Thai Food

Had insane cravings for Thai spices this week. Wanted chilli padi soaked in fish sauce. Need the real thing and not any dumbed-down dainty versions. Even the family-friendly Jai Thai doesn't quite hit a spot when cravings hit. It's gotta be satisfied at the eateries at Orchard Towers and Golden Mile Complex. It's cool, and reasonable that these eateries open till really late.Till maybe 2am or even 4am on the weekends. Never mind the dodgy venues. Go in a group. Always fun. The food's guaranteed to hit a spot.

Nana Thai Food at ground floor of Golden Mile Complex

We decided on Nana Thai Food for its down-to-earth no frills dishes. It's at least a 20-minute wait for food from time orders are put through. Packed out with a non-stop flow of customers. It's got the usual a la carte and one dish items, and the half grill/half steamboat thingy. But since this week is all about "rice, a couple of dishes and soup", we went for that.

The thing to order here for bites is the roast chicken. That came really fast. The table ordered half a chicken, ate that all up, and ordered another half. Tiny chicken lah. Apparently it was really good. The marinade and the way it's grilled made the skin and meat juicy and delicious. Okaaay. I wanted the yum woon sen, omelette and phad thai. Decent stuff. They do a very rustic tom yam clear soup with all its fiery chillies that hit a spot. The omelette wasn't good that evening. It was done in haste and not crisp enough.

Ate SO MUCH. Dropped off a friend and took the long route home, but still, I felt stuffed. Did a spot of jumping. No way I could go to bed on this full stomach. That did wonders for digestion and stretched the office-cramped muscles to keep them supple, eased the knots to keep the joints pain-free.

Korat Thai Cafe at Level 3 of Orchard Towers

The 11pm dinner at Korat Thai Cafe was accompanied by thumping techno and mambo and whatever else music with thudding beats, along with a whole parade of working-girls and ladyboys who were way better dressed and groomed than the ladies at this table. Depending on your definition of eye candy, there's plenty to see, of course. But please don't stare. That's not polite.

Over cups of bloody sweet Thai iced tea (that I would later regret when tossing and turning in bed), we chatted and waited for the food to arrive. It was a 30-minute wait. Normal, I suppose. Every table was filled with big groups ordering tons of dishes.

The friend recommended a dish of salt, garlic and white pepper deep fried chicken that was good here. There's also a fairly decent version of tom khai gai here, if you like that. I haven't learnt to appreciate coconut soup though. What's outstanding though, is its phad woon sen (no meat in this version). It was served in the exact shade of dark brown soy that indicated how tasty it would be. It was delicious, along with the unmistakable taste of MSG. An omelette was ordered too. It was fried fine, but not quite the best. Still, it went winningly with fish sauce and chilli padi. Mmmm.