Thursday 13 October 2016

Media Invite: Cha Thai Food Tasting


Many times, when we see the word 'Thai food', we naturally think of street food and hence, very inexpensive, cheap food. However, Cha Thai is here to debunk this by bringing to us the best of fine Thai food.


Cha Thai's founder, Leah, was trained in culinary schools in both Thailand and France, and hence is able to bring together the best of both the East and the West, by adapting the West's technology with the East's traditions, to bring Thai food to a whole new level. Using premium quality ingredients with traditional (but not authentic) recipes cooked with modern cooking techniques, Cha Thai is able to bring out a new dimension in the taste of Thai, so that their patrons can experience the best of Fine Thai food. For instance, all their meat are sous vide before cooking, and takes a lot of time and effort to prepare in order to ensure that the meat is always tender.

And it's so cute that they store their condiments in drip bottles!

Hot Salty Plum Drink - $2.50

Well, somehow it naturally registered as 'sour plum' instead of 'salty plum' and I got a little shock at first sip. It was indeed, salty plum and not sour plum, alright. It's a little of an acquired taste and might need a few sips to get used to. You know those 'sour plums' you popped into your mouth and immediately think, "what kind of sour plum is this? This should be salted plum!" Yeah, this drink tasted exactly like that. 
Not bad, but takes a while to get used to it. 

Green Tea Latte Smoothie (Middle) - $4.50

Love, love loveeeee this! I highly recommend this drink for all green tea lovers out there. Milky, slightly sweet, strong tea flavour with the distinctive bitter aftertaste, this is a definite must try! But take note of the huge serving. You might be full from just this smoothie alone. 

Crispy Prawn Cake - $15

I know this sounds pretty pricey, but these prawn cakes were all made from scratch (thus the irregular shapes) using tiger prawns! You can expect a mouthful of springy tiger prawn flesh with a fresh sweetness that's well flavoured to taste. Crisp on the outside, yet tender and juicy on the inside. 
How can you not like this?

Creamy Crab Roll - $15

Thick, creamy crab sauce served with crispy fried springroll skin that's light as air. This is the perfect appetizer to kick off your meal. 

Lemongrass Prawn Salad - $28

Once again, tiger prawns! The prawns were fresh and succulent (and fat, too!) and topped with a generous serving of lemongrass minced meat that tasted rather similar to the flavour of basil minced chicken. A little salty on its own, but would have been a perfect match with a bowl of white rice. 

Signature Tiger Prawn Panang Curry - $28

Creamy, slightly sweet and a little spicy, and stuff full of fresh and juicy tiger prawns! The sweetness in the curry gravy doesn't just come from the fresh prawns, but also from the lychees as well. The yumminess from the fat juicy prawns aside, I still found it a tad too creamy and not spicy enough for me though. 

Tom Yum Vegetarian Dumplings - $18

Not acutely sour nor tongue burning spicy like the usual tom yum goong, the first taste was even slightly sweet and very pleasant. And the spiciness comes shortly after, so do take note to sip at your soup in case the spiciness might be too much for you. The handmade dumplings, didn't taste very vegetarian (the distinctive raw vegetable taste) as well, so feel free to try this out even if you tend to avoid eating vegetables. 

Saute Kai Lan with Roasted Pork - $16

The kai lan were fresh (obviously from the jade-green colour you see) and saute just well enough to retain the vegetable's crisp texture and yet remove the bitterness. The fresh vegetables were also a good balance to the otherwise oily (fatty pork belly) roasted pork that was extremely well flavoured and tender. 

Garlic Chicken with Bird's Chilli - $18

The best choice of food for those on an #eatclean diet. HAHA!
The chicken bits were all chicken breast meat so while they're not the toughest chicken breast I've ever eaten, they're also not the most tender piece of chicken meat you can get, Stir-fried with a generous dose of chopped garlic, this is a must try for those garlic lovers on a healthy diet. The bird's chilli can get really spicy, so do avoid biting on them.

Simmered Pork - $22

This feels a little like the saute kai lan with roasted pork, but with the ratio reversed. The kai lan here is still fresh and slightly crisp, while the simmered pork packed a lot more of the savoury flavour and tenderness in comparison to its roasted counterpart.

Premium Giant Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles - $159
Tiger Prawns Claypot Glass Noodles (for 4 pax) - $55
Note: Giant Tiger Prawn is about 34 - 40cm


The glass noodles were springy and flavourful and topped with another 5 fat juicy tiger prawns. Though recommended for 4 pax, you can still gather more folks to share this pot of glass noodles so as to free up more tummy space for the other dishes. 
The springiness of the glass noodles combined with the savoury, slightly spicy flavour might be addictive, though. 

Pad Thai - $22

By this time, there was definitely a tiger prawn overload. So the 2 tiger prawns were sadly ignored at the table while we went for the noodles.
The rice noodles was chewy and flavourful and I liked how they placed the beansprouts, chopped peanuts and leeks (I think?) at the sides so you can choose to mix them in or not.

