Authentic Thai In Singapore

Talk of Thai food immediately gets you transported to the world of fragrant lemon grass, Kaffir lime leaves, basil, mint leaves ...Thai food uses aromatic herbs and spices blended to the finest authentic Thai flavour presented in a unique, delicate and artistic form. Top it all with ladles-ful of warm hospitality and pompous pampering. We got all this and more at Thanying Restaurant at Amara Hotel in Singapore.

Thanying, meaning 'The Thai Noble Lady', lines up such a feast that you have to see it to believe it! I don't usually rush out to eat Thai food back in India. But when in Singapore it becomes a must to taste the best. So Thanying it was for us in a foursome: myself, Alyona, our friends Bhupesh Yadav and his wife Cindy.

Thanying specialises in Royal Thai cooking. Royal Thai food, as I understand it, is more refined and the recipes are more complicated and extravagant than the usual Thai fare.

As Thailand is located at the crossroads in Asia, so Thai cooking has been influenced by different tastes of many countries such as China, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and even Portugal. Though it is multicultural cooking, yet it has the original taste produced by the four seasonings of chilli pepper, fish sauce, the Pak-choi and lime. The well-balanced mixture of these seasonings complements rather than overpowers the tastes and flavours of fresh ingredients and helps produce spicy-salty-sweet-sour Thai dishes.

Off to a good start. The fish maw soup is my favourite version in Singapore and Malaysia; they piled on the fish maw and crabmeat and went easy on the starch. The soup stock was very robust and flavourful. The Prawns in Red Curry cooked in creamy spicy gravy is also another favourite which went very well with rice. Though this might not seem to be royal in presentation, it does taste very authentic Thai! It was spicy, but tolerably so and one can ask for seconds. We also ordered the Whole Steamed Fish. It tasted very good, not so spicy and it was attractively served in a large fish shaped sizzling dish. Cindy was very particular about ordering Stir-Fried Greens. It was a good choice, nice and crisp.

The roast spring chicken was a little bit disappointing. What we did enjoy was the papaya salad, which was good being sweet and salty with a little nuttiness from the toasted coconut. Little tang and just a little heat. In fact, though Thai food is famous for being too fiery, Thanying presents some notched down food and even if they did serve some tongue scorchers, it would not have mattered because the dessert buffet present in all its colourful glory would have helped sort out things in the end. Alas, had I known about the grandeur of the desserts I would have eaten a still lighter dinner! Most patrons of Thanying return for one very good reason, and that is the dessert buffet (US$ 7 per person). Custards, steamed tapioca, candied banana, tar-ko, agar-agars and the sweetest fruits of the season make up a beautiful spread and provides a delightful finish to the meal.

Thanying easily qualifies as one of the best Thai restaurants in Singapore though not very expensive. There is also the Thanying Express, a takeaway chain, one of which has opened at the Takashimaya Mall. Our bill for dinner for four people is right now an undisclosed figure, because Bhupesh picked up the tab and gave us such a treat!