ThaiExpress (Closed)

It was a weekday dinner but the place is pretty full! Yet we were shown to a table rather quickly so that was great! 1) Phad Thai - not bad though I found it a tad sweet. Dunno if my tongue was going crazy. 2) Fish Porridge - it's essentially flavourful soup poured over rice. The combination is not bad as my kid devoured it!3) Tom Yam Fish Vermicelli in Red Soup - my favourite choice as the spicy red soup with fish chunks goes beautifully with the Tanghoon. It's a big bowl so be hungry!4) Olive Rice - hubby's favourite option. It's nice. 5) Tom Yam Seafood Horfun - my help's favourite choice and it'll be yours too if you fancy wok-Hei fried horfun and Tom yam anything. It's a good combo of both. Thai Express is a classy fast food restaurant which decent food and reasonable pricing. Only problem I have is the amount if MSG used and I often find myself downing much water after the meal. But it's after all fast food so can't really complain.  continue reading

Glass noodles with Black pepper soft shell crab: Yummy, the glass noodles were well flavoured with black pepper and the soft shell crabs were fried to perfect crispiness.Thai mango salad-Thai version of salad with rice vermicelli instead of the all vegetables.Sweet and savoury.Pineapple rice: The rice has a strong pineapple taste and goes well with the pork floss toppings. The cashew nuts and pineapple cubes added some crunch to the dish.Soft shell crab: Covered in a flavourful batter, they were fried to a perfect crispiness. continue reading

'Sa-nook!' means to have fun in Thai and it is an experience that Thai Express hopes to bring for their customers. Singaporeans should be familiar with this brand name with their 19 outlets spanning across island-wide, each promising to bring a relaxed yet contemporary ambience with no strict decorum to its diners. With a good spread of affordable Thailand classic local favourites such as the Thai fish cake, mango salad to its famous curry and tom yum, the menu would be sure to whet one's appetite yet catering to the price-conscious foodies.I could not agree more with the age-old adage that 'It's all about the customer' and it is indeed one of the reasons which kept me a satisfied diner of Thai Express over the years. I used to be a regular at the outlet located at the basement level of Paragon Shopping Centre before moving overseas, owed partly to the consistently good service and food rendered. A walk around VivoCity looking for dinner solution proved hard than expected with a seemingly endless number of restaurants located on each level. I was on my iPhone checking the food directory before my growling stomach got the better of me and we unanimously settled for the eatery before us, Thai Express.Strangely, there was a nostalgic feeling that stirred from within when I browsed through that familiar orange-coloured menu. It must have been some 4-5 years since my last patronage to Thai Express and it seemed like only yesterday when I was sipping off the clear chicken broth or tom yum soup. Did they manage to stay consistent with the quality of food and service after these years? Let us find out now!Right, it took quite a bit of waving before we finally managed to catch the attention of one of the waiting staffs. I found it rather unforgiving as our table was smacked right in the middle of the entire restaurant and you would imagine there should be no problem in trying to get some 'loving' in placing food orders. I am not sure if this is now a common practice across Thai Express restaurants but when we tried a feeble attempt to articulate some Thai words or recite the English name of the dishes we wanted, we received a rather discouraging flat response: 'Can you give me the code number of the dish?'. Is customer interaction and service still alive nowadays or has everything gone routinely 'SOP'?(6103) Fried Shrimp Paste Rice with Seafood, Khao Kluk Kapi Talay - (S$10.30++)Apparently a Thai royalty, King Chulalongkorn wrote in his diary that this was his favourite dish and our noses were blown away literally when the dish was served! The aroma of the shrimp paste was really strong and lingered in the air which certainly titillated our senses even before we warm up to our cutlery! The accompanying condiments were simply presented around the plate with some scrambled egg, sliced green mango, pieces of cucumber, tomato and a saucer worth of the secret sauce which won this dish a 'Popular' mark on the menu.I almost choked upon the first spoonful which was repugnant to say the least. Expecting a pleasantly savoury dish to the extent of savouriness, the fried rice was too salty and the bold flavours of the shrimp taste was overwhelming. Nestled within the bed of carbohydrates were some seafood - prawns, fish coated with batter and squid. It was rather disappointing that each of these ingredients failed to pass the freshness quality test. The batter coating the pieces of fish cubes were soaked with the shrimp paste and it was too salty for our palate and regrettably we had to leave the dish unfinished.The accompanying sauce tasted very much like your classic Chicken Rice chilli! It seemed like a blend of soy sauce, red chili, vinegar and lime juice which we struggled to find a fit within the dish. The green mango salad was also bland and dry and the dish just did not go very well as a whole.(3108) Glass Noodle with Sliced Chicken in Clear Chicken Broth, Woon Sen Kaeng Chued Gai Jiew (S$11.30++)This was my personal favourite and I noticed that this dish now has a 'Recommended for kids' mark on the menu! The serving was more than generous in portion size and one which many Thai kids grew up eating. Look elsewhere if you are after some elaborate spicy dish for this bowl of goodness fits the bill perfectly for what I would regard as 'THE' comfort food. Admittedly, I have a peculiar ordering habit where I would order the same dish from a particular restaurant for every single visit and this is one of the few dishes for me. Thankfully I always have my trusted dining companions on food tasting sessions with me, who are more adventurous to try seemingly more exotic dishes!What I particularly enjoyed about this dish is that hearty bowl of clear chicken broth that was so light and I highly recommend it to gym enthusiasts as a post-workout protein meal. The chicken portions in that bowl seemed like a bottomless pit because every time I scour, I find another big chunk of protein in that 'egg drop soup'. The beautiful flavours of the fresh coriander complemented the dish well and coupled with the al dente glass noodles, it was a delightful dish.What I used to like about the dish was that even if I were to slurp up that entire bowl of broth, I would not be hungry for some water to quench the thirst resulted from MSG. Sadly this time round, I was constantly reaching for my bottle of mineral water post-dinner, oh well.(6101) Rice with Soft Shell Crab, Egg and Onion Curry, Poo Phat Pong Kari (S$12.90++)This Thai Express speciality was one of the recommended dishes on the menu and we were particularly attracted by the caption which read 'created by a Thai chef and a Japanese chef for their wedding dinner'. It was no surprise then that the curry in this was only mildly spicy which would suit those with a low tolerance for the heat (similar to the Japanese curries), so it was quite a 'no-no' for me for I preferred my curries strong and bold. Depending on individual but the curry was a little too viscous for our liking for we would have preferred a smoother version. This was owed to the addition of eggs into the curry, so expect a grainy texture. Like the other two main dishes, the amount of greens in the dish was sparingly little. The portion was really value for money though considering the size of the soft shell crab. It was however not deep fried to a nice crispiness where one could crunch through. Instead, the batter was limp and it was hard to distinguish exactly if the seafood was fresh for the flavours from the curry were too strong and pretty much masked it all.(1402) Thai Mango Salad, Yam Mamuang (S$8.90++)We were quite surprised when the appetizer came after all the mains were served. Clearly the servers were too focused on just bringing the dishes to the customers and neglected the simple basics of service! While Thai Express present themselves with a concept of relaxed dining, I believe it was only appropriate for the order of dishes to follow the simple thumb of rule - Appetizers-Mains-Desserts. There was nothing too praise-worthy about this salad. The green mango were slightly crunchy and we enjoyed the crunch from the crushed peanut bits sprinkled across the salad. It gave a good layer of texture but again I struggled to find the right balance in flavours between the chilis, mangoes, onions and that sauce which seemed a little too diluted for our liking.It was while doing this write-up that I realized that Thai Express belonged to Minor Food Group Singapore which within their F&B portfolio holds other well-known eateries such as Xin Wang Hong Kong Cafe, Buffet Town, Kiseki, Poulet, Shokudo Concepts, Pinle, New York New York and Heng Heng Curry Cafe. I am not certain if this was a case whereby the outlet at VivoCity served in my humble opinion, substandard food and service or is it a chain-wide phenomenon. It was a disappointing visit on this occasion although the one dish which I stubbornly refused to strike off my order list stayed resilient to critique. We had difficulties getting the attention of the servers when we tried to get the bill as well and it was with dissatisfaction that we left the restaurant. I would give another try at another outlet but for now, I would look elsewhere when I am at VivoCity next time and looking for a quick meal fix. continue reading

