Thai Experience

I have realised that I've merely documentated my various culinary experiences in most of the posts so far, but I feel there is a need to move on to making more concrete recommendations. This is especially so after having discovered a gem of a hawker stall at Golden Mile Food Centre last night, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Since it would be better to keep the blog positive, I'll steer clear of featuring nasty experiences, but will highlight those places which I strongly feel deserve some good publicity.

One question that the husband and I always ask ourselves after trying out a new place is "will we come back here again"? Sadly, the answer is usually not yes due to various reasons. The most common one, we have found, is just simply because the food is not special. If I can get the same quality food from the hawker centre next to my place, why would I bother driving all the way here for an ordinary experience? The second most common one is whether the place gives you value for money. To illustrate this, I can either eat foie gras for $30 or $300. But the $300 foie gras should be 10 times more special than the $30 portion. So a $20 plate of chicken rice had better be 6.7 times more wonderful than the $3 portion.

Last night, we were looking for something spicy for dinner at 9pm - specifically curry with rice. After venturing to Kampong Glam only to find Sabar Menanti and other nasi padang shops closed, a quick walk around Haji Lane confirmed that there was no such food among the shisha pipes that would fulfil our (ok, my) craving. The next closest food hub was Golden Mile Food Centre.

I was happy to find a Thai hawker stall called Thai Experience still open at 9.15pm, which meant that I could order green curry with some rice. The shop is run by two Thai ladies, presumably mother and daughter. They spoke pretty good English.

After looking at the menu, there was no way we were going to just order green curry. We also threw in a mango salad, pork larb (even though it wasn't on the menu) and a garlic-and-pepper squid. The mango salad ($5) had just the right mix of sweetness, tartness and spice.

The green curry ($5) was a bit sweet, and I felt they could have been more generous with the servings of chicken and eggplant.

The larb moo ($5) was a really good call. It was a generous serving, and tasted as good as the ones I had eaten in Thailand. One problem I had not foreseen, however, was the addition of pig skin slices - good for fans, but not for us. It was tasty but I could not bring myself to eat too much of the pig skin.

The garlic-and-pepper squid ($8) was fried with Thai garlic, which is more fragrant than local garlic. We licked up the garlic oil as well.

The bill came up to a total of $25, including 2 plates of steamed rice. It was a satisfying and reasonable meal and we were so pleased to have discovered this place.

It was then off to the parents in law's house for dessert...durian : )

The husband and I probably ate 1 durian each, with the 3 remaining members of the family eating 1 durian.

Thai Experience, Golden Mile Food Centre 01-110