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2013-11-04
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Despite living a stone's throw away from Aberdeen and Wong Chuk Hang, we've never explored the restaurants there with much interest. Previously, it used to be only industrial buildings, and now it's chic top-notch private kitchens nestled in amongst the industrial nooks and crannies, but they're not the casual let's-grab-a-bite type restaurant. We wanted something with a bit more oomph than the average Chinese nondescript restaurant, so why not try Thai? And there it was - three Thai restaurants
There is one Thai restaurant on the ground floor and two on the second, and not knowing which is which, we decided to choose the one with most customers and is largest by table space. You could see the cooks busying themselves at the back, the young staff peeling pomelos and papayas out the front, a guy on the side barbecueing all sorts of meat, and a large TV hangs above everyone for that extra entertainment factor. The place was clean, the tables and chairs were simple and in good condition, and they even added a nice touch by using Thai-inspired tissue box holders, which makes for such a change to the plastic toilet roll holders. Bowl of hot water for cleaning your utensils served without fuss.
The menu was extensive and comprehensive, we felt that it offered many choices rather than confusing us. We went for the Thai beef salad which was spicy with LOTS of raw onion, in fact half the salad consisted of red and normal onions, which is a bit too strong and could very likely dash hopes of a goodbye kiss if you're on a first date. But the beef was tender and well seasoned, so it sort of made up for it. (Perhaps use more cucumbers instead of onion?)
The tom yum kong (small) was a large bowl that could easily serve 4-5 people, with plenty of ingredients such as mushroom, prawn and tomato. It was spicy but also had depth to it, which made it very tasty without being one-dimensional. The pad thai was a large plate of noodles which was slightly overcooked as I prefer mine with a bit of chewiness (you can't beat the street-style pad thai from the streets of Bangkok), the colour was more a golden yellow than reddish (which is actually what it should be, the reddish colour is often a shortcut by cooks using ketchup). It could have done with a bit more garnish, such as crushed peanuts, chili flakes and cane sugar on the side, perhaps some dried tofu and a sprig of coriander for decoration. But it was filling and satisfying in its own no-frills manner. The "okra aubergine" stir fry Thai style misled my husband into thinking the dish had aubergine, but actually it was just a large (notice how all the dishes are pretty hefty portions) plate of rather oily okra. Nonetheless the okra was nicely executed and not at all slimy.
Then came the star of the night, despite us having to wait over 30 minutes for it. The grilled tilapia was about 30cm in length, resting on a bed of lettuce, with a beautifully salt-crusted skin that came off in one piece without any flesh sticking to it. Despite the crispy charred skin, the meat itself was SUPER moist, juicy and absolutely bursting with flavour. It's truly the best grilled fish I've had in a Thai restaurant (and come to think of it, many other styles of grilled fish too). I was also pleasantly surprised that the cook had thoughtfully broken the fish bone at the back of the head (the fish's neck?) and just before the tail fin, so that when you finished one side of the fish, all you had to do was lift the fish bone in its entirety without the head and tail flapping about. (It's a very small thing, but if you know what I'm talking about, removing the entire fish bone can be a fishy business, and flipping a wide fish onto its other side can be tricky too). And it was ONLY $88!!!!
The whole dinner was exactly what I wanted - great food, cold beer, no fuss, friendly service, flip-flops and board shorts welcomed. And it only came to $273, you can't beat that for value can you.
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