Thai Paradise     泰殿   (Closed)

We were halfway through our grocery shopping in Graham Street when the hunger pang struck (how is it possible when we've just overfed overselves over Christmas?), so we racked our brains to think of a decent Thai place nearby, and decided to come here for a bit of people watching on the escalator as well. Free entertainment, why not.
The place had 2 other groups of diners, so it was nice and peaceful. A window seat for us so we can clock people who went by, and we scanned the lunch set menu. Boyfriend ordered the fried flat noodles with chicken in chilli which comes with a small tom yum soup and coconut sago pudding, and I ordered a tummy-warming tom yum soup with 金邊粉, which also came with dessert. For $76 and $68 respectively, it wasn't the cheapest, but then we're talking Central prime location. Add $10 for the special drinks, otherwise it's plain coffee or tea. For us, that's a no brainer. Lime soda for him, Longan drink for me.
The tom yum was the best part of the meal, one of the better versions I've had that packs in a punch. The sourness hits your first, and afterwards you appreciate the heat from the spice coming out and tickling your taste buds. Not hot enough to make me tear, but enough to satisfy that craving for spiciness. There were 4 or 5 prawns in there, with 2 kinds of mushrooms (Chinese variety, but it's good to make use of local ingredients), and lots of real ginger, lemongrass, cilantro and other spices. I especially liked that it wasn't too oily, as sometimes the cook skimps on the herbs and just substitute chilli oil for the taste, which doesn't work. The fried noodles were so so, a bit greasy and gooey by the look of it, and not enough noodles to balance the dish, but you can look at it the other way and say there was lots of veg and chicken pieces. The drinks were average, and I suspect the use of fancy glasses means they don't have to give you as much as in a regular tall glass. At least they had the decency not to pack in the ice. Dessert was coconut sago pudding SANS sweetcorn which pleased my boyfriend (he vows sweetcorn does not have a place in any form of dessert, it's just inappropriate).





Service was prompt and polite, and the bill came to $180 for a very filling meal. A good start to the year of more food and blogging.

Had lunch with a friend here. She loves Thai food. This eatery offers two types of set lunch. One is simple set lunch which has soup, a main dish (usually a noodles or rice etc) and dessert. The other one is set menu for two, for four to six or for six to eight.

We tried the simple set lunch. We both chose Tum Yum Kung, it was nice. The shrimp was fresh and the soup was just appropriately favoured. Not too hot and not too strong. Nice.

We ordered one Hai Nan Chicken rice and also a Pad Thai. The rice was nicely seasoned and not too oily. The chicken was a bit undercooked and honestly, i did not like it. There was some fried vegetable accommpanying the chicken rice. It was fresh and nicely served.

The Pad Thai was wrapped in an egg 'net', very lovely. It was not oily and the taste was just right. Usually I love to order Pad Thai in Thai restaurant. This one was alright. I noticed that many of the customers also ordered this Pad Thai. A popular one.

The set lunch was $76 +10%, the price was okay for lunch in Central area. Really wondering why there were vacant seats here. Should be full instead.