Thai Village Restaurant

when eve and i walked into thai village restaurant at goodwood park hotel hoping to satisfy our craving for some good ole spicy tongue-searing thai cuisine, we were sorely disappointed at first. we couldn't find any of our favs like tom yum soup, mango salad or curries. in fact, nothing on the menu was even vaguely spicy at all. we decided to have the sharksfin with crab and abalone, asparagus with scallops and mushrooms, pandan leaf chicken and spicy steamed fish (pretty much chinese food, leaning more towards teochew cuisine i would say). turns out, everything was pretty good (except for the pandan chicken). we were glad we dined there afterall. we will definitely come back for more.

the sharksfin with crab and abalone comes in three sizes - small($80), medium($115) and large(can't rem how much it is). eve and i shared the medium size one, for which the portion is big enough for 3 people. this above, people, is really really good. it came with a chockful of ingredients - chunky pieces of abalone, mushrooms and crabmeat (not thin, barely-there slivers like how some other restaurants serve theirs), the sharksfin pieces were whole and the thick sauce was savoury and delicious. VERY satisfying.

the asparagus with scallops and mushrooms was nice. you can't very well go wrong with a simple dish like that.

i must say we were rather disappointed with the pandan chicken. i haven't had this for years and was looking forward to eating it. afterall, when you think pandan chicken, you think thai food, much like how we associate tom yum soup or green curry with thai food, no? and we did very much wanted to have thai in the first place. the dish consisted of dry, nondescript pieces of chicken meat. it wasn't all bad, but it could definitely be juicier, spicier and more tender.

last of the course was spicy steamed fish (i think it was soonhock fish) thai style. it was the only dish that was hot and spicy and bore hints of thai spices. fish was fresh and the sauce was the soupy kind. tasted alot like tom yum really. not bad at all.

go for the sharksfin there. order a small one for each individual. its enough to fill you up even if you only have juz that and nothing else.

thai village restaurant is at: goodwood park hotel, 22 scotts road singapore 228221. tel: 6440 8251