Southeast Asian Cuisine🍚

Finally tried Korat Thai cafe, well known for being taken over by the Muttons just last year and their dedication to keep the menu as delicious as it was previously. I was pretty satisfied with this fun bowl of Tom Yum Mama that’s a simple crowd pleaser. Because who doesn’t like gathering around a hot pot and slurping up instant noodles? The sauce was on the creamier and tangy side, and it was not as spicy as I wish it could’ve been. The ingredients were pretty good - thick and meaty roast pork, bouncy meat balls, fresh prawns, sotong, and a dash of crab meat. If you’re sharing between 2, this is guaranteed to fill you, but if among 3, you would probably have some space to get other sides to share😛 Ambience is exactly what you’d expect from Orchard towers, literally just a space with plastic chairs and foldable tables that can allow for more flexible group arrangements. Staff are all pretty attentive!

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First time trying Thai Kway chap and I was pleasantly surprised! I loved the peppery broth which was a refreshing change from the herbaceous flavour, reminding me of a bak kut teh broth. But the ingredients in Thai Kway chap were also interesting, with pork slices, pork belly, and fish sausage - all of them were very good!! Really liked the Kway here as well, soft but slightly chewy, and they come rolled up which makes it easy to eat with just a spoon.

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Seems like a popular bahn mi spot with the pretty sizeable queue that I’ll always stumble across over the weekend - and I finally got down to trying it. Considering how there are a few Vietnamese food options around the area, I didn’t know if this was a tourist trap, with its pretty appealing decor and even a little Nasi Lemak + otah stall at the side. But I thought that the bahn mi was pretty decent, with a plus point being really filled with ingredients like cucumber, coriander, lettuce, and beef. Also realised that they don’t have pork options here!

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Featured in the Michelin Bib Gourmand, Un-Yang-Kor-Dai is an authentic Issan restaurant hailing from Khao Yai, and has elements of Laotian flavours as well. A relatively small restaurant, it’s highly encouraged to reserve a table instead of trying your luck. When I went on a Friday night, the restaurant was full-house, and unfortunately more could’ve been done about relatively haphazard service.

Whilst not mind blowing, one of the better dishes of my night was the Tom yum soup with fresh prawns. Adequately spicy with a good balance of sourness, it checked the boxes of a decently satisfactory Tom yum soup, while still giving that nice refreshing tinge in the aftermath.

Not sure if I had the most delightful food experience at Un-Yang-Kor-Dai as their dishes were generally just decent to me, but considering how it’s on the Michelin Bib Gourmand I’d still recommend trying this, especially if you find purely Thai cuisine too strong for your palate.

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Have heard raving reviews about the grilled chicken at Un-Yang-Kor-Dai, it was unfortunate that it was unavailable on the day I was there. Decided to go for the grilled pork neck for our meats instead. The grilled pork neck was grilled with a nice barbecued sweet flavour, and was juicy with every bite. While not as tender as I like, it was still a pretty enjoyable dish.

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Small spring rolls encasing a piece of prawn that’s fun and easy to eat with the grip of the tail. Deep-fried, the roll was fresh and crisp, but I must admit that the price point is seemingly high for the portion and item.

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Omelette wasn’t too oily, which was great, though I’d expect the fluffy Thai styled omelette. Nonetheless, a pretty decent dish that is what you’d expect.

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Aromatic beef rendang that I would come back for. The rempah was so damn flavourful, and the portion of sauce was so generous to make every scoop a savoury one. The rempah gravy was spicy, but it did not stop us from adding that extra kick with the cafe’s homemade belachan (so good I asked for seconds). Being surprised by fragrance and well-execute rempah was not good enough by Marie Lapis’ standards. They managed to amaze me with the melt-in-your-mouth tenderness of the beef chunks. Topping this dish off with a perfectly aesthetic fried egg is needless to say, a huge bonus.

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Not gonna lie and say I know exactly how buah keluak tastes because I can almost never put a finger on it, but I personally liked the earthy taste it produces. There can be a slight bitter taste, yet it wasn’t unpleasant. In fact, it complemented surprisingly well with the onions that were cooked with it. A pretty generous amount of prawns and scallops for the price as well. I did think that the spaghetti didn’t come through a lot, feeling more like just fried noodles. Ultimately, what really elevated the dish for me was their very own home-made belachan. It packed such a good punch of spiciness, but was also fragrant at the same time. A unique dish that I would recommend you to try.

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Char Kway Teow was an ordinary find here, but it really tastes better than it looks (though not that worthy of the price… let’s consider that we’re at the Night Safari). The dark brown colour in the kway teow wasn’t there, nor was I welcomed by the quintessential char kway teow aroma you’d find in your Hawker centres. So I was pleasantly surprised when this ended up tasting quite decent — in terms of flavour, the slight char, the sweetness from the dark sauce, crunchiness from the beansprouts, and the fresh prawns. With all the elements together, it did culminate to a plate of normal char kway teow. Nonetheless, this still could definitely do with much more wok hei flavour and aroma!

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Taste of Malaysia at Night Safari!

Decent dish. Rice was pretty fragrant though it did not look the most aesthetically pleasing with a rather lacklustre blue. The achar is adequately appetising. The rendang was decent — a pretty small portion and while it wasn’t bland, it definitely could do with a much stronger flavour. Notwithstanding that, the meat was pretty tender. Shoutout to the chilli for adding that real spicy kick! It was pretty shiok and a good complement to everything on the plate.

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Plated this for the picture but man… the portion you see here was just half of what was in the takeaway portion. Maggi goreng was super flavourful in its own right, and I found the maggie better than the Mee rendition because it managed to encapsulate most of the flavour. It contained dices of potatoes, onions, and vegetables inside, but other than that, nothing much. Was hoping a fried egg would come with it but I think you’ll have to add it on separately! Nonetheless, with the portion and taste, I thought it was decent.

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