So today some very close business friends asked where I should go for lunch and dinner. I chose Crystal Jade for lunch and Thai Basil for dinner. They asked further if I should try something more authentic. These 2 restaurants may not be the best on my list but they are my regular visits and provide consistent food quality.
1/2. Got a table at the entrance corner. The restaurant is always very busy. This is the only few ones I don't mind lining up.
3. OK, something new and I decided to order more spicy food tonight. This one is called Chiang Mai platter. Quite unexpected that among all these the prawn cracker is the best. Frying prawn cracker is of a very high technique from the oil quality to oil temperature control. Thai Basil made it perfect. Evenly fried and very dried out, and extra light and crispy. Of course, very aromatic. 4. At first I thought it's a Tom Yam soup, but it's not. It reminded me of a nice Thai restaurant called Methavali Sorndaeng TC brought me to 1.5 years ago. TC ordered a Kiang Lieung. This one is 90% of that one I tried. Some shallot, and galangal and mushroom and some longer green (I forgot the name) were used. This one is very hot and spicy. I felt like I was back to Bangkok.
5. The hot didn't stop. This one is green curry prawn fried risotto. I really like the way the Chef first steamed the risotto and quick stir fried it like Thai fried rice. The original way of cooking risotto would have a sticky texture due to frequent stirring to cause the friction of the rosotto. So this one is less sticky and yet very aromatic from the powerful quick stir fried. This is the way about stir frying. Gotta stir fry the ingredients to be done quickly to seal the juice of the ingredients. The green curry is very nice and I was quite surprised some kafir leaves were put in it to even bring out the green curry aroma. One more remark - the lime was lightly grilled. Very clever as this way the lime's dry taste would be taken away. Remember in Brazilian BBQ, pineapple is also grilled. You wouldn't get the dry taste of pineapple. 6. Stir fried veggie in shrimp paste. Unexpectedly hot too but very good stir frying.
7. Grilled chicken. Nicely grilled and pretty juicy inside. 8. Banana pudding with ginger comb ice cream on top. Still so good. Check the brown tiny bits. They are caramelised brown sugar. Very aromatic and crunchy.
9. my favourite ice cream. From left, ginger, raspberry and rum raisin. Thai Basil made it very nice. Not sweet but very melty and chilled. Ginger is very ginger and rum raisin is rum! This is the nice thing about Thai Basil.
3 comments:
is this Thai Basil the one (still) in the Pacific Place? a pretty nice Thai restaurant
good Thai food is not just spicy (as spicy as it can!) as someone may misunderstand, a proper and good Thai dish (most of them, while a few need not) shall incl. at least 4 tastes, as hot, sweet, sour and salty in a well balance of aromatic and sometimes adding bitter taste too, in Thai it is aroi kom-klom (delicious with full flavor), to make them balance and in harmony is easy to say but quite a technique to cook, so this is why Thai cuisine is a rising star in the world gourmet scene
Thai cuisine is more emphasize on taste than ingredients
Sea, eating Thai cuisine on ur birthday, we all know how much u love Thailand :-)
Wow what a real nice Thai dinner on your real birth date.
All the dishes here looked good especially the ice cream.
Yes, we can tell you love Thai food and Thailand so much that you even celebrate your birthday with Thais.
Thailand shall give your a honorable Permanent Residency for your passion and loyalty to Thailand overall.
:)
There are indeed some people who don't get a clear picture of certain Asian food. I brought a German business friend to a dim sum today and he was so surprised with the freshly made dim sum. Most of the dim sums in Europe are like fast food chain, prepared a long time ago and then re-heated when it's ordered.
Same for Thai, Korean and some cuisine which may have been misunderstood they are just hot. I told some people even a chili has its flavour apart from hot. Some fresh chilli has a fruity and tomato-like flavour but just people's attention is at the hot part.
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