw Towers. This post will cover the food that I ate on three different occasions. 

Long queue (Right of picture)

Visited Ah Loy Thai  on a saturday for dinner. It was around 6pm and yet there was already a long queue that stretched down the stairs to where the male toilet is. Notice the white long sleeve shirt man whose image is not clear and back is facing us? Well he is the guy who ensures that patrons queue up and assign them to the tables. So you will not want to offend him.

More seating space

Ah Loy Thai has expanded and taken a unit next to it to cater to the crowd. As a result, their seating capacity has increased around 100%! But my concern will is that the owners increased the seating capacity without increasing kitchen size. How will it cope with serving customers their food and not result in an increase in waiting time? As mentioned in my first post, the waiting time for food was around 40minutes.

Menu

While we were queuing up, we were given a pencil and this slip of paper with all the dishes and prices. We waited close to 20 minutes and had lots of time to decide what to eat.

At last, we had a place to sit. All the way at the back at a cozy corner. Having decided what to order, I went to the cashier and made the payment for my orders with the slip of paper before going to my seat. It will be a 45 minutes wait, that was what the cashier told me.

Thai Pandan Chicken $9.00

Luckily for us, we waited just around 30 minutes. The first dish that was served was the Thai Pandan Chicken. The Pandan Chicken wrapped in pandan leaves was tender, juicy, tasty and well-marinated. The pandan leaves seems to have helped trap and ensure that all the moisture and flavours did not eascape. In addition, pandan flavours were present in the chicken. The chicken were cooked till it was slightly charred. Shiok, delicious! The only down side was, it was oily. Well, for delicious food its worth it.

Thai Fried Keoteow (Phad Thai) $5.90

Having tried the Phad Thai previously, I ordered it again. Phad Thai is the thailand version of fried kway teow. It is fried with prawns, toufu, fried egg and bean sprouts. Accompanied with grinned peanut and lime. The dish was fragrance and tasty! Certainty better than most places.

Tom Yum Soup $6.90

Ah Loy Thai’s Tom Yum Soup looks fiery red with the chilli oil on top. It came with prawns, mushrooms (straw and oyster) and squids. It is a spicy yet sour soup that was balanced nicely such that despite the spiciness (numbing your tongue/sweating), you would find yourself going for more servings. We ordered a bowl of rice to accompany the soup.


On the two other occasions , this was what I ate. 

Pineapple Fried Rice $5.90

To be honest, I was very disappointed when I saw the Pineapple Fried Rice. So different from what I expected, no Chinese sausages, no floss, no cashew nuts and there was very few pieces of pineapples! But omg the moment I ate one mouthful I could not stop. This dish looks so simple and unlike other pineapple fried rice was amazingly delicious! Ingredients include prawns (which were not fresh), chicken, raisins, pineapples (very few pieces) and egg. Sounds like a negative dish? Well, amazingly the chef combined the ingredient and his skills... to cook up a fried rice that was not dry nor hard nor oily. In addition, the killer punch was the amazing wok-hei flavour presence combined with everything else was just heavenly! Certainty, a dish to try! Shiokolicious! 

Thai Green Curry $6.50

The Thai Green Curry was way off expectation. Tasted very different from my visit in 2010. The flavour of coconut was overwhelming.

Fried Butter Calamari $7.50

The Fried Butter Calamari was delicious. Despite a wet look due to the butter, each piece of calamari was still crispy. Great seasoning, very tasty.

Stired Fried Red Basil Leaf with Pork $5.80

 If you love very spicy food. The Stired Fried Red Basil Leaf with Pork is for you. The chilli bits in it had me chocking literally. The spiciness overwhelmed the rest of the flavours. Have your drink on standby! 

Fried Sweet Potato Leaf (Spicy) $4.50

Fried with chilli and garlic. The Fried Sweet Potato Leaf was an average dish. This time, the taste of the spices was not overwhelming. 

Overall, despite the wait time, the food is too good to forgo. After all these visits, the must try items are Thai Pandan Chicken, Phad Thai, Pineapple Fired Rice. If your stomach has space for more food, order Tom Yum Soup and Fried Butter Calamari. Ah Loy Thai is certainty a must try, its Thai food taste great! But do come early if you are planning a dinner as Ah Loy Thai closes at 815pm on weekdays and 715 on weekends.
(I saw several tables having a similar fish dish. Any idea what is their signature fish dish?)

