Sawadikap! Totally Sedap Thai Food 🥘🥥🍲🍍🍜

[HOSTED] There’s no stopping at one - legend has it that a petite young girl once downed 20 bowls of these noodles...yes, it’s just THAT good!!! Even at $1, you can mix and match to your heart’s desire; for the soup base, choose either their Thick Thai Herb (incredibly creamy and silken, almost like a tonkotsu broth) or their Tom Yam (which packs a spicy kick) and pair it with a variety of meats like pork slices, beef balls, chicken slices, etc.!!

I’d give this soup a miss...lacking in ingredients and with way too many pieces of inedible lemon grass stalks. Each sip packed a punch, but that’s about it. 😞

Took Lae Dee’s dishes tend to be a little sweet...and this is the reason why I make that statement. Instead of serving sugar on the side, they’ve incorporated it in the cooking process, making for a pad Thai that’s a tad too sweet for my liking. Noodles had good texture though, and when paired with the yummy molten egg, made for a decent plate of pad Thai!

First thing that hits you is the spicy kick of red hot chili padi! Once it mellows down, you’ll get to enjoy the underlying flavours - tangy and zesty strips of papaya bathed in slightly sourish fish sauce and tossed with crunchy peanuts and cherry tomatoes. This huge pile of som tam seeemingly never depletes, making for an incredibly filling appetizer!

Their first outlet is located at 18 Tai Seng, amidst a cluster of popular chain restaurants hailing from overseas. With a spacious storefront allowing for alfresco dining and both high table plus counter seats on the inside, this newly opened eatery is well-equipped to handle the crowd that is sure to come. But onto the grub!! With a name that translates to “cheap & good”, this plate of Pad Krapow is essentially their philosophy in a nutshell. At $3.80($5 w/ egg), you probably can’t get food THIS good anywhere else!

We opted for the minced basil pork option (the alternative is chicken) and added a fried egg...and boy, I’m glad I did! First off, the minced pork was moist and juicy beyond belief, reminiscent of a stir fry my granny would whip up in a jiffy 😍 Strips of basil that were mixed in strengthened the flavor even more, and when coupled with the chili padi, created a savoriness that I’d only tasted in Bangkok! As unassuming as the egg seems, it’s smokily crisp along the edges, yet containing a molten yolk that spills out into the rice upon being cut. With just one bite, we were left speechless by how this simple down-to-earth dish managed to deliver such impressionable flavors!

Pity they’re still at the “soft opening” stage though, I was really looking forward to ending the meal on a sweet note, I.e.: with their mango sticky rice! Thankfully, their aromatic Thai Milk Tea managed to satisfy my desire...for now 😋 At such an accessible location, I know I’ll be back once they’re open for reals!!!

Just a sneak peek at the staples found here at this humble Thai eatery situated right in the heartlands. My favourite was the claypot Tang Hoon; noodles were moist, containing a faint hint of “wok hei”. Even though it’s supposedly seafood, I’d say it’s more prawn Tang Hoon...and I’m not complaining - beneath the mountain of noodles lay many many juicy and succulent prawns! 😍

Pad Thai was pretty decent. Mango salad was drenched in fish sauce (which was a little too salty for my liking) but still managed to refresh my palate 😋 Everything was unbelievably savoury though, it’s hard to believe there’s no MSG as the owner claims!

Oops, did some phat thai noodles drop into my truffle oil? 😂 Befitting of a fusion food eatery, this east-meets-west dish is a match made in heaven! These rice noodles are saturated in truffle oil, so much so that I could detect the aroma even with the waiter 5 tables away. A generous mixture of beef slices, eggs, tofu and bean sprouts, each forkful glistens titillatingly with oil and packs a heavy and indulgently savoury punch! I honestly think the truffle works well to elevate the traditional taste of pad Thai, and perfectly matches the yummy beef. Also, I’d recommend adding the chili flakes sparingly; just half the amount was enough to make me tear up! 😂

I don’t really know if Thai laksa is supposed to taste like this, but imho the soup has WAYYYY too much coconut milk! It’s so overwhelming that I can just barely detect a slight hint of the laksa flavor, and each sip of the gravy leaves a fatty, unctuous coating on my tongue.

I did like the texture of the noodles though, plus the whole fried chicken thigh was a nice touch. But until they improve on the laksa gravy, I doubt I’ll order this again!

Essentially fried chicken wings served with a side of tangy, zesty tom yam sauce(are we supposed to drizzle it over the chicken? I dunno). I liked the crumby fried exterior, but the flesh was a little tough and the sauce too sour for my liking. 😞

It’s my 3rd time coming back and I am absolutely enamoured of the som tam...I mean, this place IS called Som Tam for a reason right?!? Anyway. I especially love how generous they are with the julienned mango, which was sweet, ripe and with a certain tartness that managed to cut through all the additional flavors. Incredibly raw and refreshing, makes for a good appetizer before all the greasy Thai delights reach the table. I would suggest cutting down on the spice though, as my tongue was burning towards the end!

Tucked away in the corner of the 8th floor of Orchard Central lies this gem: Sõm Tåm, a modern Thai fusion eatery serving a variety of dishes. From salads that are served in shake-able jars (work dem guns!) to oversized bowls of Tom Yum Koong, all dishes are infused with a modern twist and are guaranteed instagram-worthy! This som tam that we got was unique in that we got to control the amount of dressing and could mix the salad all by ourselves! Veggies were all crunchy, with the taste bordering between fresh and raw 😂 Crab had a crisp exterior that wasn’t overly oily. Ultimately, it was the spicy chili padi that granted the flavor burst which brought it all together! Really delish, I’ll be back the next time I have bangkok feels!