[food review] Cha Thai

Recently, I attended a wonderful tasting session with my blogging clique at Cha Thai. It is located opposite Telok Ayer Station (Downtown Line).

 

 

Ms Leah, Founder of Cha Thai holds dear to her family legacy of recipes which were passed down by her grandmother. To her, being 'authentic' is to preserve the usage traditional Thai ingredients which are often mistaken by people as 'Cheap Thai Street Food'. Cha Thai distinguishes their food from cheap street food which they only use premium Thai ingredients to prepare traditional recipes with modern cooking method.

 

Before the food was served, we ordered Icy Thai Milk Tea and a glass of refreshing Lemongrass Drink. Each glass was priced at SGD2.90, but if you prefer hot beverages, they are also available at SGD2.50 per cup.

 

We started off with some starters, and the first dish was the Crispy Prawn Cake (SGD15), which was served with Sweet Plum Sauce. It tasted awesome as each piece was made out of fresh tiger prawns, and I couldn't get enough of them!

 

 

I was simply in love with the Creamy Crab Roll (SGD15), as the bowl of crab sauce was full of goodness and went well with the Deep Fried Spring Roll Sticks. It is a perfect light appetiser to start your meal!

 

 

Next up was the Lemongrass Prawn Salad (SGD28), which was surprisingly tasty as it looked bland in the menu.

 

Signature Tiger Prawn 'Panang' Curry (SGD28) is one of the signature dishes that you should never give a miss when visiting Cha Thai.

 

The fragrant curry gravy was thick with luscious coconut cream, and the interesting thing about this dish was that Lychee fruit was used as an ingredient. It was used to replace sugar, hence it enhanced the sweetness to the curry! This also explains why the curry tasted mildly spicy.

 

Pineapple Red Curry with Pork Loin (SGD18) tasted pretty similar as the same curry stock was used for Signature Tiger Prawn 'Panang' Curry. Oh well, I still prefer the Signature Tiger Prawn 'Panang' Curry!

 

Sauté Kai Lan with Roasted Pork (SGD16) tasted pretty good as the Chef was generous with the amount of the Roasted Pork in the dish. Each piece of meat was lean, yet juicy, and I loved the way the greenies were cooked as it kept this dish light, yet delicious.

 

I enjoyed the Garlic Pork with Bird's Chili (SGD18) very much as it complemented pretty well with the white Thai rice. The meat was tender and the flavour was tasty, and this was due to the time and effort of the 'sous-vide' process of the meat, before actual cooking. This ensured the food quality and taste!

 

Are you brave and courageous enough to challenge the Ultimate Spiciness at Cha Thai? If you are a culinary dare devil, do try out the Green Bird's Chilli!

Beware: Although it might look small, the spiciness is hot, and is enough to blow your mind and senses away!

 

In most Thai restaurants or eatery places, Thai Boat Noodles are served in a petite portion, but at Cha Thai, they use big bowls with generous portions ingredients instead. However Thai Boat Noodles (SGD18) didn't seem to impress me, although the noodles were springy and the soup was cooked for long hours. This resulted in a thick texture in the broth, but I've had better Thai Boat Noodles.

 

 

You might be taken back by the price of the Pad Thai (SGD22) served at Cha Thai. The price was marked up due to the usage of quality premium ingredients and cooked with modern techniques. It brings the art of cooking of Pad Thai to another level!

 

The last course that was served was the Premium Giant Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles (SGD159) for 4 pax sharing. It is the MUST ORDER food entrée at Cha Thai.

 

You might feel that the damage is pretty hefty for this dish, but if you see how large the Giant Tiger Prawns are, you would understand. Each prawn was at a gargantuan size, at about 35-40cm! I really loved the well-seasoned glass noodles and I helped myself to several helpings. I felt that it tasted very flavorful on the whole, but I felt it was rather as well, due to large bulk of the prawns!

 

 

Cha Thai also offers Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles (SGD55) for 4 pax sharing. Do visit them and exercise your own judgement on this luxurious food entrée.

 

Although I was super full from the tasting, one should always have extra stomach space to accommodate desserts! We got to try out 5 different types of desserts...

 

Red Ruby (SGD8)

 

Emerald Ruby (SGD8)

 

Sweet Corn Herbal Jelly (SGD8)

 

Summer Potato (SGD8)

 

Tropical Paradise (SGD12) - Mango sticky rice with ice-cream

 

The Tropical Paradise was the most popular dessert during the session, but I personally preferred the Sweet Corn Herbal Jelly instead. I love the refreshing feeling it gave me after I ate it, and the sweetness from this dessert complimented the savory food from the main dinner.

 

Do pop by to visit and experience the fine Thai cuisine at Cha Thai.

Cha Thai
80 Telok Ayer Street #01-01 Singapore 048466
Tel: 6636 3696
Opening Hours: 11am-10pm Daily ; Last Order at 9:30pm.
Express Takeaway Lane opens from 8am - 6pm
www.chathaisg.com