Lime juice and watermelon juiceLime juice was refreshing with its sweet and sour taste.Watermelon juice tasted more like lime juice. You do not get pure watermelon juice.Prawn ToastThey are nice and crispy. I wonder if they do not get complains about the excessive oil on the toast. You can eat just 1 slice, that is, if you are not health-conscious.Sweet Glutinous Rice with Fresh Mango and Coconut MilkThis is a must have for me when I dine at any Thai restaurants. I've tasted this at other Thai Express outlets. I noticed that the taste is not consistent. The presentation has changed. They used to serve the mango on warm glutinous rice with a generous serving of coconut milk poured over them. However, this one was lacking the coconut milk. We had to ask for more of it. The mango was not ripe enough.Laksa NoodleThis was awesommmmmme! Just one spoonful of the gravy was enough for me to fall in love with it! It was coconutty, rich in flavour, fragrant, spicy and above all delicious! You can hear yourself saying 'kob khun ka'.Phat Thai TalayThai Seafood Noodle which tasted like Indian Mee Goreng. This is a spicy dish. The flavours dance in your mouth. This is yummy!Though they forgot to serve my poor, hungry daughter her dish (which she got after a reminder), the staff is generally friendly and efficient. The price, however, is quite steep. A glass of plain water is free no more. You have to purchase your drinks. continue reading

I have to say that I'm an avid fan of Thai Express because they serve clear tom yum soup and it's super potent despite it not looking like the usual red thick tom yum soup broths.Ambience is nice, but service during peak periods are usually slow. However, they do tell you the waiting time till the food comes.Not too bad, will definitely go back for the clear tom yum soup!#NTUDAC continue reading