Friday, August 28, 2015

Soi 60 Thai Restaurant @ Robertson Quay

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Soi 60 Thai Restaurant located at The Quayside, Robertson Quay is a contemporary Thai restaurant and bar offering an eclectic mix of traditional and modern Thai dishes along the Singapore river. The kitchen is helmed by Chef Nam Pongpanich, a 28 years old Bangkok native graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and worked under Daniel Boulud in New Yoark.

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Raspberry Ginger Beer 4.8/5

Soi 60 Thai also has a cool bar offering a whole range of beverages from alcoholic drinks, mocktails to cocktails. I tried the Raspberry Ginger Beer ($8) which is super refreshing and comes with fresh plup of the raspberry in every sip.

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Fresh Spring Rolls 3.5/5

Dinner at Soi 60 Thai started with the Fresh Spring Rolls ($10) that comes with Northern Thai Sausage and Thai herbs wrapped with rice paper Dipped the spring rolls with the peanut hoisin sauce to get an array of textures and flavours.


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 Crab Betel Leaves 4.5/5

Pop these Crab Betel Leaves ($14) into the mouth to get a burst of rich and beautiful flavours of the sea and herbs. The picked fresh crab are tossed in concoction of coconut milk and peanuts.

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Salmon Tartare 4.5/5 

The Salmon Tartare ($14) is another starter that will delight your palate with fresh salmon, lime, herbs, chilli and cucumber. You can also pair the salmon and the prawn crackers. Love the change from the normal beef tartare.

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Cripsy Duck Pancake 3.5/5

The Crispy Duck Pancake ($12) can be a meal for itself. The crispy duck is wrapped with Thai herbs and lychee around a thin sheet of pancake, served with black vinegar reduction. I like the addition of the lychee to cut through the greasiness.

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Papaya Salad 4/5

The Papaya Salad ($14) is the most authentic Thai dish I have tasted so far for my dining experience at Soi 60 Thai. The familiar Thai flavours of sweet, sour and spicy returned to my memory.

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Iberico Pork 4.8/5

Moving on to the mains or big plates, the Iberico Pork ($26) with Thai spiced crust is very beautifully flavoured and tender. The pickled ginger and young garlic salad on the side gives the pork a nice balance so it won't be too heavy on the palate. In fact giving it a more elegant and refine enjoyment.

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Red Crispy Duck 4/5

This modern interpretation of Crispy Duck Red Curry ($22) will wow you with the servicing portion and presentation. The dish on it is own is interesting, unique and flavourful with a whole duck leg confit. However I am caught in the tussle between tradition and contemporary, having difficulty to put a judgement to it. I like the dish but not the dish as a whole. If I want to have red curry with a plate of rice, this feels weird. If I want to have a duck confit, this will satisfy me but probably with lesser sauce so that the duck does not get drown.

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Mixed Seafood  Glass Noodles 3.8/5

For a medley of spicy and zest, the Mixed Seafood Glass Noodles ($24) will its slurping goodness, topped with scallop, prawn, squid, chilli and lime leaves will probably make you break into a sweat. Unfortunately the dish was a bit heavy on the salt during my visit.

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Ginger Creme Brulee 3.5/5

The Ginger Creme Brulee ($10) served with lime curd and black berries definitely come across too strong on the ginger flavour. The thoughtfulness of the lime curd and black berries help to reduce the sharpness of the ginger.

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Butterfly Pea Tapioca 2.8/5

The colourful presentation of the Butterfly Pea Tapioca ($1) is rather acquire with a complex, multi-layer textures and flavours from the young coconut, tapioca, pineapple sorbet and Mekhong rum. I am not a fan of rum in my dessert so this did not manage to win over my palate.

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Black Sticky Rice 4/5

The Black Sticky Rice ($10) is one of my favourite dessert at Soi 60 Thai. A perfect ending to the modern Thai cuisine with sticky black glutinous rice, fresh mango and coconut cream.

I have enjoyed the whole dining experience of Chef Nam's modern Thai cuisine. There are many Thai restaurant in Singapore offering authentic Thai cuisine, but not modern Thai. The exact word that I said after leaving Soi 60 Thai, I felt that I have just dine in a Thai Restaurant in Melbourne. This summarized the whole ambience and food I had at Soi 60 Thai.


[CLOSED]
Soi Thai
The Quayside
60 Robertson Quay
#01-04
Singapore 238252
Tel: +65 66356675
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Chinatown (DT Line, NE Line), Clarke Quay (NE Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Fri: 530pm - 1030pm
Sat-Sun: 12pm - 1030pm

Direction:
1) Alight at Chinatown MRT station. Take Exit C. Walk to bus stop along Upper Cross Street (Stop ID 06171). Take bus number 51 and 186. Alight 1 stop later. Cross the road and walk towards the river. Cross the bridge and walk to destination. Journey time about 12 minutes. [Map]

2) Alight at Clarke Quay MRT station. Take Exit E. Walk to bus stop at Clark Quay Station (Stop ID 04222). Take bus number 54. Alight 3 stops later. Walk to Mohamed Sultan Road. Turn left onto Mohamed Sultan Road. Walk down Mohamed Sultan Road. Turn left onto Nanson Rd. Walk to destination. Journey time about 15 minutes. [Map]

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Cafe Insadong @ South Bridge Road

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With the bingsu craze storming the island, many Korean dessert cafes such as Cafe Insadong has been opened in the little red dot. Located at South Bridge Road, Cafe Insadong is actually quite a small cafe with limited sitting space.

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Red Bean Patbingsu 3/5

The signature item at Cafe Insadong has to be their patbingsu. The Red Bean Patbingsu ($8.50) comes with a a scoop of ice cream and generous topping of red beans, almond and even mochi. While the topping was a lot, the shaved ice came across bland and coarse. It lacked the sweetness of the milk and the melted in the mouth, snow-flake like texture.

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Green Tea Patbingsu 3.5/5

Faring better is the Green Tea Patbingsu ($9.50) with green tea ice cream, red beans, almond, mochi and green tea infused shaved ice. Like the earlier bingsu, the ice is bland and coarse. Compared to other Korean dessert cafes such as Nunsongyee and O'ma Spoon, it came across as a disappointment.

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Injeolmi Toast with Salted Caramel Ice Cream 3.5/5

Having tried a couple of Korean dessert cafe, I would say the Injeolmi Toast with Salted Caramel Ice Cream ($7.80) is more generous in its ingredients compare with the others. The injeolmi sandwiched by the lightly toasted bread and dusted with an abundance of kinako is both nutty and chewy enjoyment.

Cafe Insadong pricing is very competitive compare to the other Korean dessert cafe. They are also very generous in their ingredients and toppings. However the bingsu ice needs much improvement to be considered as one of the best bingsu in Singapore.


Cafe Insadong
279 South Bridge Road
Singapore 058828
Tel: +65 85332003
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Chinatown (NE Line, DT Line), Telok Ayer (DT Line)

Opening Hours:
Mon-Thu: 12pm - 930pm
Fri-Sat: 12pm - 1130pm
(Closed on Sun)

Direction:
1) Alight at Chinatown MRT. Take Exit A. Walk down Pagoda Street towards South Bridge Road. Turn right on South Bridge Road. Cross the road and walk to destination. Journey time about 10 minutes. [Map]

2) Alight at Telok Ayer MRT station. Take Exit A. Walk down Cross Street towards Club Street. Turn left onto Club Street and walk to the end. At the end of Cross Street, turn right onto Ann Siang Road and walk towards South Bridge Road. At South Bridge Road, turn left and walk to destination. Journey time about 12 minutes. [Map]