After your meal, you can hop over to Tom’s Palette just opposite Ah Loy Thai for ice cream.

Ah Loy Thai (Shaw Towers)
100 Beach Road
#01-39/40
Tel: 91651543
Opening Hours: Mon – Fri, 12pm to 8:15pm
                          Sat: 1pm to 7:15pm
                          Closed on Sundays

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The Kelong Restaurant (Bintan) (2nd Post)

This is my 2nd post on ‘The Kelong Restaurant’ in Bintan, Indonesia. The first can be found here.

Went over to Bintan over a weekend again. Things at Bintan can be expensive even food. Most people will be wondering what to eat in Bintan? What is delicious and yet value for money? Well, I have the answer for you… The Kelong Restaurant!We like it so much that we went back there again.

Shuttle Bus schedule to The Kelong Restaurant (sorry for unclear photo)

There are free shuttle buses within the Nirwana Group of Resorts that will make a stop at The Kelong Restaurant.

The Kelong Restaurant is set up on stilts in the sea. It has a open concept so that the breeze from the sea will blow in. This time, the breeze blowing in was continuous and strong. So strong that we felt cold and turned our food cold within a short period of time despite it arrive pipping hot!

Menu Cover (newly redesigned)

Menu (Soup)

We ordered the Tom Yam Soup again. Small one for $14

Tom Yam Soup

Tom Yam Soup

The waiter served the Tom Yam Soup for us into 2 smaller bowls (which you see in the pictures above), yet there was still half a bowl(big) of soup remaining filled with ingredients. Consistent taste; same as what it tasted like 6 months ago. Right amount of sourness and right amount of spiciness that was perfect for me. Prawns, mussels, carrots, mushrooms, squids and even flower crab! The prawns were very fresh, the meat was firm and can be separated easily from the shell. The flower crab despite it being small was equally fresh too. The meat was easily separated from its shell and was sweet.

Menu (Chicken)

Crispy Chicken (Half Portion) $13

We had to order Crispy Chicken again. Again the quality of food was consistent! The outer chicken skin was so crispy and delicious that it would have been a waste if we did not eat it.

Menu (Sizzling & Clay Pot)

Sze Chuan Tofu $12

Thought that this the Sze Chuan Tofu will be very spicy. Surprisingly, it was not. There were lots of toufu, mushrooms, squids, prawns and carrots. The toufu was deep fried and there was a layer of egg at the bottom of the hot plate. Some slices of salted fish might enhanced the taste more. Quite a decent dish of hotplate beancurd that is much better than those at restaurants and coffeeshops in Singapore.. But due to the first 2 ‘stars’ this was an average dish that day.

Menu (Fresh Vegetables & Beancurd)

Baby Kailan with Oyster Sauce $12

Kailan is one of my favourite vegetables. Crunchy and taste great with oyster sauce. The vegetable look so green and taste so fresh! Well cooked!

Damage to the wallet: SGD64.13. Singapore dollar is used here, so Singaporeans do not need to change currency to Rupiah.

We were looking at the next table with 5 person (4ladies and a guy) and we realised that we ordered a similar amount of food as them. Only then did it occur to us that we have ordered alot of food for 2 person! Are we that big eaters I wonder..

If you are going to Bintan. Most of the prices there are similar to singapore prices and you might feel rip off if you insist on dinning in the resort itself. If you are willing to spend, why not go to Kelong Restaurant. At least, you get great tasting food instead of paying more and yet getting lousy food. Considering what we ate, $32 per pax was value for money. Worth it! Moreover, despite the place being filled to the brim, service was very good as they had many waiters and waitresses.

The reason why the food is so fresh:

If you are in Bintan, this is a ‘die die must try’ place. Wish that it was located in Singapore.

Tip: If you are going there for dinner on a weekend at around 7pm to 9pm, do ask the hotel to make reservation for you.

The Kelong Restaurant
Nirwana Gardens, Jalan Panglima Pantar
Lagoi 29155, Bintan Resort 
Tel: (62) 770 692 789
Opening Hours: Daily 11:00 – 22:30
There are free shuttle buses within the Nirwana Group of Resorts that will make a stop here.
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