Charcoal Toast - $8 

This is DA BOMB! 
Pardon me if I sound like I'm over-reacting, but you absolutely have to go try these out for yourselves! The toasts were extremely crispy and yet fluffy at the same time and its toasted fragrance paired with either the pandan or the milk tea dip, just taste heavenly and extremely addictive. Most of us were already entering foodcoma / waving white flag by the time desserts were served, and yet we were all eyeing for second helping for this toast because it just taste so good! 

And for the rest of the dishes, which I (sadly) didn't get to taste due to limited stomach space.

Pomelo Salad - $16

Top right, clockwise: Red Ruby, Sweet Corn Herbal Jelly, Melon Sago, Emerald Jade (Green Ruby) - $8 each

Summer Potato (Sweet Potato) - $8 

Berries Toast - $8

Mountain Milo - $8

At Cha Thai, there's one thing to note is that the portions are usually huge! As it is the Thai's tradition and culture to gather, hence their food always come in portions large enough for sharing. Hence, I strongly recommend that you visit with a group of friends to combine all your tummy spaces in order to try out more yummy dishes! Well, food always tastes better in good company, yes? 

Cha Thai is located at
80 Telok Ayer Street
#01-01 Singapore 048466
(Far East Square)

For more information, visit their website HERE

Till then,
Mia Foo

19 comments:

  1. Mia,

    It is so hard to pick one dish over the other. I eat chicken daily, so yes, whatever dish, including Thai, I would pick chicken. BUT those prawns... ALL of them look so yummy. I happen to like Thai food. :)

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  2. Wow, very well written food review. I love how detailed you are in writing, how you were able to elucidate and express what was your taste buds have tasted is really nice. I like the place, this seems to be a good place to dine in.

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  3. Should I crave for shrimp, I will definitely look for Cha Thai. But then, I always love shrimp, deboned or otherwise. All those food and drinks look so temptingly delicious. Seriously.

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  4. I do love the mix of both culture, and yes sure, it took the best of both world! Furthermore, it sounds like you had an amazing experience. Your photos are making it justice and it's just incredible how tasty it seems!

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  5. havnt really heard of *thai food* but with what i have seen and read on this article, i think its a great option. Thanks 4 sharing.

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  6. Amazing selections! They all got me hungry in the middle of the night. That Vegetarian Dumpling looks sooo good, though. Plus, the desserts are so tempting to have! I haven't eaten thai food that much in my entire life, but I think it's time that I fancy some. :)

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  7. the food looks and sounds so yummy! I'm craving Thai now and there isn't a good place to go here

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  8. Wow oh yummy! I love all of the dishes. Thai will definitely feel me when I visit this city.

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  9. Wow oh yummy! I love all of the dishes. Thai will definitely feel me when I visit this city.

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  10. I am a very foody person. I am literally hungry right now on seeing those pictures!

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  11. I am drooling at past midnight hahaha, over these authentic thai goodness! I am a thai food lover, i've always savored the spicy combination of their dish with cilantro. I used to hate cilantro but, since i was first introduced to thai and mexican cuisines which uses much of these as garnish, i began to love em more.

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  12. My goodness, everything looks heavenly!!! Just looking at the photo of the Creamy Crab Roll, Lemongrass Prawn Salad, Tom Yum Vegetarian Dumplings, and the Giant Prawns is making my mouth water! I'll keep this in mind when I visit Singapore :)

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  13. So many prawn dishes! I love prawns and would enjoy a visit to this restaurant. Though I'm not an adventurous foodie I'd try these because they look so appetizing. I stay on the safe side usually and I'm not even sure if I've had Thai food but this makes me curious to try it.

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  14. Thai cuisine is one of my favorite one. We have some joints here in Bangalore. I visit them often. Your pics are indeed very tempting ones. I will check these out here.

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  15. The food are pricey but looks worth it. I think I want to try them all but the pad thai won my heat. I'll be going to Thailand next month and it's good that I'll be tasting authentic Thai food so someday I can compare them. :)

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  16. Hmm, Thai food isn't something that I've tried as much. There aren't a lot of restaurants serving thai food here in my country (or I just can't find them). I'm drooling from all those prawn dishes. Shrimp is my fave!!

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  17. Everything looks delish! If i were to pick id pick the seafoods! Im drooling over those shrimps! And the green tea latte seems to be very good! Everything is simply appetizing. The plating were good and the prices i think are reasonable.. makes me want to eat now! :)

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  18. Your photos are so tempting. I want to taste them all haha. I especially like to taste the charcoal toast and the prawns. Well, everything! Thanks for the delish sights. More power

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  19. Iam literally droooooling here!! Food looks mouthwatering! I have always been a fan of thai food, even though i used to hate anything with cilantro on... I started appreciating these kinds of herbs and spices after i got tooexposed to food tastings.. Which reminds me, ineed to sched one soon for don't tell mama. I'll get in touch with you soon!

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