[food] Nakhon Kitchen

I have been hearing rave reviews about Nakhon's notorious long queues but absolutely-to-die-for authentic Thai food. Having nothing else to do, me (and the rest of my family) went to Nakhon's Hougang Branch for an early dinner. I was there at 5.20pm, but had no idea it only opens at 5.30pm. Already, there was a queue.

They opened at 5.30pm sharp, distributed menus and I placed my order for 4.

My iced lemongrass drink. (A must-have for me whenever I hit a Thai cuisine restaurant. That or iced Thai Coffee.)

First came the Clear Tom Yam Seafood Soup. First sip of this and I sputtered. Me, M, sputtered. To put this in perspective, I can eat chili padi without batting an eyelid and I slather wasabi on my sashimi. So yeah, this is spicy. But OH-SO-GOOD! Although it is a clear soup, the both sour and spicy taste beats any Tom Yam soup I have ever drank hands down. A MUST TRY!

Pandan Leaf Chicken. The other versions I have eaten were not spicy. But this is HOT! You can even see chili seeds in the meat. It is a tad oily for my taste but my parents loved it, so give it a try!

Thai-style fried minced pork. As you can see in this picture, it has chili padi, so it was hot, but the sauce was also yum. The long beans mixed in it gave it an interesting crunch. Very nice!

Thai-style fried Kang Kong. Local style tends to fry stir-fry this vegetable with Sambal (or Chili paste). This version fries it with both chili and garlic, which is a nice change. Very very yummy!

Thai-style fish cake. I hate hate HATE fish cakes and fish balls so I won't comment on this. But parents adored it, so, give it a try.

The dip the fish cakes came with. Chili sauce with cucumber bits and ground peanuts. NICE!

And to polish it all off, Red Ruby for dessert!
Water Chestnut cubes covered in tapioca flour with red food coloring, topped off with shaved ice and coconut milk, garnished with slices of jackfruit. The shaved ice was a little coarse for me, but the coconut milk was nice!

And so, in conclusion, you have never tasted Thai food unless you have been to this little shop. (excluding going to Thailand of course!)

Nakhon Kitchen - 212 Hougang St 21 #01-341

136 Bedok North Ave 3 #01-166

Someone has told me that the Bedok branch is cooked by the original chef himself so it's even more authentic-tasting. But locals might not like it due to it being too spicy and/or sour for their local tastebuds. You have been warned.

K, you MUST go and try it sometime!

W, avoid this shop at all costs. Unless you are feeling particularly masochistic :D

Have fun peeps!

stollen, ftw

First dips!

Okay, my auntie Rose, is well-known among us as the preferred baker and confection-maker during holiday season. Pineapple tarts, experimental pineapple briyani, or was it, raisins, er, nvm, and fruit cakes are her specialities, and now, we’ve even got a stollen. When my mum got the sms: ‘Please come to take stollen for fi…’, my mum went: ‘I don’t know if it’s a typo…’ so we went to google it and found out what it was…

Stollen: “a loaf-shaped cake containing dried fruit, and covered with sugar, powdered sugar or icing sugar” (wiki entry for stollen).

I went: Fruit cakes, again?!

Mum: You better eat it…!

Monday morning and everybody was hungry before work, so guess what was offered on the table… Stollen.

Oddly enough, it was a fantastically tasty loaf of bread with just the right amount of sweetness, fruits and nuts, and sugar (yeah, so, I swiped away some of it) but it was great! My mum took some to work. My sis grew the green eye of jealousy, since she’s an experimental baker herself, and I’ll never say ‘no’ to fruit cakes again!

Thanks auntie Ros! (that reminds me… i haven’t replied that sms yet… i guess the stomach asks for pleasure first too…)