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Paradise Group is famous for its Chinese cuisine. With the popularity in Thai food amongst Singaporeans, they have decided to venture into Thai food, with Parathai, an addition to one of their many restaurants.How did I think they fared? Check out the review below. It's like stepping into an art gallery, inspired by young budding artists and the every growing art scene of Bangkok.Accessibility:Approx. 5-7 minutes walk from Paya Lebar MRT StationLet's Eat!Thai Iced Tea ($4.20) and Thai Cendol ($5.80)The iced milk tea is strong and a tad too sweet for me, with the addition of gula melaka. The chendol was right up my alley, and is like a mini dessert to freshen you up for a hardcore Thai meal.Homemade Minced Pork in Rice Noodle Wrap ($6.90 for 4 pcs) This is a mildly sweet, lovely starter. Minced meat was flavourful. Comes in 4 pieces, great for having one each for a group of 4, just nice to begin the meal!Homemade Pandan Leaf Chicken ($8.90 for 4pcs)This was oily and juicy. It's too oily for me though. The chilli dip makes it better because it adds a slight sweetness to it, and you probably won't be focusing on the oiliness.Tom Yum Soup with Sea Prawns – Tom Yam Goong ($19.90 per pot) This was good. Delicious. Yummy. We liked it so much we actually had another bowl of this. The prawns tasted fresh and the broth was very appetising and spicy just the way we liked. A must-try.Traditional Thai Green Curry Chicken ($12.90) One of my favourites. I definitely am biased towards this dish as I do love the spice, the meats, the entire concoction. They were generous with the meats, the vegetables in it - eggplant, beans. Must have with their pandan leaf rice ($1.20), love it!Stir-fried Pork with Basil Leaves ($11.90) Spicy and flavourful, just the way I like it, with the lovely taste of the basil, which was also just nice - not overpowering. Another great dish to go with rice.Steamed Seabass with Lime and Chilli ($29.90)I love the sauce from this dish. It was slightly sourish, spicy, so appetising. The fish meat was soft and tender.Stir-fried Mini Asparagus with Egg Beancurd and Mushroom ($12.90)Eat too much meat, must have some vegetables to balance it out. I liked this with rice also, because I'm such a gravy person.“Crying Tiger” BBQ Beef Steak served with Homemade Sauce ($16.90) Chewy and really well done. As in, the meat texture. It'll be nice if the beef steak could be slightly more tender. Remember to dip it with the sauce to enhance its flavour.Mango Sticky Rice served with Coconut Milk ($6.90) Good. The mango was fresh and the sticky rice was delicious, topped with sesame seeds. Pour on the coconut milk and you're ready to go!Red Ruby served with Jackfruit and Coconut Milk ($5.90) Another one I'm super biased about. This was flavourful and the red rubies were crunchy. Did I also mention that the red rubies were handmade by the chef everyday, hence there's a limited number of bowls they sell for this? Another great reason for you to order this (best at the start of your meal, then ask them to serve later).Sweet Tapioca served with Coconut Milk ($4.90) This was just alright for me, as I'm not too much into tapioca. But you must have this with coconut milk, which will make this a better dessert to have. Still, I think it's a little heavy to have the filling tapioca, unless you didn't order too much of the mains.Deep-fried Banana Fritters served with Honey ($5.90)It was hard deciding which dessert we actually liked. This banana fritters was amazing! While it's a little oily for me, you really need to eat with while it's hot, it's so crispy I cannot even describe. With or without the honey dip, it still tasted good, but the honey dip just made it better for those who love a sweet ending to their meal.These are just some of the dishes they serve up at Parathai. There's like more than 80 other authentic Thai dishes in the menu, by Chef Meaw and team. Overall, they did cater to the consumer's tastebuds. They are having a promotion now!This was an invited media tasting. continue reading

Stepping into ParaThai is akin to walking into a modern art gallery, with pieces ranging from pottery to paintings to photography. This new restaurant concept debuted in early November, and the novelty factor is indeed evident. I was greeted with a resounding "Sawadee ka' (Thai for hello) before being ushered to my seat. A landscape photo of a Thai lady with her hands clasped together in a wai is displayed near the kitchen, and handicraft such as Thai pots are neatly shelved to enhance the Thai dining experience. Read till the end to find out how to receive a $20 dining voucher.Led by Chef Meaw, the team stays true to the rich Thai culinary culture and its ancient flavours. After previous media tastings with Paradise Inn, Paradise Dynasty and Canton Paradise, I was excited to try out Paradise Group Holding's new Thai food concept at One KM mall!Really excited to try out their new Thai concept!The technology-savvy restaurant has an e-concierge at the entrance, featuring its Facebook page as well as membership enquiries.E-Concierge at ParaThaiThe menu consists of a hard-cover purple booklet. I loved how they kept it simple with only one booklet, thus making the ordering process so much easier and smoother.Appetiser section of the menu* denotes my recommendations1. Hor Mok Pla (Thai Style Otak-otak)* — S$10.90Thai Style Otak-otakThe portion is huge enough to share amongst four people. I was there with my family and all of us thoroughly enjoyed this brightly-coloured dish. Each portion was warm, thick and mildly spicy. Furthermore, the mackerel was really fresh and juicy!2. Tom Yum Goong (Tom Yum soup with Sea Prawns)* — S$7.90Super spicy Tom Yum soup with Sea PrawnsTucking into this bowl of Tom Yum soup, I felt like a bomb went off in my throat. It was SUPER shiok (Singaporean slang for extremely delicious)! I have never been fond of sour foods, but this was somehow refreshingly tasty. An entire prawn was dunked in the soup (complete with head and shell) and the juices made the soup a wholesomely appetising one.Menacing-looking prawnBrace yourself for each gulp! I would suggest you take small sips because I ended up coughing when I drank an entire spoonful. If you think you have a high threshold for spiciness, take up this challenge! Let me know if you are able to conquer it!3. Suer Rong Hai (“Crying Tiger” BBQ Beef Steak served with Homemade Sauce)BBQ Beef Steak with Homemade SauceThese thick cuts of beef had a softer texture at both ends, but were harder towards the centre. "Crying tiger" certainly calls for some stretch of the imagination to interpret; its name actually derives from the flame rising as the beef fat drips onto the charcoal (resembling a crying tiger). The meat was juicy and didn't require much sauce to pep it up. I felt the homemade sauce didn't do justice to the cow which sacrificed its life for this dish.4. Phad Kha Na pla Kham (Stir-Fried Kailan with Salted Fish) — S$10.90Stir-Fried Kailan and the invisible salted fishWithout looking at the name of this dish, I wouldn't have known there was salted fish in it. Although the kailan (Chinese kale) was fresh and tasty, I was sorely disappointed by the extremely tiny pieces of salted fish. Furthermore, the portion was too small for the price.5. Gai yang Para Thai (ParaThai style Grilled Chicken served with Green Papaya Salad)Gai yang Para ThaiThis tasted like grilled chicken chop with nasi lemak. My family and I were quite disappointed with this dish as the rice was dry and the chicken was not served hot enough. The green papaya salad was very difficult to chew and a tad too sour.6. Thai Green Curry Chicken — S$12.90 The Thai Green Curry Chicken was disappointing in terms of size and flavour. It came in a really small bowl and was only quarter-filled with curry. In fact, it didn't taste like green curry but seemed more like a gravy. The portion of chicken was really small as well, but the thick texture was comforting and satisfying!7. Steamed Seabass with Lime* — S$29.90The gorgeous steamed seabass came in a food warmer tray. It was so huge that we attracted stares from other tables. I thought it looked like a submarine! Unfortunately, the fish looked pretty flat and I would prefer that the chefs prop up the head of the fish by placing some ingredients below. The gravy was uniquely Thai, with lots of lime and spices.The fish came with most of the bones removed, and was already cut into several slices for easy distribution. This is my personal favourite!8. Thai Iced Tea — S$4.20The Thai Iced Tea was pretty sweet. It seems as though a considerable amount of condensed milk (or sugar syrup) was used, while I prefer my tea to be more natural-tasting.Overly sweet Thai Iced TeaAlthough I'm extremely sensitive to caffeine, I had no trouble falling asleep after having this at dinnertime. Interestingly, a mysterious brown substance was spotted at the bottom of the glass. It tasted like a chocolate-based syrup or malt-like liquid candy.9. Thai Chendol* — S$5.80 Refreshing Thai ChendolI have a sweet tooth and thoroughly enjoyed this! It had sufficiently large amounts of red beans and green starched noodles with pandan flavouring. The only drawback is that it was quite difficult to thoroughly mix the shaved ice and coconut milk.Prices are subject to 10% service charge and prevailing GST.From now till 30 Jan 2015, receive a $20 dining voucher when you dine at ParaThai if you are a ANZ, OCBC or PGR Cardmember. continue reading